Why So Serious?

We have a winner. I just got back 10 minutes ago from the midnight showing of The Dark Knight. Maybe you've heard something about it. Two words: Must see. Two more? Big Screen!


I'm absolutely shocked at the movie. No spoilers, just marveling about it. Do watch for the magic trick near the beginning. Pretty good.


They said this was going to be a very dark movie. They couldn't have possibly undersold that angle more. It's a black hole.


And Heath Ledger is everything you've heard and a whole lot more. Forget the nostalgia that this was his last role on film. If he were alive this would still be all people would be talking about. To me he was completely unrecognizable in the film. There must have been some latex at work on his face cuz it looks meatier than in real life.


And he plays The Joker, essentially a terrorist, incredibly well and in a bunch of different ways. First off, he's funny. There are laughs in this movie. Granted, some of them are for disturbing reasons, but they are laughs nonetheless. And he's maniacal. He's schizophrenic. He's smart. He's deceptive and a liar. And most amazing to me...he's sympathetic. There is a scene where you feel a little sorry for him. Most importantly, Ledger turns the comic book cartoon Joker into someone that is very human. Someone who has a past that he sees in the mirror everyday.


There were times I wondered if the lines were blurring between Ledger and The Joker. It reminded me of Brandon Lee and The Crow.


I've never really bought Christian Bale as Batman, The Dark Knight. The Dark Knight comics were more graphic and dark as I understand them. Bale is too pretty to be Batman as a dark anti-hero warrior type. He works as Bruce Wayne, at least as how it's written here. But he's not gritty enough...too plastic...for Batman.


Personally I could see John Malkovich playing the shit out of Batman. He's got some darkness to him. Sean Penn I would bet could pull it off as well. And if he weren't already engaged as Iron Man, Robert Downey Jr. would make a great Batman. I could even take someone like John Travolta trying on the suit. But Bale in my mind is just too pretty....maybe I just remember him so well from American Psycho.


There really isn't a bad performance in this movie (Bale didn't suck, but didn't blow me away either). Aaron Eckhart, Anthony Michael Hall, Gary Oldman, Michael Caine, Eric Roberts, and Morgan Freeman are all exceptional. The whole damn movie is great. I'll easily see it 2 or 3 more times before it's out of theaters.


Onto the next in the series. Who to play new villains for the Caped Crusader to foil? Sign up Phillip Seymour Hoffman right now. He was stellar in Mission Impossible III and really the only reason to plunk down hard earned money for that one. Paul Giamatti is a villain in waiting. I could even see Pacino as a mastermind. A Dr. Evil sort. And who to play the next female villain? Joan Allen? Angelina Jolie? Rachel McAdams?


And since WHEN is Gotham in Illinois?