The Dark Knight

Debut: 2008
Director: Christopher Nolan
Starring: Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Aaron Eckhart, Maggie Gyllenhaal

Wowsers. Obviously, this movie is kind of a big deal. A few friends and myself went to see it Friday, and I seriously cannot make up my mind. Not as to whether I liked it or not, but there was SOOOO much going on in this film that I'm surprised it's a blockbuster.

I don't know if they did this in all the theaters, and Trevor made fun of me for it, but they seriously made it darker than usual in ours. Like normally they have those side sconces on a tad, but everything was completely off for our showing. So it was darker than normal in the theater, which set the mood.

The thing that made this movie ridiculous was mostly that they crammed sooo much plot into it. So much plot AND action. The entire film either involves an all-out brawl or some serious secrets and whatnot.

The one big beef I have had, and I don't consider this to be a spoiler, but my boyfriend was annoyed when I told him, is that Two Face actually is in quite a bit of the movie. Like an hour probably. My friends and I agreed that the Two Face stuff should have been left for the next one, and I think a lot of people going into this expect that the movie will end when you see Harvey Dent's transformation to Two Face. That is the one main thing I would say I didn't approve of, because really, then, there were two villains in this film, and I think most would agree that the Joker is his own show.

Moving on to the most talked about topic in the history of the world, Heath Ledger's Joker is stunning, impeccable, scary, funny, and dead on. So many people say that Jack Nicholson did it so well, but I have to say that this was the performance of a lifetime. Here's my take on the Oscar thing - I saw most of last year's nominees, and quite frankly, WAS NOT IMPRESSED. I mean no disrespect, it just seems like some of their performances weren't terribly jarring or didn't take any real guts to play. THIS is something that should be hailed by all. Ledger did a complete transformation, and it's the weirdest thing, because no where in the film did I see the slightest trace of Ledger in the actual role. Not a bit. Aside from that, it KILLS me how he made the character, how the Joker was ridiculously sadistic but made us laugh numerous times. The one horrible thought that went through my mind during the movie was this notion that now the world could understand what led up to his death. The Joker truly frightened me and astounded me at the same time.

I've heard a lot of talk about Maggie Gyllenhaal's performance, and have to say, I wasn't crazy about it. One thing that seriously bothered me is the fact she crossed her arms all the time (which I'm sure was direction) but it's an etiquette thing that people don't cross their arms, especially not when they're hanging out with billionaires. Also, I am NEVER a fan of an actress being replaced in the way they did here. They should have just came up with a new love interest rather than having someone else place the same character Katie Holmes donned a few years ago. But whatever.

Final thoughts - it was good, and it was a whole lot of movie.