Why So Serious?
Classic words uttered that will live on. I know that once someone dies, people tend to be nice and feel emotional however Heath Ledger's performance in
The Dark Knight was nothing short of amazing. One of the best of his career besides
Broke Back Mountain. The delivery of his lines, his actions and that fabulous red wig and nurse's outfit will live on in memory. For the sake of loyalty, I will go with saying that my most favorite line in any Batman movie is "Have you ever danced with the devil in the pale moonlight?" uttered by Jack Nicholson's Joker. However Heath's line was perfect.
In the most simple of words, The Dark Knight was absolutely hands down brilliant.
I Choose, therefore I am which basically sums up Jean Paul Sartre's thesis on human nature is the over arching theme of The Dark Knight. Batman has the choice to stay Batman and try to save as many lives as he can but watch the lament of innocence grow louder as civilian lives become collateral damage. Take for example,the regular people in one ferry held the fate of the prisoners in the other ferry and vise versa that was brilliant. One side of the argument was to go ahead and push the button that was in the hands of the normal people because the prisoners had already given up their choice for life because they chose to murder and steal. Now this is profound because it mirrors the real world's assumption that prisoners have already given up their right to life by not following law and order and a hostile society does not wish to give them a second chance, which is the dilemma we are facing in the US with our overcrowded prison system. One mistake and society wishes to not hire the ex-offender which then to survive they revert to their former lawless ways. I understand that most of you will disagree with me and site murderers, rapists, child-rapists and child murders and serial killers as examples of those undeserving of second chances and I will be the first to stand up and keep those terrifying people in jail because there is nothing worse than taking a human life because of some morbid fascination or some temporary insanity (and do not mistake my objection to the redemption of murderers to equate them to people who practice abortion because to me it is not the same thing because then we must establish what is life and that is a subject I am not willing to discuss just yet) but those that commit lower level crimes go to prison and learn worse habits in order to survive in prison society. Now the criminals accepting of their fate and the view that society has of them, by having Debo (Friday if anyone wants to know where you saw him from) throw out the detonator shows that they as criminals still consider themselves humans and delivered themselves to be judge by society i.e. the people in the other ferry. Now this brings us to another theme
Human beings as self actors. There is the belief out there that people are rational self beings that only used their means to arrive at an end that will benefit themselves. I am not so idealistic to say that there isn't anyone of us that would not hesitate to achieve an end in their favor i.e. another movie that terrified movie goers into thought,
Saw, and contemplation about human nature. Simply put do not underestimate human nature and we as humans have this uncanny knack for surviving.
Another random theme was this concept of playing the hero to live long enough to see yourself become the villain. This was first mentioned by Harvey Dent during dinner when Rachel countered him that the last man to be elected protector of the Republic was Caesar and he never gave up power. The poor Roman republic plagued by a lot more than a power hungry old man but by megalomaniacs with private armies that demanded their pay that could only be paid by loot and trophies from conquered peoples and a very well established patron-client system. Off the tangent a bit but the ballerina's comment that this is a democracy and the true hero was Harvey for being an elected official in a democracy is profound because like Rachel said, Caesar was elected, so was Hitler and there are just as many examples of democratically elected tyrants as military coup leaders. No offense to Russians but she has very little room to talk given Russia's history and this in no way is an insult to the Russian people's commitment to democracy but Putin gives me very little for me to trust. Now another reason for me saying this is because it proves the point that people with power become complacent and as another movie said "The world has been crazy for a long time and people are just starting to notice." Now back to my main point which I know has gotten lost in my ranting somewhere but I just want to say people with power should know when to give up that power and not be led astray by their own disillusions of grandeur.
However of course in an idealist world, everyone wishes to have the opportunity to be equally saved, that is why there is a purpose to religion, (no offense to any religious people of any denomination and creed) and that is why there is such a thing as representative form of government but the pragmatic dogma of this Batman movie is surmised in the words of Harvey Dent, "I make my own luck."And who says "God doesn't play with dice?" Lets talk about Harvey Dent, Tommy Lee Jones did a wonderful job as Harvey Two Face but Aaron Eckhart was wonderful and brought a true sense to the words two faced. Here is a man that promises to be the light of Gotham City and is hailed as the 'white knight' and quite popular with the general public. Bet you five dollars whether this is a reference to JFK and Robert Kennedy and to some respects to Obama. And yes Harvey is not completely innocent but he isn't completely a hypocrite, he is a good man that knows that sometimes transparency is not always an option but knows that dancing with the devil will end in pain when he steps on your toes i.e. Commissioner Gordon's choice of having dirty cops in his division and not understanding that optimism masked as pragmatism should always be reevaluated with every step in a plan and every outcome can not be foreseen. If they were, life would be very boring indeed and the Joker's analysis that people panic when things do not go according to plan and all there is Chaos would be correct. By the way I have this terrible childhood fear of clowns and watching the Joker throughout made me have a dull burning sensation in my stomach that turned into numbness. And yes if you must know I am terribly afraid of
It and
Clowns from Outer space. Back on the main axis of my point, even people such as Harvey has his hot buttons who goes by the name of Rachel Dawes. There is an interesting scene involving this issue when Batman stops Harvey from torturing an associate of the Joker after Gordon is shot and presumably killed. If you listen closely to Harvey he gives the man a chance by assigning his living to the head side of the coin which is double headed by the way and which most people understand that a coin with a regular coin will land face down more times than up because of the weight of the image on the face side. Also there is a clear statement being made underneath, that torture does not work and if you want to stay true to your morals than torture should not be an option and morals are not simply cast aside as the Joker would have you believe or Jigsaw in the face of danger. Harvey is a foil for Bruce. However as Nathan Stark said to Deacon in
Eureka (fantastic show by the way can't wait till it starts off again) something to the effect of "we pragmatist pave the way for you idealist" I would tend to agree and say that 'we pragmatist are the shields and swords of the idealistic hero.' Now the decision of Commissioner Gordon at the end of
The Dark Knight is understandable and Gordon takes on the mantle of becoming the pragmatism to Batman's idealism. Just so you know, I cried at the end during that final explanation. And Yes Batman will endure the consequences of his actions for eternity such as Robin's murder at the hands of the Joker and the many deaths over the years of people close to Batman. Spoiler if you guys have never read any Batman comics.
There is one scene in the movie that merits mentioning. The scene in the R&D department with Lucius and Batman. The cellphone sonar is a brilliant plan and Lucius is right, it is unethical and is a direct social commentary on the government's roaming phone taps. The need for security should never trump the liberties awarded to US citizens. Than we run the risk of protectors of the republic becoming common place. No I am not a libertarian though I do share a few of their views.Also another one is the scene where Alfred says to Batman that he crossed the line when he began to push Gotham's criminals into corners they would have to respond more aggressively i.e. policy of deterrence. Now there is also a scene right after, Bruce states "Criminals are simple its all a matter of finding out what he wants," and Alfred counters a little bit later after story telling "that there are some men that just want to watch the world burn." There is a great analysis in an anime that I watched called Black Lagoon where one of the main characters states that people so filled with hate, hate every single thing till they don't understand what they hate and burn until they implode and take everything with them as the fire rages. Classical description of a psychopath or the Joker and Heath's performance portrayed this very well.
While this movie is wonderful for kids with loud violent fight scenes, the great gadgets that make Batman movies and cringe worthy moments worth the 9 bucks for each family member, the more attentive movie goers are sure to love this movie. Speaking of toys and gadgets, that lambo was absolutely amazing and I commend the content director for choosing one of the best sports car around, which so happens to grace the background of this very computer. My second most favorite toy was the bat bike. It reminds me of the Yamaha Tesseract. Also that scene involving the bat bike and the 18 wheeler was stellar reminds of the scene in
The Italian Job where they make the armored truck disappear underneath the street. Now I recommend this movie for everyone. Oscars all around
