Review of The Dark Knight

Today - finally! - is my review of The Dark Knight. One quick note before I post my review:

***Spoilers ahead!***

If you have not seen this movie and do not want to know what happens in it - STOP READING NOW! You have been warned!

Okay, now on to my review!

I found the movie, The Dark Knight, to be entertaining on several levels. For one, Batman had to deal with copycat vigilantes. I found that very interesting. I mean, if Batman can take the law into his own hands, why not others? And why should you trust a masked stranger just because he calls himself a superhero? This is part of the reason why in my “universe”, the federal gov’t formed the superhero team that is sanctioned by them – so that the general public knows which costumed “hero” it can trust to be living out the role generally defined as a “superhero” (hmm. That might be worthy of a separate blog entry. I’ll work on that).

Next is the fact that Batman had in the Joker someone he couldn’t figure out when it came to his motivations and his next move. I always wondered what the Joker had on Batman in that he constantly evaded capture by him. Unlike other criminals, Batman, more often than not, is unable to know what the Joker plans to do next, so all of Batman’s knowledge of human nature and motivations as well as that of criminal motivations do little to help him here. The only way Batman was able to finally get the Joker was to think like him. In the process, Batman embraced chaos by sacrificing his own reputation as a “good guy” in Gotham City.

I often have to get into the heads of those I catch as well, so knowledge of human nature is indispensable in my line of work. This means a very good working knowledge of human psychology; as well as broken down into male and female psychology, because – surprise, surprise – men and women think and act differently. For men, it’s easy to distract them with my revealing costume while I take them down. That's why it's designed the way it is. Men can be so utterly simple sometimes.

For women, many of them wrestle with self-doubt – even those that can throw train engines across town – so it’s a matter of working on their psyche as I’m exchanging punches with them. If you’re not female, then I can’t really explain the fragile female ego thing in a way you'd understand, but it explains a lot of why many women do a lot of the dumb things that they do – especially in regards to the kind of men they choose to get involved with. But that’s a whole ‘nother subject entirely, and I’ve digressed long enough from my review of Batman!

Then there’s the sacrifices made by the various characters. Both Bruce Wayne and Harvey Dent lost their love interest (who happened to be the same woman). Gotham City lost many citizens and public servants, including the police commissioner. Harvey Dent lost his sanity. Batman lost the trust that Gotham City had in him. And so on. All this chaos, caused by one madman.

But isn’t that how it usually is? I realize that I’m risking someone citing Godwin’s Law here, but the best example of what one madman can cause was Adolf Hitler. Hitler, though, was motivated by power and anger, while the Joker seemed to be interested in chaos for chaos’ sake. Thus, Batman’s dilemma of trying to figure out what the Joker planned to do next when the Joker didn’t know what he planned to do next.

What I found most interesting in the movie was the part towards the end when Batman captured the Joker and had him suspended upside down. The Joker knew that Batman wouldn't drop him, despite all that he had done. At the same time, the Joker said he couldn't kill Batman. The Joker's explanation was, "We complete each other." I'm guessing he means in the Yin and Yang sense, in that Batman represents order and the Joker represented chaos, and not in the "I can't quit you" sense of Heath Ledger's character in another movie, Brokeback Mountain.

Isn't that curious? The Joker citing a philosophy in which order is a part of, to a person who embraces a touch of chaos by playing a vigilante role. What I'm saying is, their roles of chaos/order are not clean and complete, but rather, they have some overlap. Still, their differences are stark enough to pretty much qualify as being on opposite sides of the law (even though they both operate outside it! Arrrgghh!!!).

So at the end, in order to help keep hope alive in Gotham City, Batman accepts the role of being responsible for the death of Harvey Dent (even though he wasn't) in order to give Dent a hero's farewell funeral, since he was a very visible opponent of the crime and corruption in Gotham. At the end of the movie, Commissioner Gordon declares Batman an outlaw and smashes the Batsignal, and Batman must now play the role of - well, a vigilante! LOL He's just not going to have the city's blessing anymore.

Watching that movie made me think of my own role in society. I suppose there is a duality involved when I fight bad guys and gals. They are often chaotic and out of control, and I help bring order into their lives. Most of the time, that involves violence towards them. I suppose in a sense, I need them as well. Otherwise, what would I do with all these powers? I believe I've said before that I am living my dream. Being a superhero is what I've always wanted ever since I was a little girl, so when I got my powers, it was the best thing that ever happened to me.

And yet, I suppose that me and the villains I fight are indeed in a sort of macabre dance. But what am I supposed to do - let them run free when I have a means of stopping them? I have to dance that dance, or lives could perish, so dance I must. Fortunately, doing what I must do happens to be exactly what I want to do, so I feel that I'm one of the luckiest people on Earth having what I have to do to be what I want to do anyway. Most of the time, what we want and what we need are polar opposites.

Isn't it cool how a movie helped bring a lot of focus into what I do in my life? That's one of the marks of a great movie.

So on a scale of 1 to 10 in which 1 is a bomb and 10 is THE bomb, I rank The Dark Knight as a 9. I was that impressed with it, and I highly recommend it.

Have a great weekend, and see you Tuesday!