Comments on: The Dark Knight http://thestarchamber.mattkeefe.com/the-dark-knight Matt Keefe's Weblog & Article Archive Tue, 06 Jan 2009 22:13:04 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7 hourly 1 By: Gav Thorpe http://thestarchamber.mattkeefe.com/the-dark-knight/comment-page-1#comment-62 Gav Thorpe Tue, 05 Aug 2008 08:13:02 +0000 http://thestarchamber.mattkeefe.com/?p=93#comment-62 I have to agree - as a long-term Batman fan, Dark Knight really built upon the character in Batman Begins and used many of the themes established by some of Bats' best writers over the years. As motifs of chaos, order and justice, the triangle between The Joker, Harvey Dent and Batman works really well. Bat's utter disregard for the SWAT team members in the final hostage siege is right on the money and reminded strongly of his encounter with the Gotham PD's heavy squad in Year One. The biggest success, in this regard, is that Dark Knight got me digging out some of my classic Batman comics and graphic novels to read them again - Year One, The Killing Joke, Death in the Family, Long Halloween and so on. It seems very clear that Heath Ledger was given a copy of The Killing Joke and Dark Knight Returns for his brief on the Joker... The fact that they refuse to kill each other in the film, unlike the fudged demise of Ras Al Ghul in Batman Begins, really nailed it for me. As a film, it was excellently paced, well-structured and engaging. I went to see this film with my mum, and she also enjoyed it immensely. The dilemma with the ferry bombs, the 'rescue' and fall of Harvey Dent, all were a moving _story_. On top of that, the action scenes were plausible and entertaining, without an overabundance of pointless CGI and Dolby crunch seen in many other recent films. Plus it has the best ever magic trick when the Joker makes a pencil disappear... I have to agree - as a long-term Batman fan, Dark Knight really built upon the character in Batman Begins and used many of the themes established by some of Bats’ best writers over the years. As motifs of chaos, order and justice, the triangle between The Joker, Harvey Dent and Batman works really well. Bat’s utter disregard for the SWAT team members in the final hostage siege is right on the money and reminded strongly of his encounter with the Gotham PD’s heavy squad in Year One.

The biggest success, in this regard, is that Dark Knight got me digging out some of my classic Batman comics and graphic novels to read them again - Year One, The Killing Joke, Death in the Family, Long Halloween and so on. It seems very clear that Heath Ledger was given a copy of The Killing Joke and Dark Knight Returns for his brief on the Joker… The fact that they refuse to kill each other in the film, unlike the fudged demise of Ras Al Ghul in Batman Begins, really nailed it for me.

As a film, it was excellently paced, well-structured and engaging. I went to see this film with my mum, and she also enjoyed it immensely. The dilemma with the ferry bombs, the ‘rescue’ and fall of Harvey Dent, all were a moving _story_. On top of that, the action scenes were plausible and entertaining, without an overabundance of pointless CGI and Dolby crunch seen in many other recent films.

Plus it has the best ever magic trick when the Joker makes a pencil disappear…

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