The Dark Knight

The Dark Knight surpassed my wildest hopes and expectations. I watched it with not expectations and I can't think of enough words to praise it. It was deep and dark, filled with action had some of the best writing, cinematography, directing, music and acting. Truly powerful music which gave strong feelings and emotion while watching the movie. This may be one of my favorite films. The Dark Knight is packed with action, violence, and the insane Joker. The technology that batman uses has a wow factor as it is so realistic. With amazing action scenes; a new bat-cycle, thrilling car chases, amazing stunts, and demolition of buildings kept the audience engaged throughout the movie. (Referenced in the text, Chapter 7-9) Remarks from Christopher Nolan: “Tim Burton's Batman Returns was typical of Burton's quirky, dark style of film making but with The Dark Knight Nolan outdoes Burton, taking the Batman franchise into even more disturbing territory. "You certainly can push it too far, but interestingly there are different ways to be disturbing," offered Nolan. " I mean, I don't talk a lot about the previous films because I didn’t make them and they're not mine to talk about, but certainly if you look at Batman Returns with Danny DeVito as The Penguin, eating the fish and everything, there are some extraordinarily disturbing images in that movie. But they're coming at it from a surreal point of view." "I think the ways in which this film is disturbing are different. We try to ground it a little more in reality and so I suppose there's a sense there that might get under your skin a little more, if it relates to the world that we live in. As I say though, there are different tones that can be taken with adapting this character to the movies. Indeed, in the comics, one of the things that Paul Levitz at DC Comics first talked about when I first came onboard for Batman Begins is that Batman is a character who traditionally is interpreted in very different ways by the different artists and writers who've worked on it over the years. So there's a freedom, and an expectation even, that you will actually put something new into it, that it'll be interpreted in some different way. I think of any of the superheroes Batman is the darkest. There is an expectation that you're going to be dealing with more disturbing elements of the psyche. That's the place that he comes from as a character, so it feels appropriate to this character." (http://movies.about.com/od/thedarkknight/a/darkknight70408.htm) Interview with Christopher Nolan: “GB: So I’m curious, tell me one of the surprises you’ve had during the journey of this film after its release on July 18. NOLAN: It’s funny, I’ve been asked a lot about the politics of the film. I dismiss all such analogies [laughs]. It really isn’t something we think about as we put the story together, myself, David Goyer and Jonathan [Nolan, brother of the director]. But I would point to the interrogation scene with Batman and the Joker — not that there is a specific political point, per se — but that I was interested in getting the actors to explore a paradox: How do you fight somebody who essentially thrives on aggression? GB: I winced when I read a lot of the political messaging that people said they detected in your film. I think a lot of that says more about my industry than it does yours. NOLAN: [Laughs] “Yes, you may be right.” GB: It seems to me that, more often than not in a genre such as the one you’re working in, most of the political messaging has more to do with the viewer than the filmmaker. It’s inferred, not implied. NOLAN: I agree completely. Especially if you do it right. If you’re working in a genre that is heightened reality. I like to talk about these films as having an operatic quality or being on a grand scale and a bit removed from the rhythms of real life, no matter how realistic we try to make the scenes themselves. In this scene, for instance, we went for the gritty realism in the textures of it, but it is a heightened reality. We’re trying to work on a more universal scale. If you get that right, people are going to be able to bring a wide variety of interpretations to it depending on who they are. It’s allowing the characters to be a conduit to the audience. Allowing an audience to sit there and relate to Batman and his dilemma, whether they are Republican or Democrat or whatever. … GB: Watching “The Dark Knight,” it’s very easy to imagine the Joker returning to Gotham, the way his fate remains unresolved. When you were writing the film, did you anticipate that the Joker would be back in the third film? NOLAN: No, really and in truth, I only deal with one film at a time. I find myself sort of protesting this issue a lot. We’ve never attempted to save anything for a sequel or set up anything for a sequel. That seems improbable to some people because, particularly with “Batman Begins,” the film ended with a particular hook [with Jim Gordon showing Batman a Joker playing card announcing the arrival of a new villain in town]. But for me that was just about the excitement of people leaving the theater with the sense that now we have the character up and running. I wanted people to walk away with that sense in their head. You know, that he’s become the Batman in the movie. That’s why we had the title come up at the end, because it was “Batman Begins,” and it was all very specific to that. Then I got excited about seeing where that character would go. It was planned in advance, but it followed in that way. But we tried our hardest to really do everything in this movie that we would want to see the Joker do and to get that in the fabric of the story as much as possible. We wanted the Joker’s final taunt to Batman to be that they are locked in an ongoing struggle because of Batman’s rules. There’s a paradox there. Batman won’t kill. And the Joker is not interested in completely defeating Batman because he’s fascinated by him and he enjoys sparring with him. It’s trapped both of them. That was really the meaning of it. Of course what happened is Heath created the most extraordinary character that you would love to see 10 movies about. That’s the bittersweet thing. It was incredible characterization. It is a bittersweet thing for all of us. GB: Could you see actually yourself not making the third Batman film? NOLAN: Well … let me think how to put this. There are two things to be said. One is the emphasis on story. What’s the story? Is there a story that’s going to keep me emotionally invested for the couple of years that it will take to make another one? That’s the overriding question. On a more superficial level, I have to ask the question: How many good third movies in a franchise can people name? [Laughs.] At the same time, in taking on the second one, we had the challenge of trying to make a great second movie, and there haven’t been too many of those either. It’s all about the story really. If the story is there, everything is possible. I hope that was a suitably slippery answer.” http://herocomplex.latimes.com/2008/10/27/christopher-nol/ The only question that I can think of is how will Batman regain a good name for himself again after he's taken the blame for all the tragic events that took place? Ledger's performance was amazing, as are most of the cast. I liked the Joker's character best. Of course his actions scream maniac, but some of his best acting is when he's not blowing things up. True to his crazy character form his goal is to get an emotional response from the normal individuals around him and that response is not warm or fuzzy. We see the Joker sitting in a holding cell, all hell breaking loose around him and he's as cool and collected as a cucumber. But when the Joker isn't trying to break down the morals of Harvey Dent or Lt. Gordon, he's fixated on the Batman and trying to break him down. (Referenced in the text, Chapter 10) Trying to maintain order and bring peace and safety to is Batman. He plays the tormented vigilante wonderfully, as he struggles between his desire for a normal life and the knowledge that the Joker will keep killing, keep destroying, keep wreaking havoc, all because it keeps Batman in the game with him. He's faced with tough choices and personal turmoil he still must carry on the crusade and do whats right. The rest of the cast is remarkable, too, and they all shine in their roles; Gary Oldman as Commissioner Gordon and Aaron Eckhart as Harvey Dent. Morgan Freeman reprises his role as Mr. Fox, the brain behind Batman and does an outstanding job.