Why so serious?

I finally (after an excruciating day of waiting) got around to watching The Dark Knight. It was the second time I'd seen the film, the first since its theatrical run. The Dark Knight may be coming back out into theaters sometime in early 2009 though. The producers want to give it a chance to break the 600 million dollar mark. Right now, The Dark Knight has taken in about 530 million...70 shy of the mark, 70 shy of tying Titanic for biggest box office of all time. At the same time that people behind The Dark Knight are trying to make even more money from it, the folks at the Oscars are thinking about getting The Dark Knight out front and putting it up for a few awards, one of which is potentially Best Picture.

It makes me happy to see a movie like The Dark Knight getting appropriate recognition. I was watching the special features on our disc at home with the GF and I was amazed at how much functionality exists in the props for that movie. The "Tumbler", Batman's car, the "Bat-Pod", his motorcycle, and his body armor are all functional. That's an amazing amount of work to put into something that might draw enough crowds. It's risky to put that much money and prep time into a movie that, while it has its built-in comic-fan audience, isn't really the most popular version of the Batman story. Kids want to see Batman. Parents want to take their kids to see Batman. Parents might have been able to get away with taking an 8-10 year old to see Batman Begins, but there is no place for children in the world in which the The Dark Knight exists.

Looking for someone to blame for transforming Batman's world into a viscerally evil cesspool of crime and degeneracy? You can blame the Joker. Health Ledger's Joker is one of only a handful of times that I can recall witnessing an actor putting literally their all into a role which could turn said actor inside out. Charlize Theron did a great job of it in Monster, Christian Bale did his own agonizing transformation for The Machinist, and but they pale in comparison to what Ledger did to get his version of the Joker up on the screen. There are a lot of words to describe his performance, but there isn't just one word to do it justice.

My favorite scene of the Joker is right after he's busted out of jail, thanks to the cell phone bomb sewn up inside his fellow prisoner's belly. Gordon (Gary Oldman) is talking about the breakout and then the film cuts to a shot of several cop cars, lights blazing, swerving and speeding down the street. The Joker's head and shoulders are out the window and the wind is blowing in his forever-greasy green hair. He closes his eyes and opens his mouth, flicks his tongue over his red, rough-edged scars and revels in what he's just done. He's happy to have escaped, and it's nice to taste the sweet air of freedom, but he knew he'd get out. That expression of pleasure and near ecstasy is slapped onto his face because he can now fully bask in the glory of all the damage, pain and destruction he's just orchestrated.

I've seen a lot of movies, and if I know you, then you heard me say this before, but here it is again: I know what a PG-13 movie is, and I know what can happen in a PG-13 -rated movie, but every time the Joker came on screen I thought anything could happen. I was not put at ease by the limit of the rating given to The Dark Knight. The presence of the Joker is palpable and disgusting and it truly makes you feel uneasy. At the same time, it is awesome to watch. If you haven't seen it, you must see it. It's gritty movie-making at it's finest, and transcends its comic book origins. If you want a powerful movie with the baddest villain you've seen since Jame "Buffalo Bill" Gumb, you must see The Dark Knight.