"How 'bout a magic trick?"
Jul. 24th, 2008 10:37 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
nano_mooseSpoilery babbling about The Dark Knight. Seriously the only way this could get any more spoilery is if it was actually the movie. Long story short, it's awesome, go watch it, but have something optimistic on hand for after.
- I could feel the beats of the main 'hero' leitmotif through the seat. This extended to gunshots, explosions, heavy blows - pretty much all the bass. Interesting sensation, and probably at least half the reason I was giggly with adrenaline on the way out of the theatre.
-Yeah, yeah, the pencil trick was totally creepily awesome, but seriously it's such a perfect encapsulation of the Joker's style; shocking and repulsive and uncomfortably hilarious.
- I love how much quiet glee Bruce takes in being Bruce Wayne, millionaire playboy. I don't know how people can be critical of Christian Bale's performance; he was quiet compared to characters like Two-Face and the Joker, yeah, because he's BATMAN. He doesn't need to show off. And it made the moments when he does let it out even more effective.
- Alfred ♥
- TRUCK FLIP HELLS YES that could not have been any more badass you guys SERIOUSLY
- Gordon was alive! And he beat people! And was awesome! I was so relieved! There's something comforting about the guy. Also I'm glad his wife slapped him.
- Oh lord the Joker in the hospital bit was like a peak of awesome in the awesome mountain range, talking poor Harvey over the edge in a frigging nurse's outfit and then the soap and then that ridiculous detonator gag. Apparently they actually blew up a carpark dressed as a hospital, which - well, not to put too fine a point on it, but it is fucking hardcore.
- "Now give that to me, and I'll do what you should have done ten minutes ago." YES. The movie NEEDED that moment so bad.*
- Second time through I tried to mentally note the moments when the Joker laughed, and - well, it paints a pretty creepy picture of what he thinks is funny, lemme tell ya. My personal favourite was either while he was in prison or when Batman knocked him over the edge and he was falling; both times he laughed because he'd succeeded in pushing his nemesis far enough to make it show. Even it it meant he died, he made Batman crack.
- UPSIDE DOWN JOKER SHOT. YESSSSS oh man I'm very very vaguely disappointed they didn't have just one brief shot of their profiles, but who cares about that when they turned Joker around so he was upright? Total symbolic win.
- One of the the boldest things they did is, I think, that the Joker won. Oh, he was caught, and he didn't take Batman down, but he broke Harvey Dent like a toy. He proved that everyone is a step and a fall away from chaos, no matter how high they stand. No wonder he was the only character having any fun.
- I haven't been talking about Harvey Dent much because he makes me very sad. He made me sad in the animated series and Dark Knight Returns, too, but now it's even worse because...well, he died. Without ever having a shot at getting back what he lost. Oh, Harvey.
- "Either you die a hero, or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain." And what's interesting about that is that he did both. The characters unconsciously predict the future a lot, in this movie. I'll have to watch it again soon.
*Some people are saying Joker probably rigged it so the detonators would actually destroy the ships they were on, just to fuck with people, and - I don't think that's it? I mean, he obviously loves reversals and turning things backwards and upside down and inside out, but I think he'd really prefer a boatload of people dealing with having killed another boatload of people purely to save their own hides, rather than a boatload of people hugely relieved.
Okay, you know I've got it bad when just listening to the soundtrack of a movie makes my hands shake. 'Why So Serious?' is an awesome, awful theme, weaving through states and speeds and moods but always discordant and alarm-ish. It's like Silent Hill: The Action Movie. I like how the first beats after long moments of comparative quiet are really loud and startling, and it's always so TENSE. It's so perfect for the character and his scenes; you're always afraid of TDK's Joker and what he might do, knowing he would do anything. There's something inevitable about him. Like he's the backlash against Batman trying to fix everything at once.
God, he's the scariest villain I think I've ever seen.
The reviews and reaction posts I've come across so far tend to make the same point: The DK!Joker doesn't need a back-story, or a motive like money or revenge or even a lot of malice. He's pure chaos and destruction, an elemental force, the embodiment of the wildcard: he enters and all your plans go straight to hell. Now think back to Bruce describing his idea to Alfred: "I need something...elemental..." And I love that. I love diametric opposition, the idea that they are dark reflections of each other, each a different archetype, a different kind of nuts. And I love that the Joker realizes that and retools his horrible crusade into a game. Sheesh, he thinks Batman is awesome. He thought Two-Face was awesome, too - the glee on his face when Harvey had the coin idea!
I'll be interested to see if anyone out there believes themselves capable of roleplaying the guy, or writing fic for him.
EDIT: My brother hilariously pointed out that when the police go through his pockets, among the many, many knives they find a single potato peeler. "I've seen people saying stuff like "Oh, that Joker, isn't he a wacky guy," you know, like they think it's just there to make him weird and he's never used it on anyone, but you know he's found a way to kill someone with it. Somehow."
Things I do not like:
- There are already fangirls out to woobify TDK Joker. Um. Did they - close their eyes and put their hands over their ears and hum loudly during all his scenes or something? I seem to recall his tearing a guy's face open and putting a pencil through another's eye and shooting up random civilians and describing why he prefers knives over guns and sticking bombs inside people and all the mindfucking and - okay really, fangirls? Really? You know he made up those scar stories, don't you?*
- The bullet-reconstruction thing rang my Hollywood Bullshit alarms, and I'm kinda glad it didn't lead anywhere good, really. Like a punishment for stepping over the lines of plausibility, you know?
- Soundtrack drowned out the dialogue sometimes, which is a fairly major problem in a movie as complex as this one. It might just have been a problem with the theatre I was in, though, since no one else seems to be complaining about it.
- Okay, wow, could you possibly try not killing off your one major female character solely to motivate the male characters, please? Come on, guys, I thought we talked about this.
- ... I remember being incredibly weirded out and deeply skeptical when I first heard the casting news, Heath Ledger as the Joker - until I saw the first shot of him in the make-up. You know the one. And almost three years later, I am furiously angry that he'll never get to do another performance as brilliant. I'm not sure what conclusion I should draw from this, aside from that it is A Thing I Do Not Like.
*Of course, I can't talk. After the movie and the Avatar finale, this makes it Azula, Hester Shaw, Sylar, Hyde, Sweeney Todd and the Joker. HELP ME
...I think I just really like Shadows. That must be it.
- I could feel the beats of the main 'hero' leitmotif through the seat. This extended to gunshots, explosions, heavy blows - pretty much all the bass. Interesting sensation, and probably at least half the reason I was giggly with adrenaline on the way out of the theatre.
-Yeah, yeah, the pencil trick was totally creepily awesome, but seriously it's such a perfect encapsulation of the Joker's style; shocking and repulsive and uncomfortably hilarious.
- I love how much quiet glee Bruce takes in being Bruce Wayne, millionaire playboy. I don't know how people can be critical of Christian Bale's performance; he was quiet compared to characters like Two-Face and the Joker, yeah, because he's BATMAN. He doesn't need to show off. And it made the moments when he does let it out even more effective.
- Alfred ♥
- TRUCK FLIP HELLS YES that could not have been any more badass you guys SERIOUSLY
- Gordon was alive! And he beat people! And was awesome! I was so relieved! There's something comforting about the guy. Also I'm glad his wife slapped him.
- Oh lord the Joker in the hospital bit was like a peak of awesome in the awesome mountain range, talking poor Harvey over the edge in a frigging nurse's outfit and then the soap and then that ridiculous detonator gag. Apparently they actually blew up a carpark dressed as a hospital, which - well, not to put too fine a point on it, but it is fucking hardcore.
- "Now give that to me, and I'll do what you should have done ten minutes ago." YES. The movie NEEDED that moment so bad.*
- Second time through I tried to mentally note the moments when the Joker laughed, and - well, it paints a pretty creepy picture of what he thinks is funny, lemme tell ya. My personal favourite was either while he was in prison or when Batman knocked him over the edge and he was falling; both times he laughed because he'd succeeded in pushing his nemesis far enough to make it show. Even it it meant he died, he made Batman crack.
- UPSIDE DOWN JOKER SHOT. YESSSSS oh man I'm very very vaguely disappointed they didn't have just one brief shot of their profiles, but who cares about that when they turned Joker around so he was upright? Total symbolic win.
- One of the the boldest things they did is, I think, that the Joker won. Oh, he was caught, and he didn't take Batman down, but he broke Harvey Dent like a toy. He proved that everyone is a step and a fall away from chaos, no matter how high they stand. No wonder he was the only character having any fun.
- I haven't been talking about Harvey Dent much because he makes me very sad. He made me sad in the animated series and Dark Knight Returns, too, but now it's even worse because...well, he died. Without ever having a shot at getting back what he lost. Oh, Harvey.
- "Either you die a hero, or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain." And what's interesting about that is that he did both. The characters unconsciously predict the future a lot, in this movie. I'll have to watch it again soon.
*Some people are saying Joker probably rigged it so the detonators would actually destroy the ships they were on, just to fuck with people, and - I don't think that's it? I mean, he obviously loves reversals and turning things backwards and upside down and inside out, but I think he'd really prefer a boatload of people dealing with having killed another boatload of people purely to save their own hides, rather than a boatload of people hugely relieved.
Okay, you know I've got it bad when just listening to the soundtrack of a movie makes my hands shake. 'Why So Serious?' is an awesome, awful theme, weaving through states and speeds and moods but always discordant and alarm-ish. It's like Silent Hill: The Action Movie. I like how the first beats after long moments of comparative quiet are really loud and startling, and it's always so TENSE. It's so perfect for the character and his scenes; you're always afraid of TDK's Joker and what he might do, knowing he would do anything. There's something inevitable about him. Like he's the backlash against Batman trying to fix everything at once.
God, he's the scariest villain I think I've ever seen.
The reviews and reaction posts I've come across so far tend to make the same point: The DK!Joker doesn't need a back-story, or a motive like money or revenge or even a lot of malice. He's pure chaos and destruction, an elemental force, the embodiment of the wildcard: he enters and all your plans go straight to hell. Now think back to Bruce describing his idea to Alfred: "I need something...elemental..." And I love that. I love diametric opposition, the idea that they are dark reflections of each other, each a different archetype, a different kind of nuts. And I love that the Joker realizes that and retools his horrible crusade into a game. Sheesh, he thinks Batman is awesome. He thought Two-Face was awesome, too - the glee on his face when Harvey had the coin idea!
I'll be interested to see if anyone out there believes themselves capable of roleplaying the guy, or writing fic for him.
EDIT: My brother hilariously pointed out that when the police go through his pockets, among the many, many knives they find a single potato peeler. "I've seen people saying stuff like "Oh, that Joker, isn't he a wacky guy," you know, like they think it's just there to make him weird and he's never used it on anyone, but you know he's found a way to kill someone with it. Somehow."
Things I do not like:
- There are already fangirls out to woobify TDK Joker. Um. Did they - close their eyes and put their hands over their ears and hum loudly during all his scenes or something? I seem to recall his tearing a guy's face open and putting a pencil through another's eye and shooting up random civilians and describing why he prefers knives over guns and sticking bombs inside people and all the mindfucking and - okay really, fangirls? Really? You know he made up those scar stories, don't you?*
- The bullet-reconstruction thing rang my Hollywood Bullshit alarms, and I'm kinda glad it didn't lead anywhere good, really. Like a punishment for stepping over the lines of plausibility, you know?
- Soundtrack drowned out the dialogue sometimes, which is a fairly major problem in a movie as complex as this one. It might just have been a problem with the theatre I was in, though, since no one else seems to be complaining about it.
- Okay, wow, could you possibly try not killing off your one major female character solely to motivate the male characters, please? Come on, guys, I thought we talked about this.
- ... I remember being incredibly weirded out and deeply skeptical when I first heard the casting news, Heath Ledger as the Joker - until I saw the first shot of him in the make-up. You know the one. And almost three years later, I am furiously angry that he'll never get to do another performance as brilliant. I'm not sure what conclusion I should draw from this, aside from that it is A Thing I Do Not Like.
*Of course, I can't talk. After the movie and the Avatar finale, this makes it Azula, Hester Shaw, Sylar, Hyde, Sweeney Todd and the Joker. HELP ME
...I think I just really like Shadows. That must be it.
