The Dark Knight Review

Heath Ledger as THE JOKER. Photo Courtesy of Warner Brothers
I don’t know what to think, exactly, about The Dark Knight.
My first impression is that Heath Ledger was amazing and this movie should have been called The Joker.

My second impression is that the editing felt jolted, often ill-timed, and left me feeling frustrated. It turned me off. There was a moment when Batman comes into a fundraiser that he, as Bruce Wayne, arranged, for Harvey Dent. The Joker has crashed the party and now he’s got Rachael Daws at knife point. Batman interrupts him with his low grumble, “Then love me”, and he goes in for the attack to save his beloved. This scene doesn’t work because the editing confuses the dialogue and the focus of the scene. I wanted to rewind it to figure out what the director’s intent was. It felt like a gaff. There were several instances of this odd, ill-timed editing throughout the movie and I felt really irked by it. It reminded me of what was wrong with a near brilliant piece of movie art: Gangs of New York (the editing).

My third impression was that the pacing of the movie was chaotic, dysfunctional, off. It didn’t build and it didn’t ease off. There were no contrasts. It was all jump, action, jump, confrontation, jump, blow things up, jump confrontation, jump, action, etc.. You get the picture… And the thing is, none of these action scenes were fresh or new. None of them had the artistic vision I'd expect from a director like Nolan.

I felt that many of the dialogue driven scenes were cut short and I was not given enough time to sink into the mood or find an overall theme in them. I wanted to meditate on the ideas and the words and be with the characters, but every time I started to get into a scene it would cut to something entirely different, not thematically or visually related. Again, it felt jolted, patched together, unpolished. Perhaps Nolan will have a director’s cut? I hope so.

I’m not sure if the lack of continuity and narrative is in the script or the editing, but it stands out like a pink elephant in a dining room.
Even Christian Bale, who I always look forward to seeing in movies, and who never fails to deliver mesmerizing performances, doesn’t get a chance to shine in The Dark Knight. The movie doesn’t give him enough screen time or a developed character arc. And this is highly frustrating, because, as a viewer, I want to watch the transformation of Batman into The Dark Knight, and the only real hint of it I get is at the end when Batman tells Lieutenant James Gordon, sensitively played by Gary Oldman, that he is not the hero that Gotham needs right now. Thus, he has to go into hiding and let Gordon “chase him”. This is all dialogue and it’s fast and short at the end of the movie and feels confusing and cheap.

I wanted this movie to be better. I wanted it to be as tight and complete as Batman Begins, a true work of movie art.

As much as I respect Christopher Nolan and love his movies, with The Dark Knight I feel disappointed, confused, and upset. Perhaps I feel disappointed because the contrast with Batman Begins leaves this movie lacking, and definitely as this is Heath Ledger’s last film performance (unless Terry Giliam manages to include some footage of Heath in his new film). I wanted the movie to be perfect and amazing. Ledger’s performance is, and for now, I will see this movie as an homage to his unique gift as an actor, and not as a tour de force by Nolan.

After writing the above, I have found some other, more established and well-known, movie critics voicing similar sentiments about The Dark Knight, as follows:

MTV's Kurt Loder's review, The Dark Knight: Ledgerdemain

David Edelstein's 2 parter: Bat Out of Hell in which the reviewer states that "Even its most wondrous vision...can’t keep the movie airborne", and The Dark Knight of My Soul in which he says, "the plotting is herky-jerky, the psychology perplexing, the action scenes incoherent".

Fox News' Four Reasons to Skip The Dark Knight in which the reviewer says "the film borders on pastiche" and asks "is it too much to ask that a Batman movie be about.. Batman?"

What's In A Number?

Well, here we are in 2008.
Arbitrary number used to designate a point in time.
January 22nd, 2008.
In one month I will be 40.Arbitrary number used to designate the duration of my existence thus far.
And today marks the end of the duration of Heath Ledger's life, a short 28 years.
I really valued him as an actor. I looked forward to each movie featuring his amazing talent. How odd that he isn't around now to see the outcome of his turn as The Joker in Christopher Nolan's much anticipated Batman installment,The Dark Knight.
I found his roles in both Casanova and Brokeback Mountain not only powerful, moving, and deep, but entirely unique. No one else could have or would have played those characters with that level of sensitivity,nuance,and attention.
Heath Ledger had something inexplicably unique in his onscreen presence: an odd combination of vulnerability and assuredness that stood out so strongly in all of his roles.
What he might have gone on to achieve as an actor is now left to our imaginations,but I'm sure he'd have been one of the best actors in the history of the craft.
I wonder what Terry Gilliam's movie, Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus,starring Heath Ledger, will be like, after the final cut.
I haven't seen I'm Not There, yet, as I'm not interested in Bob Dylan,and never have been. But now, now that Heath has passed, I must see it, as he is in it.

Heath Ledger.
Amazing Actor.
Born in Australia in 1979. Died in 2008.
Why?
They say he was found dead in his New York City apartment,with pills, supposedly over the counter sleeping pills, spilled out around him.
Why?
Why did he take enough to kill himself? Was it an accident?
Did he take his own life on purpose?
What were his last thoughts?
Did he intend to die? If so, why?
If not, how can we make sense of such a horrible overdose accident?
Shouldn't the pharmaceutical companies responsible for manufacturing, marketing,and distributing these lethal drugs be reigned in and forced to make safer drugs? Is there such a thing as safer drugs?
How can someone go buy over the counter sleeping pills, take too many, and die, without some sort of outcry?
It shouldn't be that easy to overdose on them.
Did Heath Ledger have other drugs in his system?

It's so difficult to understand and accept his death.
I kept looking at the announcement, that I first saw at 2:10 pm PST on justjared.com at http://justjared.buzznet.com/tags/heath-ledger

I kept staring at the words, Heath Ledger dead at 28. What does that mean? I thought,is this a joke!? Is this part of his Joker role? I refreshed the page, expecting the news to change.
No.
And then, my Variety.com page updated, displaying the words on the front page:
"Heath Ledger Dead at 28."

Why does it just say dead at 28.
That's so... odd and disorienting.

How about "Amazingly gifted actor, Heath Ledger, tragically dies of possible drug overdose".



Yeah. Like that.

So, he lived for twenty eight years, and apparently all the news services think that is the most important information to display in the announcement of his death.

He was an amazing actor.
I wanted to see him in more roles. I was looking forward to see how his career would unfold.
Like River Phoenix, Heath Ledger's death is a horrible, inexplicible tragedy. It's so sad.
I'm sorry for his friends and family.
I'm sorry for his daughter that won't know her father.
I'm sorry for the art that he won't make.
I'm sorry that his potential won't be realized.
What a waste
Why?

Why did Heath Ledger die?

I'll be 40 in a month.
It's 2008, a time when I thought that major changes would occur in the world. Why have I always felt 2008 signified something for this world? What does turning 40 mean? Why did Heath Ledger only live 28 years?

What does it all mean?