.jeri.

As is pretty well-known, I was mostly interested in seeing The Dark Knight because everyone else was talking about it. I did go back and re-watch Batman Begins this weekend, to remind myself of why I only liked it a little and not a lot. The good news is that I liked it slightly more this time around, although it already feels a little dated and there are still many clumsy aspects to it. To me, it feels like Nolan used the first movie to find his footing, and the second is the full realization of what a his type of Batman movie can be. I thought that all the talk of The Dark Knight would turn out to by hype, but to my surprise, it was much more of a movie than I ever would have expected.

Now that the obligatory origins story has been told and Batman has established double way of life, the movie can get straight to work with the challenges of one villain and the rise of another. I don't want to re-hash everything that I've already been reading online, because then I'll just be stealing ideas from everyone else. But what I liked about this movie was the way it felt so complete. There are villains, but they aren't just there to be antagonists to Batman (although one could argue that one is), they are also there to pose many ethical questions and force Batman and Gotham to answer them. While some may argue that Batman isn't given enough screen time, I didn't even notice, because the prominence of the other characters in the movie is what propels him to grow as a person and become more of a hero than he imagined he could be. He transitions from trying to save Gotham through force to saving Gotham through submissiveness as a scapegoat. I felt like the movie offered so much to ponder that I'll definitely see it again.

I love that the casting just keeps getting better and better. I was a huge fan of Gary Oldman and Christian Bale back in the day, so it was so exciting the first time around to see them in these roles. But to add Heath Ledger and Aaron Eckhart was a very smart choice. Both were growing favorites of mine, although neither were particularly prominent in the general audience's eyes. Both performers prove why they were chosen, especially Ledger, who definitely steals the show. It's a shame that we'll never get to see more from him. He was hardly ever given a decent script to work with, but always shone despite that. Thankfully, he went out with an iconic performance that will last in the minds of moviegoers for years to come. The only casting choice I didn't care for was Maggie Gyllenhaal. While she's a strong actress, her look doesn't seem to fit with the classic features of the other actors in the movie. It didn't help that she has a joker smile of her own (or is that somehow intentional?). She did a capable job, but I just wasn't sold on her.

The big question on my mind now is how Nolan will handle other villains in the Batman franchise, especially the more flamboyant ones (after all, the first few villains we have seen are relatively normal - a man, a painted man, and a facially disfigured man). Will he take the outrageous and dial them down to fit his more realism-rooted take on the world of Gotham, or will he try to find the more physically normal-looking villains who don't wear freakish costumes? I haven't read the comics, so I don't have much say in the matter, but from the animated series, Clayface was always the one who stood out to me. The depiction of him in that series was so.. gooey at first that I'm not sure I could see something like that fitting into the world that Nolan has created. We'll see.

Now, do I back down from my stance that WALL-E is the "movie of the summer"? No, but maybe there can be two movies of the summer. Each is so effective in its own way that I don't think I can choose one over the other. So that means everyone needs to spend at least $20 at the theater this summer. Okay?