Above the law. |
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I've heard more times than I can count that you should write what you know; it could also be said to write about that over which you obsess. Although the writer may be too close to the material to offer an objective point of view to the reader - which in this case, let's face it, is like five people - at least it's cathartic for the writer; don't worry, though; I'll keep in interesting.
For those living under a stone for the last few days, The Dark Knight has shot out of his Bat-cave like the monster truck he drives, pummeling the single day, opening day, and opening 3-day weekend box office records previously held by Spiderman 3. In addition to that, Dark Knight brought in over three-fourths of the box office total, in three days, its well-received predecessor, Batman Begins, brought in over its entire release. Dark Knight also is getting rave reviews from critics and fans alike; I expect that more records will fall over the coming weeks.
As for my own personal thoughts, as I bask in the light of Chris Nolan's Dark Knight success coming off the heels of Jon Favreau's Iron Man (at last glance ringing up over a half billion dollars world-wide), I feel a sense of satisfaction. For years I've been waiting for some director to convince, cajole, or flat-out blackmail their way into getting these kinds of films made, but even as I credit the Bryan Singers, Guillermo del Toros, and Richard Donners for paving the way to this, my favorite movie summer since 1999, I must acknowledge that Superman, X-men 2, Hellboy - even Iron Man, Batman Begins, Superman II, and The Incredibles - pale in comparison to The Dark Knight.
This is a love letter to Chris Nolan and anyone that had a direct hand in the cinematic masterpiece that is The 
Different sides of the same coin. |
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Dark Knight, and the first person I suppose that I must observe is Heath Ledger.
While his untimely death has spotlighted his work on the project, it's unlikely that it would have been any less well received were he still alive. I know that my observation of his role as the Joker began with a questioning squint ("Heath Ledger?") that turned into a begrudging nod ("I like his look") that became what I can only describe as guarded giddiness ("Have you heard the teaser?") and finally crested with an electric current running throughout my extremities ("Kill you? I don't want to kill you! You... complete me.") that has yet to fully dissipate.
For the record, there have only been a handful of times that I can recall having this strange euphoria - a natural high, if you will. The two moments that come to mind that I'm willing to share publicly are when I watched John Elway win his first Super Bowl in 1998 and during the shooting of my own self-produced short in which I directed two actors to a moment of precise truth. I'd say that it was like sex, but that would be overstating the significance of sex which is not always so electric.
By way of explanation, I am very sensitive in every way; I'm not saying that to garner pity nor respect, simply as a matter of fact. Like music, A performance like Heath Ledger's Joker isn't something that I watch or hear so much as feel. At nearly every point of his performance a smile kept creeping across my face, not because I take any pleasure in watching depictions of pain and suffering, but because I felt that I was watching an artist at the height of his craft, tapping into emotional zones that, simply admitting they exist within themselves, cripples most people.
The greatest acting, in my opinion, isn't about putting a mask on but in taking a mask off. What I mean by that is everyone 
The face of darkness. |
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harbors within themselves extremist thoughts and base emotions, both love and hate, that we temper with logic and social conditioning. I believe that the majority of great acting performances come from stripping away the layers of logic and social conditioning and wallowing in one's impulses, be they self-sacrificing or self-serving.
However Heath Ledger brought the Joker to life, it was a character that tapped into my darker thoughts even as his chosen nemesis, Batman, stood for all the things that my conscious mind knows must win out for the world not to suck in a very serious way.
The other key person that I would point out is obviously Chris Nolan; not because we agree on how Batman and his supporting cast of characters are best portrayed, nor his fixation on the duality of man or desire to ground every aspect of the production in the real world, eschewing the use of CG unless absolutely necessary, but because of his courage and confidence as a filmmaker. In point of fact, Batman Begins seemed to be pushing the envelope when it was released in 2005, edgy and dark, but when viewed in tandem with Dark Knight, it seems positively bubbly.
First off, the tone of Dark Knight is bleak and hopeless with only the smallest ray of light to offset the darkness, with the most similar movie I can think of being David Fincher's Seven. I can't help but wonder what kind of films the new Star Wars trilogy could've produced, given it's subject matter, had Lucas displayed the kind of dark understanding and, to be frank, balls, that these two younger directors have.
Nolan's Jungian opus isn't just dark of tone either, but dark as in the absence of light. Even sparsely, or darkly lit films like Alien, Aliens, the original Nightmare on Elm Street, Friday the 13th, 
Director Chris Nolan and Producer Emma Thomas. |
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Halloween, Saw, Seven, Event Horizon, and Dark Knight's predecessor Batman Begins, all dark in their own right, in retrospect, look as if lit like sitcoms.
Cinematographer Wally Pfister, who's been with Nolan forever, takes his craft to heights (or darks) that I've never seen. In an era in which color, rack focuses (guilty), and a deliberately shallow depth of field are so often the go to for guiding the eye of the audience, it's practically been lost, the simple stark contrast of light and darkness. Though done more overtly in something like, say, Sin City, Pfister is playing in a much more real world where he meticulously lights what he wants you to see, not what you want to see. Even when it seems to be high noon, it's as if the arch-villain from The Care Bears Movie has stepped in to suck all the color and happiness out of the world, dark even in the light of day.
I feel bad for not saying anything about other players like Christian Bale (one of the finest actors of his generation), Aaron Eckhart, Maggie Gyllenhaal (am I the only person that missed Katie Holmes?), Gary Oldman (my favorite actor of all time), Morgan Freeman (can anyone do more with seven minutes of screentime?), Michael Caine, plus quick hits by Cillian Murphy, William Fichtner, Anthony Michael Hall, Eric Roberts, Keith Szarabajka, etc.
The dust has not yet begun to settle, and already people are talking about the next installment. Will the Joker return played by someone else? If not, then who? And more importantly what? What story can be told that is going to be as sprawling an epic as was The Dark Knight?
I have no idea what Nolan and his team have in mind for the future, but I'm looking forward to it.
Let darkness fall.
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| Thom Williams |
Thom is both a maker and lover of films. He loves, and makes, films of all kinds. He is often as surprised by what he likes as by what he creates himself; Thom entered film school with a distaste for silent, black and white, and foreign films, yet left having made one of each. He likes what he likes and make no apologies for his opinions.
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