Whatever doesn't kill you simply makes you stranger.
I did manage to find time to see The Dark Knight, which was pretty amazing. I want to go again, but it'll probably be the end of this week. I have Saturday off, thank goodness.
It was weird to watch Heath Ledger, I won't lie, but he truly gave an amazing performance. When they announced oh, a year ago or so that he was cast in the part, I remember thinking, "Really? Heath Ledger? That's going to suck!" But I realized how wrong I was not long after, and he honestly stole the movie. I have to wonder, though, how much of that is due to him having passed away, you know? Like, would people have been this excited to see it if he were still alive? I like to think so. I know there are those who are just curious to see a dead actor, but I like to think that even if he'd been alive, it would still have been this successful. Anyway, he had the perfect combination of making the audience laugh while also making them cringe. Pretty much the whole audience flinched at the disappering pencil, but also laughed, while covering our eyes, still giggling, but like brother and I, curled into the fetal position in our seats because we realized that this Joker was not going to be like the Joker we knew. He was better, and unpredictable, and every time he was on screen I wondered what horrible thing he would do next.
I really like that he just shows up out of nowhere, with no origin story, and starts tearing the city to pieces. I love that. I always thought The Joker worked better without an origin. He's just this fantastically chaotic person. He's constantly changing his story about how he got his scars, and I think the scariest thing is to imagine that he did it himself. I think he did, anyway. And then, at the end, we see him caught by the police, but we all know that The Joker breaks out of Arhkam like, what, every three days or something. He won't stay put for long. But I love that we don't know for sure. And maybe it's better that way, since Heath Ledger won't be playing the role again. In a weird way, my brain still can't grasp the fact that Ledger is dead, and so I think I've sort of convinced myself that he just went away somewhere, still alive but never to be seen again.
(On a side note that doesn't really fit anywhere: Youngest brother and I wondered if Nolan ever considered adding Harley Quinn to a third movie, because we both felt like he would have been able to handle her. My only complaint with the movies so far is the severe lack of female characters. Rachel ends up becoming a victim and a catalyst for the villain, and other than her, there are no other women in prominent roles. I would enjoy seeing a female villain, either Harley or Catwoman, but Christopher Nolan doesn't seem too keen on Catwoman. I'd like there to be more women, but I'm not sure how he'd incorporate them now with Rachel gone and his expressed disinterest in Catwoman.)
Anyway, my brothers and I wondered if they'd be ballsy enough to re-cast the part. Now, this worked very well in the case of Rachel, because for one, I didn't like Katie Holmes in the part to begin with. I felt like she looked too young to be a D.A., and I didn't think she played it very well. Whatever, personal preference. Maggie Gyllenhaal, to me, was able to bring more maturity to it and make me take Rachel seriously. Also, her standing up to The Joker was fabulous. I'm still upset over her fate, because now she's just another victim and a cause for the villain, but at the same time I think everyone knew that she wasn't going to make it to the end of the story. But anyway, I thought that Gyllenhaal was much more suited to the part, and I'm sad that she won't get to do it again, but glad that at least she did it for this movie. (However, in the back of my mind there's an alternate universe story going on where Bruce and Rachel live happily ever after, and it's completely absurd and would never happen, but a girl can dream).
ANWYWAY. I can't seem to write without getting off-subject here. Back to The Joker-- again-- and recasting the part. I don't know if they even want the character back for another movie, because his story seemed pretty conclusive, BUT, if they did.. this is a huge if, really, but. If they were even thinking of maybe going down that road, I can only imagine one actor in the entire world possibly taking the part. There is only one person who is so dedicated to the art that I think he truly would be able to do it justice and follow up Heath Ledger.
That person, my friends, is Daniel Day-Lewis. No, really, think about it. Did anyone see There Will Be Blood? Fantastic movie, but very grim. I completely forgot what actor it was, much like I did with Ledger. And his vocal tone is very similar to Ledger's is while playing The Joker. I'm just saying, just throwing that out there, if they wanted to go that way, I think they could. Day-Lewis is older, yeah, but under the makeup, who would know?
You know, Aaron Eckhart isn't getting nearly enough credit for playing Harvey Dent/Two-Face. Everyone knows what's going to happen to Dent, but when it does, man, he was great. Firstly, I hadn't been spoiled on Two-Face's appearance yet, so it was a great shock when he finally turned and you saw his burns. But more importantly, I felt like Eckhart gave an excellent portrayal of Harvey's loss of faith and his descent into becoming the very kind of villain he was fighting against. It was beautiful and tragic, and it ended the only way it could have. At first I was disappointed because I thought they were setting it up for Two-Face to be the villain of the third movie (because there will be a third, I have no doubt about that), but actually.. I'm glad Two-Face got a conclusive ending. A whole movie of him flipping a coin would have just been stupid (see Batman Forever).
We were also wondering about a villain for the third movie. I kind of want to see someone do justice to Catwoman, but in Nolan's universe I'm not sure she would work. The other well-known ones, like Penguin, Freeze, and Poison Ivy all seem too campy and silly.. although maybe Penguin would work. Maybe. But I think Riddler seems like the most obvious one. Older-younger brother pointed out that the accountant who tries to expose Bruce seems like a likely contender to become Riddler. My only worry is that he becomes too similar to The Joker, but I think Nolan knows how to make that work. Youngest brother is keen on the idea of introducing Hush, which I also think could work, but not many people are familiar with him.
I really do think there needs to be a third. The Dark Knight sort of vaguely reminds me of The Empire Strikes Back, in that it's such a somber, dark ending that there HAS to be a follow-up to fix everything. You can't leave the audience so depressed like that. As soon as it was over, my younger brother and I jokingly said that the next one should be called "Batman Redemption" or something. But it's true, there has to be a redeeming third movie. Just with a better title. The Caped Crusader, maybe? Or maybe that's too silly, I dunno.
I think this is the most I've written about a movie in a while, so that should tell you something. I thought it was incredibly well made, and I'm excited to see it again. I feel like it's a huge stepping stone for comic movies, and hopefully other studios will realize what audiences want and expect from their superhero movies in the future.