ClobberBlog | Mormonism, Evangelical Christianity

WARNING: Contains major SPOILERS for The Dark Knight. If you haven’t seen it yet and don’t want the movie spoiled for you, don’t read this.

Batman has been my favorite superhero for a long time, though I confess to being more of a fan to his movie and cartoon incarnations than the comics simply because I lack the time to collect and keep up with all the current comics out there that involve him. Thanks to the Internet, I usually do read the summaries of the current comic storylines though. I had seen the first two Tim Burton Batman movies as a very small girl and liked those. When Batman: The Animated Series came out in 1992, I was ten years old and I fell in love. At a young age I could recognize that the show was funny, exciting, and it had a magnificent female cast–Catwoman, Poison Ivy, Talia al Ghul, Barbara Gordon / Batgirl, Zatanna, and of course Harley Quinn, who got her introduction on the series. There was also Andrea Beaumont aka the Phantasm, who was introduced in the theatrical animated movie based on the series (and had a single later appearance in the Justice League incarnation of the series). The strong female presence on the show was especially fun and interesting to me a ten year-old tomboy. As I’ve grown up I’ve come to realize why so many adults were fans of this kids show: it had superb writing, ground-breaking animation (at the time), witty dialogue, and it dealt with some very deep, thought-provoking issues. The fact that some of its writers have gone on to do very well on award-winning adult television shows is proof of that. Check out what Harley Quinn creator Paul Dinihas been doing if you don’t believe me.

I’ve kept up with Batman in his many forms ever since, and I viewed 2005′s Batman Begins as a nearly perfect film adaptation of the franchise, so it goes without saying that I’ve been looking forward to its sequel. So, without further ado, here are my thoughts.

Scary Clown is Scary Terrifying

I’ll admit it: I was heavily skeptical of Heath Ledger being cast as The Joker. You can’t blame me, I’m a conservative, and I’m cynical about any actor that makes the bleeding heart Hollywood liberal crowd just gush and gush. When I heard about the casting decision, I was like, “The gay guy from Brokeback Mountain?!” I was playing World of Warcraft in January when the news of his death came to me through guild chat, and the first thing I typed in response was, “Huh, that’s sad. Too bad he didn’t die before he was horribly miscast as the Joker instead of after.” Yes, I am that big of an ass, and not the least bit sorry about it.

Then I heard that my favorite Joker ever Mark Hamill had seen an early cut of the movie and approved of Heath Ledger’s performance, and I softened a bit. “If Mark Hamill liked him, he couldn’t have been that bad,” I thought. And now that I’ve seen his performance in The Dark Knight for myself, all I can say is…

Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. The make-up, the dialogue, the creepy things he did with knives, his walk, his voice. Wow, does that voice stay with you. Every action sequence he shot made him look like a total badass. Every dialogue scene made you fear him and adore him at the same time, plus he could still make you laugh. This is the Joker as he always should have been. Go get that posthumous Oscar, Heath Ledger, you deserve it. And if you don’t get it, I think we should just steal an Oscar from someone useless and stupid like Halle Berry and give it to you.

Would Rachel Dawes please DIAF? Thank you!
I hated Rachel Dawes in the first movie, and it was not just because Katie Holmes was annoying. The Batman franchise arguably has the second best cast of strong female characters of any comic book franchise afterX-Men, and the Nolan brothers unwisely chose to ignore all that and instead create the lackluster, whiny Rachel Dawes to fill the leading lady slot. It didn’t matter how many bad guys she kneed in the groin or tasered, nobody liked Rachel Dawes.

We all knew Katie Holmes would be too busy raising her Tom Cruise lovechild to return for the sequel, but I’m sorry to say Maggie Gyllenhaal did nothing to endear me to the character either. I thought Gyllenhaal looked tired and frumpy the entire time. When the Joker pushed her out of a building, I said “Good–no, what are you doing, Batman, DON’T DIVE AFTER HER!!!” By the time she was kissing Bruce Wayne and discussing their possible future together, I was rolling my eyes and whispering to my husband, “I feel nothing for this character. Like, I totally don’t care what happens to her.” And when the Joker tied her to a bunch of oil barrels and blew her up… I became ecstatic. It was like the Nolan brothers saying to the fans, “Look, we know we screwed up, here, see! We’re getting rid of her!”

In watching the performances from Christian Bale, Michael Caine and Aaron Eckhart as they expressed their grief over losing Rachel, I finally began to care a little bit about the character. Just think of how powerful and moving her death would have been if we had actually liked her the entire time. Oh well, guess we all make mistakes.

Animated Series Influences?

There were a few things in this movie that reminded me heavily of things from the animated series. The first was the Joker. During the movie my husband remarked that this Joker was very much like the darker, reincarnated Joker we had seen in Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker, which was exactly what I had been thinking as I watched the film.

The second was Det. Ramirez, who looked and acted exactly like Renee Montoya of the animated series up until her betrayal towards the end of the film. The Wikipedia article confirms that Ramirez was based on Montoya, and it’s good to see the writers putting some of the creations of the animated series to good use.

Batman’s fight with the SWAT team to protect the hostages towards the end of the movie reminded me of his fight with the police while he’s being hunted at the construction site inBatman: Mask of the Phantasm.

The Joker’s penchant for telling different stories about how he got his “smile” scars reminded me of the plot from “Mad Love,” where Harley Quinn learns that the story the Joker told her about his traumatic childhood and how he became who he is was a lie; he tells the story differently to different people.

Odds and Ends

The cinematography in this movie was just gorgeous. Whenever Batman stands at the top of a tower and looks down over a city, you feel like you’re actually up on the tower with him, and in some of the shots where he glides from building to building, you feel like you’re soaring just behind him. The action scenes all had this wide, sweeping feel to them as well. I so wish I could have seen this movie in IMAX.

I’m surprised I haven’t seen more reviews discuss the political implications of this movie. Using a sonar technology that pulls from all of the active cell phones in the city, Batman sets up an invasive surveillance system that allows him to keep tabs on the entire city, and thus track and capture the Joker–who is referred to at least once as a “terrorist.” Hmm. That doesn’t sound like any current political controversies. Nope, not at all. And even more surprising, the movie seems to take the rightwing position on the issue and say Batman was right to do it. It’s nice to see a movie making a subtle defense of the Bush administration instead of heavy-handed jabs at it.

There’s a lot of talk out there about what will be done for the next movie, especially with the Joker alive at the end of The Dark Knight while the actor who played him has passed away. Personally, I don’t think the next movie has to have the Joker. What’s wrong with letting him rot in Arkham while we call up a new member of the rogues gallery? And I’m unsure as to whether or not Two Face needs to be a villain in the next film. While his run as Two Face in this movie felt half-baked, I have a hard time imagining him as a full-fledged central villain anytime soon.

Whatever they do, I hope they make use of one of the strong leading ladies of the Batman empire. With Rachel Dawes gone, the position is wide open to being done right.