The Dark Knight and Heath Ledger

I went, I saw and I was conquered. Twice! And I want to see it again!

Everybody agrees. The Dark Knight is an awesome movie. It’s not just an average super hero movie where gadgets and special effects take over. It’s a master piece supported by everything else. It goes way beyond. You just stay breathless by the way the movie is constructed. Now, for those of you who haven’t seen it, I can assure you, you won’t be disappointed. It’s really what people say, even better. To tell you the truth I loved it even more the second time, just like good aging wine (and I don’t even drink!).

Everything is great. The way the plot is built, the dialogues (I love movies with great lines!), the camera shots, the music (I listen to the soundtrack everyday on my iPod!), the story, the action scenes and let’s not forget…the acting! But I’ll come back to that later.

It’s rare to see such movies where every character has a purpose and where every single dialogue and action has a connection somewhere in the movie. You really have to watch it twice to “see” everything. Just like the Joker, as he says “Do I look like a guy with a plan?”, the movie is quite unpredictable. But everything makes sense at the end. It’s a 2h40 movie and I didn’t feel time because there’s always something happening on the screen.

It’s dark. As Gotham’s “White Knight” DA Harvey Dent (amazing Aaron Eckhart) says “The night is darkest just before the dawn”. The movie starts dark and it keeps becoming darker and darker throughout the movie. Not much blood (actually none that I recall), just danger. You just feel this impending doom and chaos lurking from the start. It owns you at one point. Some people felt uncomfortable. The music is partly responsible for that too. Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard did a great job. It’s the continuity of Batman Begins.

All the characters are wonderful, and the acting is excellent, but needless to say, the movie is the Joker. Or should I say the Joker is the movie. Either way, this character, played wonderfully by Heath Ledger, is the perfect vilain. “This town deserves a better class of criminal… and I’m gonna give it to them” he says in the movie. And that’s exactly what he is. Never before, since probably Hannibal Lecter (sorry, “Doctor”!), has the phrase “there’s a fine line between genius and insanity” been so true, so real on screen. Heath has taken this character to the next level. I’m not saying this because he passed away. You can’t compare it to Jack Nicholson’s Joker either. That Joker was perfect in a Tim Burton movie. This is a different Batman, you need a different Joker. The gestures, the voice, the lip licking, and of course the laughter and the insanity (or genius??), everything works. Heath probably had trouble coming back to reality after the movie. Actor’s say they are a little schizophrenic themselves, especially for some roles like this one. But man, what an act.

This is what I found on imdb.com:

“To prepare for his role as the Joker, Heath Ledger lived alone in a hotel room for a month, formulating the character’s psychology, posture and voice (the last one he found most difficult to do). He started a diary, in which he wrote the Joker’s thoughts and feelings to guide himself during his performance. He was also given Alan Moore‘s comic “Batman: The Killing Joke” and “Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth” to read. Ledger also took inspiration from A Clockwork Orange (1971)’s Alex and Sid Vicious.”

It’s a shame we won’t see more of him. But then again, If he lived he might not have endured the pressure of the critics or the excessive stardom. In some way, I think it was God’s way to “save him” from that insanity, after all that is Hollywood. He achieved Greatness and that’s all that counts, this movie was his life’s work. People will remember him for ever. He left his mark indefinitely. I was actually crying during the movie, both times. There’s something about the Joker that is disturbing, you can’t quite tell what it is, but it’s there and it made me cry tears of admiration and respect for the actor.

I also loved Michael Caine as Alfred Pennyworth, the faithful butler to multi-billionaire Bruce Wayne aka Batman. He is Batman’s conscience. The way he describes the Joker made me think of several things. But in particular I thought “The Joker exists in real life”. He is the darkness that some people have inside of them. He says to Bruce ” You squeezed them (the criminals of Gotham), you hammered them to the point of desperation. And in their desperation they turned to a man they didn’t fully understand”. I think that’s what happened in Germany during WWII. Germany was in a terrible situation, poor and desperate and they had no other choice than to turn to Adolf Hitler. Then followed chaos. Mental note: this is NOT an accusation of any kind. Just sheer observation of the two situations.

I know, I put a lot of quotes in this post but that’s how much everything is connected. Even to this blog. You can’t resist this. You can’t fight it either. Let it in. Enjoy. If I write more I’m afraid I’ll give it all away. I told you too much already. See it for yourself. It’s “worth” every “penny” (“And I thought my jokes were bad”).

Mister Nolan, “You’ve changed things, for ever”!