Could Have Slept Through the Dark Knight (6.5/10)

I don't think I will ever be able to like Batman. Not really. It is like how when I eat tofu or soy. I know it is fine and I will probably end up enjoying it as I always do, but I am still chewing it funny and expecting the worst. It is good and all, but it is still not quite the same. When it comes to super heroes, I'll always prefer indulging on a meat and potatoes kind of guy, instead of buff guys in rubber suits.

I do not want to talk to much about Heath Leger's role as the Joker, considering all of the attention orbiting around it. I've read nothing but rave reviews, but I have a hard time seeing the Joker as this kind of psychopath. I've always thought of him as the guy who you smile at in the supermarket and send a Christmas card and a plate of cookies to while he gathers up stray animals at night and always has his basement light on at night. That was the beauty of Jack Nicholson's version. He *is* that guy, and whenever I for one read something unsettling involving him, what else can I do but nod and give it a 'Yeah, he's weird.' A friend of mine commented on the fact that Nicholson was playing himself as the Joker, but really, that was the beauty of it! I think there is something lost when the Joker is as outwardly crazy as he is inside, like the dread and suspense of what he might do to those around him is missing, but is instead replaced with a squeamish terror which really isn't something I feel comfortable being in a movie that was clearly advertised to children.

I guess my only real beef with the film was the way Two-Face was portrayed. Not that anyone should have been surprised at his inclusion. I mean really, once Harvey Dent was established as a main character, it was practically written on the screen. Not that you would have known it by the gasps and "oh man" 's that came from the audience around me. Keeping in mind that this was the midnight showing, I was shocked that there weren't more comic fans in the audience who also scoffed at this sad attempt at a plot twist. No, it wasn't that he was in the film that bothered me. Two-Face is an excellent villain! The role he played in this was just not Two-Face. I feel cheated that none of these guys were quite who I remember them as. It is just weird. In hindsight, I will admit that the two work well inside the story and it all flowed well in a neat and clear way that tied up all of the loose ends of the plot, but still leaving it open for another sequel. But I digress.

Two-Face is not a weepy, moody child. He was just not the emotionally charged picture of chance that he was depicted as, and that whole leaving his victim's lives up to the flip of a coin? I mean, I *guess* that's kind of accurate, but it was so much more than that. He was so much more than all of that! I guess this is the point where I made up my own ideas as to his role and the deeper lying meaning, but Two-Face, to me, was an overarching image of duality that is inside of everything, not just the 'yes or no' chance of a coin toss, but good and evil itself, light or darkness, left or right. Everything.

Now that I'm done complaining about how my nerdiness is isn't appreciated, I'll move on to something a little more positive. The makeup work for the Joker was really good. Nothing spectacular, but really good. If there is one thing that I've learned form years of volunteering at the haunted house on Halloween, it is that it takes a lot of work to look that bad. I just wish that there had been some initiative here and done up a really gruesome effects for Two-Face, instead of relying on computer graphics. Alas, such is the way of technology.

What really bothers me about this film is how badly people cried out for this. 'Batman Begins' wasn't dark enough for them? This is what people wanted? This was senselessly violent, and deserved more than a PG-13 rating. This is just ugliness. This is the grit that people should be terrified exists in the world around us, not something to throw on the big screen as a summer blockbuster.

Additionally, there were some very weak points in the film, some gadgets that seemed to appear out of thin air because the writers had worked themselves into a corner, and some chance events that seemed a bit *too* unlikely. In one certain scene, I wondered if Gotham existed entirely outside of physics, but I digress.

On the whole, The Dark Knight was a decent summer flick that I would not say no to watching again. I couldn't see myself buying it, and it didn't turn me on to Batman in any way. I would recommend this film if looking for something to watch explosions without pondering the intricate subplots and deeper meanings, but I'd still only give it a 6.5 out of 10. I don't see how this skyrocketed so quickly to the best movie of all time.