The Dark Knight Thread

[Professor S]

Well I finally saw The Dark Knight last night, and I'm still processing it. Its not like anything I've ever seen before. Whatever is was, it was beyond what I was expecting. Nolan has blown up the genre of comic book movies and I believe raised the expectations of the audience with this film.

The Joker needs to be retired for a while. Heath Ledger's performance was iconic. Not only was he a great Joker, but he was pretty much the sum of everything there is to fear in this world: a danger we cannot hope to fully understand. That is what made him so dangerous and frightening. He should win an Oscar. If he doesn't, its only because the academy didn't want to be viewed as giving him one because he died.

Thats all I can say for right now. I'm still wrapping my head around it. One thing is for sure... every other comic movie director just shook their head and are wondering what the hell they are going to do now...

[Vampyr]

I think Marvel Studios is doing a great job. Marvel taking over the making of their own movies was the best move they've ever made. No, they still don't compare to the Dark Knight, but they're very good.

The Dark Knight just has an unbeatable combination of fantastic actors and a great writer/director. I think Nolan is the greatest writer/director we have living at the moment; anything he touches will inevitably be gold.

And yes, I think Heath has created a truly beautiful abomination with the Joker. We can't understand why he does what he does, but we can ponder it, and that is all the more frightening. His lack of any type of origin also heightens his character. After seeing the movie for the second time, I just sat and thought about what kind of circumstances could have made him what he is. It's also interesting to think about where he could have lived, or what kind of food he ate. It's hard to imagine the Joker sitting down to a meal.