why so serious?
I am hella excited about the new Batman movie coming out this summer, The Dark Knight. Awesome actors, what looks to be an awesome story, and a follow-up to an unexpectedly awesome film. Except for a few flaws. Do you think I would let anything go unscathed?I feel like Christopher Nolan, the director/writer, can get a little too serious sometimes. And not in a way that I find particularly compelling, casual or innate. There’s something about his writing that makes me feel like he’s trying too hard to hit a certain note. Memento was pretty good, but then Insomnia just killed me at the end. Talk about forced poetics. And then the Prestige had a lot of marketing going on and not so much substance as I was expecting. Batman Begins was great because it was a series revisited, a reinterpretation and a visionary spectacle (much in the way that I felt Casino Royale did good for 007), but that tinge of forced seriousness leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Like, I was just raped with a squirt of morality.
I got extremely happy when I saw the second trailer for The Dark Knight which featured a lot of Heath Ledger’s Joker. “Why so serious,” he asks, and immediately I started getting ideas of a dual film. Perhaps Nolan is working with the Joker’s character and foiling the general atmosphere of the first film with a fresh, less serious story (that can still be compelling). Two action packed films with contrasting personalities driving the plot, each informed by their respective core conflict.
That would be brilliant. But who am I kidding? Nolan has his style of film, which I don’t really see moving beyond its own smugness. Warner will want to capitalize on themes and formulas that worked for the first film, so I doubt they would take the risk of altering too much. Plus the menage a trois is inevitable, so I feel like my dual film idea is moot from the get-go.
Whatever. I’m still really excited to see the film. I have a reason to like almost every actor in the film, from Maggie Gyllenhaal’s lusty lazy eyes to absolutely everything (and I do mean everything) about Christian Bale to what looks to be a successful reinterpretation of the Joker by Heath Ledger. One can only hope. Plus there are toys.
You see? This is what happens when I can’t fall asleep and it’s almost 4:30 in the morning.