Prompted by all the hype in the world out there and in the confines of our
noir-loving group, I went to see The Dark Knight. Quite a spectacle.
Beautifully directed and photographed. But that script! Considering the
overall purpose of this list, I'd assume that when it comes to movies or TV
or comic books or whatever, our main interest would be in the writing or
storytelling. But in the lengthy discussion of whether the film was or was
not noir, I don't recall anybody saying anything about the overheated,
underdeveloped, sometimes incomprehensible, repetitive and, worst of all,
preachy script. How many times and in how many ways do we have to hear all
that guff about Batman's negative effect on Gotham? We see it in the opening
sequence, with the Batman wannabes getting in the way of the Scarecrow's
arrest. Point made. Then we hear newscasters and the Joker and just about
everybody chiming in on the plusses and minuses of having the Dark Knight on
call.
SPOILER ALERT
And that finale with its endless salute to our hero's selflessness and
bravery which comes right after the Batman's rubbing the Joker's nose in the
basic goodness of the people of Gotham. Geeze. I'm guessing that Heath
Ledger's death may have forced Christopher Nolan to shift things around at
the end. But because of the incredible buildup of the Joker, to just leave
him hanging from a building, laughing in defeat, seemed something of a
letdown. I suppose the original plan could have been for him and the Batman
to have had their final confrontation over Harvey Dent. Then, because of the
situation, with the Batman being forced to go outlaw, it would have made
sense for the Joker to have his last laugh. And the film could have gone out
on a truly dark note.
END OF SPOILER
I also wonder what Nolan's reaction must have been when, with his movie
presumably well underway, he sat down in a theater to see No Country For Old
Men. At the very least he must have been impressed by the economy of having
just one weird-looking unstoppable creator of chaos, the dark side of the
hero, who used the flip of a coin to decide who lives and who dies.
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