Why So Serious?

Since my last post was about The Dark Knight, it only seems right that my first one in almost, oh, three months should be about the same movie.

I saw The Dark Knight this past Sunday night. Even though it had already been out for just over a week, the theater was absolutely packed for the 7:45 show, and this was still with quite a few other showings in the same theater. As luck would have it, I couldn't find a parking space and got inside so late that the only seats left were in the very first row, which is just about as bad as it can get. During the previews, I sat there fuming that the one movie I was dying to see would be ruined by neck cramping. (Does that make me kind of geeky? Afraid so.)

As it turns out, The Dark Knight rocks sufficiently to make any thoughts of neck cramping disappear like bats on a summer's night. (Get it? Oh, ha ha ha.) Christian Bale is back again as the brooding Batman who makes good use of his daytime identity as billionaire Bruce Wayne, pretending to be a shallow dillettante so no one suspects his crime-fighting nocturnal activities. Maggie Gyllenhaal assumes the role of his love interest Rachel Dawes, and Aaron Eckhart is introduced as newly elected Gotham city DA Harvey Dent (and the future Two-Face). Morgan Freeman as Lucius Fox and Michael Caine as Alfred round out the cast as Batman's indispensible right hand men.

The most exciting presence on screen, though, is Heath Ledger as the Joker. He steals every scene he's in, you can't stop watching him. His portrayal is a departure from Jack Nicholson's more gentlemanly take back in the Tim Burton version, and I have to say, it's phenomenal. He's charming, funny, sadistic, unpredictable, and thoroughly scary. I loved it.