The Dark Knight

So, this was the must see movie that everybody had to go to the night that it opened. I know, I was there. I was also there two nights later. No big deal. Aside from the fact that Christian Bale is a total nut-case in real life, he plays Batman rather well. Notice I said Batman... Not THE Batman. Everybody who was annoyed by this, please raise your hands!! This completely depersonalized him. It made him seem less known, as if this were one of the first times that anybody had been talking about him. You would think that if he were breakin necks and cashin checks as much as we remember since we were in the thumb-sucking days, he'd be known as Batman, without the frickin THE. Stupid. The reason that it probably annoys me the most is just because this is the first movie, of what, maybe 7 or 8, that they refer to him as the Batman. Probably more like the batman, no capital B. Just upsetting.

Anyway, there was much more to this film than that, sorry Mike. We'll talk about the acting first. Without a doubt, Ledger was the man in this film. It would have still been a great movie, but it wouldn't have had the same jaw-dropping experience that it handed out if somebody else would have taken on the wacky role. Spielberg had it right when he said that the best thing that can be done is to cast a movie well. Nolan knew what he was doing (assuming he made the decision) in casting Ledger. When I first heard that he had the role of the Joker, I immediately thought of Nicholson, and I couldn't see Ledger playing this same role. Then I realized that I was right. He didn't do the same role, he played one that was much different. And better! It was unreal how he took the original, kooky role of the Joker, and kept it the same, while also making him an extremely ominous foe for (the) Batman. Even now, almost a year later, I am blown away by how well he played this role. It's unfortunate that he couldn't stick around to follow it up. The book talks about film acting and stage acting. The major difference, according to these writers, is the film acting can be must less "acted out." The expressions and voice inflections can be much less subtle, as there is no large audience sitting a hundred yards from the actor that needs to see these things. Ledger still played this role with stage acting, as far as I'm concerned. Everything that he did was very exaggerated. That is what made his role so amazing, though. He was completely mental and delusional, but at the same time, he saw his end goal and had an extremely complex plan to help him reach it. Now that we've covered Heath Ledger and his role, I think we should look into the role played by Aaron Eckhart as Harvey Dent. I really think that he should have gained more recognition for this role. Has anybody seen Thank You For Smoking? This guy can act his ass off! Maybe it's just that he is one of my favorite actors, but I really think that the character development that he portrayed was obviously the most significant of anybody in the film, and he handled it very well. He was very convincing as the White Knight, and also as Two-Face, who was seconds away from potentially killing a young boy. I do feel, however, that they went a little overboard with his makeup as Two-Face. Whatever. Maggie Gyllenhaal was cast to clean up the role that Tom Cruise Jr. wouldn't have been able to complete. Finally, the confidant. Alfred was, as always, great. There is a reason why Michael Caine has been in more movies than almost anybody. He plays such versatile roles, and with such believability.

There are movies that make it big that have the "nameless" and "starless" casts. This movie wasn't quite the same. If you take a look at the names, it is very obvious that they were swinging for the fences on this one, and it ended up working out for them rather well. The people behind the scenes knew exactly what they were doing with this film. Once again, this movie was almost entirely shot with a subjective view. The lighting and color was used very well in the beginning of the movie when the faux batmen (its lowercased cause they sucked) were fighting the drug dealers and the Chechen's men. They stayed very well hidden in the shadows, which was convenient because it hid their hockey pads.

The protagonist and antagonist in the movie were very obvious: the Joker and (the) Batman, respectively. I have to say, however, that Alfred deserves some of the protagonist honor. He was the one that keeps Batman/Wayne in line. "You spat in the face of the criminal underworld, did you think you wouldn't get a response? Things were always going to get worse before they got better." This lights the proverbial fire under Wayne's ass, reminding him that he is the Dark Knight, and that these types of things will happen, but he needs to do something about it instead of giving up. Alfred is the catalyst that keeps this train moving.

The Dark Knight is a great movie, and I predict that it will be talked about for years and years as the turning point for the franchise storyline (Batman Begins was still a little elementary at points), and also as one of the most memorable single actor performances of this, or many generations. It seems like many movies come out that really should be awesome, like the second and third installment into The Matrix trilogy, as well as the most recent installment, dare I mention it, in the Indiana Jones franchise. Awful. My point is that The Dark Knight took these crappy movies and put them through a blender. The Dark Knight was better than its predecessor, Batman Begins, and I have to say I will be absolutely blown the F away if the next installment is better than this one was. Sorry for the harsh letters, Mike.

nydailynews: jack nicholson warned heath ledger on joker role

(sorry for some reason it won't let me paste...)

I think these guys make a very valid point. The movie is going to be huge, no matter what. And now, one of the lead roles dies, and it appears that it is linked to the character that he is playing. There is no way that we can watch this movie, and not be somewhat sorrowful. In every action that Ledger does as the Joker, we as an audience are reminded that this role took him away from us.

Like I said, this movie is a huge hit, so this did not hurt it in any way. If anything, it made us tune in a little more to the Joker's character and study his ways to understand what truly happened with Ledger.

CNN.com: Ledger fans demand the Joker retired from film

This is also a very interesting viewpoint that i surely would have never dreamed up. Michael Jordan had his jersey retired, why can't we have the role retired... The one question that comes to mind is this, would they be calling for this if Ledger had not passed away? No. They would have been calling for him to play the Joker again, assuming the role came up again. They would have been better off bringing up maybe somebody like Pat Tillman, a relatively unheard-of NFL player who lost his life in the fight across the pond. Would Tillman have had his jersey retired from the Cardinals organization otherwise? NO! I think their idea is a unique one, but also one that I will not support.