The Dark Knight

I have to make this quick.

I have 35 minutes to make this post, shave my head and get my ass to bed.

The Dark Knight lives up to all the hype. All of it.

My 14 y.o. daughter, young Galadriel Tanqueray Onassis, use to complain about me dragging her to "super hero" movies. She hated the Superman reboot. She hated the X-Man movies.

But the Spiderman movies flipped her.

She even liked the latest Hulk movie.

Here is my quick review of The Dark Knight.

GTO declared that it may be the best movie she has ever seen, ever!

Definitely the best super hero movie.

When I pointed out that I think this is it for super hero movies this year, she said "It's probably just as well. Any other super hero movies that came out this year would just get compared to Batman and everyone would be talking about how much they sucked."

I won't try to dissect the performances other than to say that Heath Ledger absolutely owns this movie. His creation of The Joker is absolute and unique.

Every other portrayal of The Joker is a rough sketch on the back of a cocktail napkin compared to this.



Every portrayal that comes after this will be a pale imitation.

My main take away from The Dark Knight came from the "good cop / bad cop" interrogation sequence.

*** SPOILERS ***

Harvey Dent and Rachel Dawes are both in danger.

Jim Gordon leaves The Joker alone in the room with The Batman.

Violence ensues.



The Joker knows that there are lines Batman won't cross.

That means that nothing The Batman does matters.

With every threat and every blow The Batman delivers to The Joker, the more The Joker laughs.

Why?

Because he knows that he is driving The Batman to cross his own lines.

If The Batman remains constrains by his own, self-imposed limits, the The Joker wins because he can continue creating chaos.

If The Batman crosses his lines by just killing The Joker (which is the only way he can ever be stopped [and is what The Joker really wants...death by Batman], then The Joker claims the Ultimate Victory.

It is the same choice that faces The United States in the "War Against Terror".

Do we give up everything we aspire to in order to retain what we have?

Do we sink to the level of those we fight in order to defeat them?

If we do, what have we won? Who have we become? Are we truly better off?

Who is the true "victor"?