Birthdays and Batman
Many thanks to my flist for the many birthday wishes. Needless to say, I've finally recovered from the 4 days of celebrations.
I've now seen 'The Dark Knight' 3 times. To say that it was an excellent film is really an understatement. To say it was a great superhero movie would be selling it short. The film reaches beyond genres and weaves an intricate story around the struggle between good and evil. A character driven story with a tour de force performance by the late Heath Ledger which asks questions instead of making statements. What is needed to defeat evil without becoming evil in the process?
The crux of the movie can be found in this quote: "You either die a hero or live long enough to become the villain."
This is a film that does not leave you and hence you end up seeing it multiple times just to unravel all the layers. Christian Bale's Batman is character driven and moves beyond comic book portrayals. Bale is so good that he allows Ledger to own the screen without losing sight of his own character. Gary Oldman, Michael Caine, Aaron Eckhart and Morgan Freeman are not simply window dressing, they move the plot along at breakneck speed adding balance to the struggle between Batman and the Joker.
And my city never looked better on film. Kudos to Chris Nolan for choosing Chicago to become Gotham City.
I've now seen 'The Dark Knight' 3 times. To say that it was an excellent film is really an understatement. To say it was a great superhero movie would be selling it short. The film reaches beyond genres and weaves an intricate story around the struggle between good and evil. A character driven story with a tour de force performance by the late Heath Ledger which asks questions instead of making statements. What is needed to defeat evil without becoming evil in the process?
The crux of the movie can be found in this quote: "You either die a hero or live long enough to become the villain."
This is a film that does not leave you and hence you end up seeing it multiple times just to unravel all the layers. Christian Bale's Batman is character driven and moves beyond comic book portrayals. Bale is so good that he allows Ledger to own the screen without losing sight of his own character. Gary Oldman, Michael Caine, Aaron Eckhart and Morgan Freeman are not simply window dressing, they move the plot along at breakneck speed adding balance to the struggle between Batman and the Joker.
And my city never looked better on film. Kudos to Chris Nolan for choosing Chicago to become Gotham City.