The Dark Knight - HOLY SHIT!

Posted by admin | Filed under Don't F This Up

Each December we swear off of Fantasy Football for good, only to find by July we’re in full gridiron withdrawals.  Nothing sounds better than endless humiliation in yet another losing season.  New Year’s Eve is exactly the same.  It comes around and we try to make last minute plans for the ultimate celebration.  Only to be disappointed.  Again and again.

So it goes with the summer movie season.  Each year there’s renewed hope for a film worthy of knocking us flat on our asses.  It is, after all, what the hype tells us to think.  Sadly, it’s one of the primary reasons this blog exists; as each year we’re subjected to formulaic crap marketed as films.  It is increasingly rare for movie fans to be genuinely rewarded for years of patience.   But every now and then…

Anticipation ran high for this sequel; it had some big shoes to fill after Batman Begins. And simply put, The Dark Knight delivers!  The Riddle of Steal has compiled a short Top Ten list of the marvelous achievement that is The Dark Knight, the best summer film in many, many years.

10. Two and half hours of incredible character development

(Enough with the shrink-wrapped 90-minute features-finally a running time that is worth our money.)

9.  Commentary on our current dark times (do the ends justify the means…)

(Terrorist activity, Public surveillance, Good guy “torturing” the bad guy, Renditions in foreign lands.  Starting to sound familiar?)

8. Hong Kong extraction - Sky Hook Baby!

7. Major character deaths

(Katie?  Where did Katie go?)

6. Heath Ledger’s truly genius performance.

(As jaded as we typically are, we have to admit Ledger was clearly a true artist.  Puts those other pretty faces to shame.)

5. The Bat-Pod - greatest vehicle surprise since ”shields”

4. Fantastic ensemble cast

(Ocean’s 11 this is not.)

3. Multiple, complete story arcs weaved into the central Batman vs. Joker theme

2. Eerie musical tones to heighten tension (a la Kubrick)

(You have to see and hear this to understand.)

AND….

1.  Staggering use of Duality

  • Batman vs. Joker
  • Joker vs. Harvey Dent
  • Harvey Dent vs. Bruce Wayne
  • Citizens vs. Criminals
  • Society vs. Batman
  • and how could we forget Harvey Dent vs. Harvey Dent (Two Face is Duality incarnate)

Ultimately, The Riddle of Steal hesitates to consider when we’ll next have an opportunity to witness such greatness.  We silently pray en masse for Terminator Salvation. Unless of course, you think we’re missing something…

Permalink | July 23rd, 2008

One Response to “The Dark Knight - HOLY SHIT!”

  1. Robot Sandwich Says:
    July 23rd, 2008 at 9:26 pm

    Another duality that I think is worth mentioning is the one that took place between Harvey Dent and Jim Gordon.

    This was the first time that I have ever seen these two characters interact in a scene solely with each other and the simmering underlining conflict between these two characters was played perfectly! This one interaction gave volumes of depth and insight to what had been across all the previous Batman incarnations, a very 1 dimensional portrayal of these reoccurring characters. This scene truly portrayed the amazing talent that this movie is lucky to have when the Bat, Jokers and super cool gadgets take a back seat!

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