The Dark Knight: Movie or Political Statement?

Finally, after waiting for two or three weeks, I got to see "The Dark Knight" on Friday.

It was well worth the wait.

Now, if you have not seen the movie: STOP READING NOW, SPOILER COMING!!!

For everyone else who has seen it, I will give my review as a film but more importantly, I want to see if you saw the political statements that were made.

First: Heath Ledger deserves the Oscar for Best Actor, right now. Forget whatever else comes out this year, or has already come out. He is un-freaking-believable!

If someone had not told you that it was him, you would never know. Forget the makeup, he didn't need it.

Now, I am THE biggest Batman freak since I was a kid. I still have hundreds of Batman comics going back to the 1960's, so I am a bit of a snob when it comes to all things Batman, and in this film, like it's predecessor "Batman Begins", was almost 100% true to the original story from the comics. Bob Kane would be happy!

One of the most important elements of the Batman story is that fact that he CANNOT kill anyone. He WILL not kill anyone, not even a madman like the Joker. In the comics, the Joker is the epitome of EVIL. He is not a buffoonish clown as portrayed by Cesar Romero or even the "kind of" evil portrayed by Jack Nicholson. No, he is so evil that he would kill a thousand innocent people just to get the Batman's attention. The Joker is all about chaos, madness, anarchy and the antithesis of The Batman. He is the complete opposite of all that the Batman stands for.

In the movie a great scene is when he has millions and millions of Mob dollars, real money, piled high and burns it all to the ground, and he tells the astonished and angry mobsters "it's not about the money, it's the FUN!" He destroys the Mob better than the cops or even The Batman, but only so that he can then better torment everyone. I love it. Heath Ledger, I wish you had not been so troubled, had lived and perhaps played this character again, and maybe delved deeper into The Joker's crazed mind!

Well anyway, this is exactly what Heath Ledger brought to the screen and the writer and director, Christopher Nolan, got that across.

The Joker used a couple of lines that really illustrate that relationship that the Caped Crusader and he have.

1 - "You complete me". Yes this is a great reference to the STUPID movie "Jerry Mcguire", but it was more than that. The Batman's good works created a vacuum that brought out The Joker.

2 - (I don't remember the line exactly) "we'll do this for eternity", said the Joker to The Batman.

All throughout the years in the comics, Batman would capture the Joker, put him in Arkham Asylum, The Joker would get out, it would start over again and end the same. Occasionally, the Joker would "die" only to find out he had somehow survived. Their battle is never ending. The Batman could beat the snot out of The Joker any day of the week, but he CANNOT kill him, and The Joker knows that and that is HIS fun! (Although getting the crap beat out of you every few weeks has to get tiring, so I assume the Joker's synaptic nerves have been severed at some time in his life?)

Ok, so outside of this, the film itself was just plain OUTSTANDING! I felt like I had held my breath for over 2 hours! The tension in my chest and arms and legs would never let up. That is good filmmaking. If the viewer can not even rest, if the action, dialogue, music is unrelenting, then I am happy!

This film was by far the BEST film I have seen in a long, long time. That is not just from a happy Batman fan, but a film person. The special effects were outstanding but didn't take away from the film itself. The use of angles, lighting and sound were perfect. The acting by all parties (except for the silly Rachel Dawes, a character that was not in the comics played by the really homely Maggie Gyllenhaal) was very realistic and believable.

Overall, I was more than pleased with this movie and HIGHLY recommend it to all (except for the little ones as there is some terrifying moments and when Harvey "Two Face" Dent finally appears, he is quite hideous).

Now, politics?

I firmly believe that the creators behind this movie were making a strong PRO-AMERICA film!

The Joker represented the Muslim extremist terrorists that we as a nation face.

They don't bomb, kill, behead and torture for money. They really don't even do it for an ideal, much as they would like us to believe. No, just as The Joker said, "it's for the anarchy, the chaos".

I really think, and you would have to watch the movie closely, that the filmmakers were going against "the grain" in Hollywood and made an anti-terrorist film, and made a statement about "staying the course" in Iraq and Afghanistan and whereever else WE AMERICANS are needed to stop the evil of terrorism.

I felt it very early on and it was confirmed in many different scenes.

Ok, so that's it, fire away liberal whackos, fire away Batman haters, but I had fun and I was proud of Hollywood for the first time in a long, long time!

Batman, Holy Bat Guano! Pick your Favorite!

I have been a crazed Batman fan since I opened that first DC comic in 1966. Bob Kane, who created the Batman in the 1940's made a different Super Hero. Batman had no special powers, didn't come from another planet, was just a man who was driven to do right. He never in all of these years, killed anyone. He stood for what was right, but was not squeaky clean like Superman. I loved him as a kid and as an adult. In those days, the 1960's, the comic was influenced by the campy TV series starring Adam West. Even then, I didn't really like the TV show as a young boy, I thought that the Batman was so cool, so dark and so strong, this fat sissy boy on TV could NOT be THE Batman.

Later in my adult life, the 1980's, the resurgence of Batman, partly due to Tim Burton's resurrection of the series in his movies, I started reading Batman comics again. Thankfully they had brought Batman back to his roots as The Dark Knight, always torn by his duty and his inner demons.

I liked the Tim Burton movies, well the first one anyway, even though I still have a hard time with Micheal Keaton as the Batman, but I didn't like the following in the series with Val Kilmer and especially George Clooney.

Last night the newest in the revised series came out. Kai saw it and I am waiting to see it and will give a review. I loved "Batman Begins". It was much more in line with the comics.

So, with all that said, I have posted pictures of the Batman through the years.

Please tell me which one you like or liked the best.

Adam West 1966 TV

Micheal Keaton 1989

Val Kilmer 1995

George Clooney (complete with Nipples) 1997

Christian Bale (with the late Heath Ledger) 2008

"The Dark Knight" Batman Returns Heath Ledger as the Joker

Heath Ledger looks awesome as The Joker in next summer's "The Dark Knight" the sequel to "Batman Begins" with Christian Bale back as Batman.