Your "Why So Serious?" Quizo Update

So.

The Dark Knight.

Yeah.

…

…

Yeah.

I had a reaction to a film once, I want to say it was Traffic but it feels much more recent than that; I had this reaction where when someone asked me what I thought of it I said, “it’s the best movie I never want to see again.” Unfortunately I’m probably going to have to see it again, what with the whole Imax thing and a couple people who haven’t seen it for whatever reason. I’m honestly not that thrilled at the prospect of watching The Dark Knight again because doing so is a pretty unpleasant experience at best. After I got home from the movie I had a number of people IM me (at 4AM!) asking for my review and I told them all the same thing: if you’re in the mood for a relentless onslaught of nihilistic brutality, The Dark Knight is just what the doctor ordered.

Folks, this is not a happy film.

Don’t misunderstand me: The Dark Knight is an absolute masterpiece. And I’m not talking as a comic book movie or a superhero movie or a big summer action movie or whatever. It is a straight-up real-movie masterpiece. It is certainly and easily the best film released thus far this year; it is probably one of the best films I’ve ever seen, though I’ll have to see it a few more times to really make that judgment, which I really don’t want to do since watching it the first time elicited a response that is similar to what I imagine it would feel like if someone rearranged my digestive system with an electric mixer. The film is absolutely flawless – and I mean that, it’s perfect, there is not a single element even a micron out of place anywhere in the entire film – but you don’t so much watch The Dark Knight as the movie repeatedly and continuously kicks you in the head and stomach. Lighthearted or hopeful moments are very few and quite far between; the other 99% of the film’s running time drowns in a sea of despair and desperation.

And then there’s The Joker.

There is little point in saying much about Heath Ledger other than the fact that yes, he is quite excellent; others have heaped metric tons of badly-written praise on his performance without, I think, very much understanding of it. In my case it is enough to say that he (and, in fact, the entire film) was good enough to immediately push past the annoying left-brain analytical barriers that automatically go up when I consume entertainment; I wasn’t dissecting every aspect of his performance while I was watching it and a) for me, at least, that almost NEVER HAPPENS, and b) I kind of wish I had, since I could have used some emotional distance between myself and the movie. Like a fractal of the film Ledger’s performance is note-perfect, and it combines with Nolan’s direction to create something truly unique. The Joker isn’t a character or even a person as much as he is a force of nature, a personification of chaos and anarchy that appears and disappears at will and leaves confusion and destruction in his wake; he is like nothing that’s ever been seen on film before and I doubt very much ever will be again.

My quibbles with the film are exceedingly minor, though, and are really a testament to how unbelievably good it is. My primary complaint is that the film makes me feel bad – and I mean feel REALLY bad, like the feeling you got the first time you saw Seven or Unforgiven – and the simple fact of the matter is that a lesser movie wouldn’t have that kind of effect. If there were any justice in the world and if things like this really mattered it would be a lock for a Best Picture nomination; suffice it to say that will probably not happen but that in the future that decision will be sorely regretted a la Raging Bull or LA Confidential.

To sum up: The Dark Knight is a goddamn masterpiece. See it if you have not done so already. If you don’t think so, as a professor of mine used to say, well, the world needs ditch-diggers too.

Also there was something interesting at the Open this weekend, I think.

JLK