(no subject)

[cwfilmbuff]

Movie 31: The Dark Knight
Saw it again after the last post, and thought I'd do a move in-depth reaction. Some of this gets into plot developments late in the film, so I'll put it behind a cut.

I really liked the parallels between Batman and the Joker. Aside from the obvious fact that they're both in some sort of costume working outside the law, there were further steps taken to make them reflect one another. Both make their first appearance in this movie dispatching people dressed like themselves, they both spill their champagne rather than drink it at the fundraiser, etc. Touches like that make it apparent that Nolan and company put some thought into this.

Ledger's Joker was a fascinating character brought to life through an amazing performance, but I still found Harvey Dent's story more interesting. In his final monologue the Joker refers to his battle with Batman as "an unstoppable force [meeting] an immovable object." Although Batman wrestles with a few moral dilemmas he is, for the most part, that immovable object - unwilling to waiver or compromise. By the same token, the Joker is the unstoppable force. As a character he doesn't change, but his effect on everyone and everything around him is devastating. He's like the disaster in a disaster movie - the other characters carry the plot, but you can't take your eyes off him when he's onscreen.

Dent, on the other hand, grew and developed as a character, reaching great heights of success only to have a tragic downfall. He even validated the presence of Rachel Dawes, who felt like an unnecessary addition to the first film. At first I was a little disappointed that he died, because I thought it would be great to see him further developed in the third film. But between how perfectly contained his story is, the effect he has at the end as a martyr, and the fact that he's exhausted his main motivation of revenge for Dawes' death, I'm satisfied with how he was handled.

That said, my two quibbles with the film revolve around him. The effect when he becomes Two Face is definitely shocking, which it's meant to me, but one thing nagged at me after a while: his speech should have been much more affected by the lack of lips on half his face. I realize the goal was to make him horrifying, but in a movie that tries to ground itself in reality that was enough of a disconnect to be distracting. The other problem I had was with his death. I can spin it in my head that Batman was doing whatever he could to save Gordon's son, or that Dent and the kid were both falling and Batman had to make the split-second judgment call as to which one he saved, but after making such a big deal about him not killing anyone I wanted a little more in-film justification. Every other seemingly out-of-character action was explained so well that this didn't sit right.

Those are the main things that have been brewing in my head since last weekend. That and the fact that I wish I'd seen it with someone so when the Watchmen trailer said it was based on "the most beloved graphic novel of all time" I could lean over and say, "Funny, that doesn't look like Sandman."

Comments

[dave-the-turnip.livejournal.com]

Well Harvey Dent died, but it's unsure of whether Two Face did. Batman did survive the fall.

[filmbuff.livejournal.com]

For me, given the way this film and Batman Beginshave handled the story, it's too much of a leap to assume Gordon and the police that arrived at the scene covered up Dent's survival. There would have to be some indication of that in the film, instead of everything indicating that he died.

As for the height of the fall, it looked higher than the mobster's fall, and Dent was already in pretty bad shape. Between that and how Batman and Gordon treated the body like a corpse instead of an unconscious potential threat I'm sticking with my assumption of his death.

[filmbuff.livejournal.com]

Batman was better protected and prepared for the fall.

To me Dent's survival doesn't seem like something Nolan would leave out of the narrative - everything indicates that he's dead, so I'm willing to accept that as the case.

[cikevin.livejournal.com]

Even the falling thing is grounded in the comics, I think. Apparently a code against killing is not the same as a code against letting criminals fall a long way due to misadventure. He won't push them, but he won't necessarily catch them either.

[filmbuff.livejournal.com]

That's a good point, especially considering the end of Begins ("I'm not going to kill you, but I don't have to save you").

[filmbuff.livejournal.com]

He had good reason to catch the Joker. The Joker's goal was to bring good people down to his level - part of which was getting Batman to kill. So by saving him Batman was defeating the Joker.