So my brother called me last night to ask if I wanted to go see The Dark Knight at the IMAX. I'm not opposed to it, but I'm leery as hell of it. The last go-round with Batman Begins ended badly. The flash-pans at the beginning of the movie, amplified by being on an IMAX screen, made me so motion-sick that I had to leave the theater. But what the hell.
In any event, I'm greatly amused at the seriousness of everything surrounding The Dark Knight. I mean, yeah, Batman is the genesis of the grim and gritty superhero--thank you Frank Miller--but he's also the comics character that has had far and away the widest pallet of tonal variations. Hell, much as I hated it, even Joel Schumacher's coded gay take on Batman has precedence in the comics. Frederick Wertham didn't make anything up when he concluded that Batman and Robin live "the wish dream of two homosexuals." I mean, look at this panel posted on Mike Sterling's Progressive Ruin:
Go ahead and tell me that these two outfits aren't swiped from Bettie Page's lingerie drawer. I dare you.
Somehow, Christian Bale seems too tight of ass to let go like this:
Ah, for the days of silly comicbook fun...
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2 comments:
Wow, I just read your profile. It's hilarious. Has it always been that?
I saw The Dark Knight on Wednesday. Its incredible. But I have to say for the record, I have no background in comics. My experience with Batman is only from the show and the movies. Actually, I've never read a comic. Manga, yes, but never a comic book.
So I've no idea what batman is supposed to be, but it doesn't matter to me. I was blown away by Christopher Nolan's film because it is note perfect for where we are culturally. Gotham is a dark, hopeless place in Nolan's batman which is a bit how America feels today.
And his take on the Joker is mind blowing. I can't stop thinking of Ichi The Killer. I need to see that as I've only seen portions of the movie. But Joker is more of an act of nature than a villain. Anarchy incarnate. After Nate said to me that he was terrified of Heath Ledger and I countered that I was not. His portrayal didn't make him terrifying, it made the notion of a physical embodiment of chaos terrifying. No, I'm still much more terrified of Malcolm MacDowell in his many roles of extreme cruelty and some of Tim Roth's portrayals of evil, than I was the Joker, but I do totally appreciate what they are doing.
My only complaint was that I think Nolan had too much plot in The Dark Knight. So much happened, it was total madness.
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