SPOILER ALERT
You've got a point. A sequel was pretty much a given until Ledger
died. I don't know what they'll do with this particular incarnation of
Batman now. Still, it was a grim ending for such a huge, mainstream
movie. It could easily have ended with Batman swooping in and
convincing Dent not to give in to his anger, but it didn't. The Joker
won the battle, even if he didn't win the war. Batman had to sacrifice
himself to prop up a lie. I think that's the aspect I find rather
unsettling and nihilistic, the idea that the truth is so ugly it has
to be hidden from people so they don't lose faith in an easily
corrupted system. It's not the sort of message you see in big budget
popcorn movies that often.
On Mon, Aug 18, 2008 at 3:43 PM, <DJ-Anonyme@webtv.net> wrote:
> SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT
>
> Some time ago, Nathan wrote:
>
> "The Joker loses the physical battle, but he wins the metaphysical one.
> I think Christopher Nolan is definitely coming from the noir
> tradition with this film, and I'm still kind of scratching my head as to
> how exactly the ending got past test audiences, who can never seem to
> stomach ambiguity or any degree of negativity in movie endings. Any
> thoughts from fellow list members?"
>
> I finally saw the movie a few days ago (in IMAX), so I'm finally reading
> these emails I set aside.
>
> Nathan, I think part of it is that the ending of the movie is clearly
> not the ending of the story. It is clearly setting up the third in the
> current Batman series of films. So while Batman may be considered an
> outlaw, be setting himself up as a scapegoat so society has a hero in
> Harvey Dent, I'm betting most believe Batman will be vinidicated in the
> next movie. So they are willing to accept this setback. I'd be
> fascinated to see where Nolan would take it if there were no boundaries,
> but there is no way DC/Warner would allow him to kill off the franchise
> by not saving Batman.
>
> Mark
>
>
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