Those Dark Knight Thoughts

At the conclusion of the previous post I mentioned that I would give my thoughts on The Dark Knight so here they are, in bullet form. Also, there will likely be spoilers ahead so read on at your own risk.

-First off, let me just say that I thought it was a fantastic film. I have been arguing for the past couple years that Batman Begins was the best Batman movie and a recent viewing of it actually made me question myself, but that's irrelevant now. I think we can safely say that The Dark Knight is the best of the Batman movies and that Heath Ledger's Joker is superior to Cesar Romero and Jack Nicholson's. I do realize that the second point may still garner some opposition but I really don't think there is a debate.

-There were a lot of great things about the movie but probably the best aspect was the performances. I can't think of a single actor in the movie who didn't do a great job. Heath Ledger (more on The Joker later), Christian Bale, Aaron Eckhart, Morgan Freeman, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Michael Caine, Gary Oldman, and whoever else I didn't mention were all outstanding. Also, now that I think about it it's pretty crazy that Christopher Nolan was able to get that many actors of that caliber for a movie based on a comic book. Of course by now we've learned that this Batman series is not your typical set of comic book movies.

Bale as Bruce Wayne

-One minor complaint I have is that I actually didn't think there was enough of Christian Bale as Patrick Bate-I mean Bruce Wayne, did I almost write Patrick Bateman there? My mistake. Bale's Bruce Wayne is one of my favorite parts of Batman Begins and he didn't disappoint in TDK either. The boat full of ballet dancers alone was worth the price of admission. Maybe it's just me, but I cannot get enough of Bale's Bruce Wayne which I should add, is also the best personification of Bruce Wayne on film.

-The complaint that I have heard the most from other places/people is that the conclusion of the Harvey Dent/Two Face arc at the end of the film was too rushed and probably should have been saved for the entry in the series. I think this is a fair criticism but not one that I agree with. Not showing the rise and fall of Harvey Dent in it's entirety in this movie would have taken away from the impact of The Joker's whole plan to corrupt Dent in the first place. I think that without the final Two Face scenes, The Joker's final monologue becomes much less relevant. That's just my two cents.

-Finally, there's the question of where the franchise should go from here. It's been stated in many places that there is no way the third movie in the series could possibly top this one and I agree. That doesn't mean that Nolan and Co. shouldn't give their best effort to make another great film. Just because Return of the Jedi isn't as good as The Empire Strikes Back doesn't mean I don't enjoy watching it with Mike and listening to him the laugh of that thing in Jabba's Palace. I feel comfortable saying that the next entry in the series will be at least a pretty good film. It will also receive an undeserved amount of criticism for not being The Dark Knight.

The question is what to do about the character of The Joker. I'm not going to lie, the first thing that popped into my head when I heard about Heath Ledger dying was "What's going to happen to The Dark Knight?" Insensitive? Perhaps a little, but it would be dishonest for me to say anything else went through my mind when I heard the news. After learning that Ledger's work on the movie was completed before his death I decided that wanted The Joker to die in the movie so as to avoid any complications concerning the character's appearance in a sequel. Eventually I realized this probably wouldn't be the case and not surprisingly it wasn't. Some sources are now claiming that the original plan was to have the third movie take place during The Joker's trial which makes enough sense.

Ledger as The Joker

But now what? Without Ledger to don the purple and green duds, would it be best to retire the character to a mere passing reference in the next movie or should another actor try and fill his massive clown shoes. I think most people would say the former is the way to go and that was how I initially felt. After reading Harry Knowles's review of TDK at Ain't It Cool News I was convinced otherwise, however. This is what he had to say:

"It is a shame that we’ll never see Heath as the Joker again, but what I hope is that they don’t just let the character go. Instead – like Telly Savalas’ one run at Blofeld, it set the rules for the character. If anything, Heath laid down one awesome dare to any who would dare follow. I just hope someone has the sack to pick up the grease paint and knives and give it a run. Personally – I’d nominate Javier Bardem."

While I agree with what Knowles has to say here, I think he left out one important part. While Ledger does an absolutely phenomenal job in the role, a significant amount of credit should be given to the Nolan brothers for the way they wrote the character. They made countless great decisions in regards to how they created this version of The Joker not the least of which being the lack of a true origin or his speech to Batman about completing each other. I haven't even mentioned all the awesomely evil schemes The Joker comes up with throughout the film.

Filling in for Ledger is indeed an unenviable task, but I have no doubt that there is a talented actor out there somewhere willing to undertake it. Knowles's suggestion of Javier Bardem is an interesting one, although I think he's a bit biased from Bardem's recent villainous turn in No Country for Old Men.

Joseph Gordon Levitt

One interesting idea I heard this past week was Joseph Gordon Levitt. Over the past few years he has proving he has some pretty solid acting chops in movies such as Brick and The Lookout. Also, for what it's worth, he knew Ledger at least a little bit from their work on the highly regarded (in certain circles) teen flick Ten Things I Hate About You. Additionally, he can get some practice at playing a villain when he plays Cobra Commander in the upcoming G.I. Joe film (yeah, that's happening, and it's something I hope to address at a later date). You could even argue that there is somewhat of a resemblance between Levitt and Ledger, which doesn't hurt. Whoever does end up with the role (assuming if Nolan even decides to bring back the character) I wish the best to in what will almost definitely be a lose/lose situation.


But who cares about my opinion anyway? I could've saved a lot of trouble if I let two of the finest minds in film criticism give their take on the movie instead.



Yep, that's ESPN's Stephen A. Smith and Skip Bayless debating The Dark Knight. Nope, there is no way you can erase that from your brain.