Watching “The Dark Knight” — a two-and-a-half-hour dense piece of textured, cinematic professionalism — twice in the same 24-hour stretch with only two hours’ worth of sleep in your tank I thought I was gonna fall out at the 9:30 last night.
The film holds up, though like any film packed with such ambition, there are some scars that poke through once you know what is coming. I’ve decided my issues with length have little to do with the length and everything to do with the structure of what was clearly a complicated, but necessary, string of events.
And of course, Ledger’s performance settles in more and more, proving to be, probably, one of the most controlled portrayals I think I’ve ever seen. Watch his eyes in the mafia meeting.
Gamble: “You’re crazy.”
Joker: “I’m not. No…I’m not.”
Chilling.
Meanwhile, the debate rages for me and my friends. But I don’t want to spoil it here, so see my comment in the geek review.
Comments
3 responses to “Not recommended”
“How many of your friends have I killed tonight?”
Talk about chills…
I think Nolan knows exactly what he wants to do for Batman 3 and beyond. I think the Nolan brothers and Goyer have everything planned out. I think they’re all bull-shitting us when they talk of only doing one movie at a time. It’s clear that Batman 3 would have featured more of the “chest-game” between Batman and the Joker – obviously Ledger’s passing makes things a little unclear now, but Nolan will recast the Joker and continue his epic story arc. So, what should “Batman 3” be called? Batman Beyond? Gotham? The Darker Knight? :)
I’m thinking “The Caped Crusader”. Maybe run through Batman’s nicknames or something…retarded thought I know unless they name it like “Batman vs. Two-Face” or “Batman Foreverer”…I don’t know.
It won’t be the Joker.
I might put together a post guessing at the third film’s title. Good calls here, and honestly, I think Batman Beyond would be a great title to riff on the show.
But honestly, and I know this is sacrilege in some parts, but they are primed — if they see fit, and what with the nature of the public perception of the Batman at the end of this film — to go with “The Dark Knight Returns” in part 3. That would be fucking sweet.