A Brighter Night for THE DARK NIGHT

THE DARK KNIGHT has reached a billion dollars in international box office; and it's won two Oscars so far -- including the crucial above-the-line Best Supporting Actor award for Heath Ledger. It is losing a lot of the technical Oscars to Academy darlings like BENJAMIN BUTTON, but that's still a bit of respect for the 70-year-old Caped Crusader.

Is There Room for Ricola in the Utility Belt?

With Russia at war with the Georgia Republic, and the Olympics in full force in Beijing, it's time to turn to a really important topic: Christian Bale's bat-voice in THE DARK KNIGHT.

I have to agree that Bales's delivery of The Batman's lines in a throat-tearing growl was more distracting than impressive in several scenes -- particularly when compared to Heath Ledger's compelling vocal stylings for The Joker.

My personal opinion is that Kevin Conroy, who voiced the Caped Crusader for multiple Warner animated series, provided the best vocal stylings for Batman -- midway between the whisper Michael Keaton used in the Tim Burton movies and Gary Owens's deep-register boom for pseudo-Batman Space Ghost.

Joker's Wild

Yesterday we saw THE DARK KNIGHT; and apparently we weren't alone. Estimates peg the latest Bat-movie at pulling in around $155 million this weekend, making for the best opening weekend ever for a film, and posturing DARK KNIGHT to go head-to-head with IRON MAN for top movie of the summer. (I find appropriate that these two armored billionaires should grapple mano-a-mano for supremecy. It's the old Marvel vs. DC battles all over again.)

[some mild SPOILERS coming up . . . ]

The one aspect of the DARK KNIGHT I found weak was the bat-suit. In several sequences, especially near the beginning of the film, when it is shown in the light it merely looks silly. I do appreciate the redesign of the bat-armor worked into the movie -- "You'd like to be able to turn your head?" quips armourer Lucius Fox -- but at this point the best design might be the simple look of the comics suit. If Batman is looking for flexible, why not a light mesh armor suit, perhaps of grey or black?

On the other hand, I liked the scenes near the end of the film where the filmakers finally gave Batman an excuse to sport the "blunked-out eyes" that have been his trademark in the comics for decades.

Those notes out of the way, I can see why the DARK KNIGHT is garnering the raves that it is. It shows that a filmmaker can bring to an urban superhero project the sort of bravura filmmaking usually reserved for films like THE FRENCH CONNECTION. Despite being confined to Gotham City, it is expansive, giving the impression that every decision and action the characters make affects millions. (Remember how, in Tim Burton's first Batman movie, Gotham City seemed to consist of about two blocks?) It echoes several moments in the comics, without actually directly copying any scenes from them -- although a scene near the end is very close to one in BATMAN: YEAR ONE. It shows that the third act of a superhero film can consist of more than the hero and villain tearing up the scenery as they pummel each other. (A common feature of IRON MAN and THE INCREDIBLE HULK.)

But the biggest takeaway from the film is Heath Ledger's bravura performance as The Joker -- a performance that would stand out even if it was not his last completed role before his untimely death.




I find fascinating that each of the three most memorable portrayals of the Joker -- Jack Nicholson's in 1989's BATMAN, Mark Hamill as the voice of the knave in BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES in the '90's, and Ledger in this film -- plays the character completely differently; and none quite duplicates the skeletal, grinning killer that either Bob Kane or Jerry Robinson (conflicting accounts) created in 1940, and which Denny O'Neil and Neal Adams redesigned in the seventies.


Ledger's portrayal eschews the dead-white skin, green hair and ruby lips as the character's permanent look; the filmmakers found more in keeping with their "realistic" take on the story that Ledger's character would be nuts enought to wear "war paint" makeup instead. His slow-burn delivery eschews the manic approach that Nicholson and Hamill took. And Ledger really does not smile very much (apart from the false "smile" his scars create), and doesn't give out with one of the Joker's chilling laughs until quite a way into the story.

Yet he hits upon the center of the character, as portrayed initially in the comics and from the '70's on: the Joker's sense of mystery, aided by his unreliable accounts of his origins; his monumental ego, justifying any horrific, large scale act just to satisfy his whims; his psychotic unpredictability; his cunning, here manifested in his mastery of strategy; and his attachment to Batman as his perfect straight man.

There will be other interpretations of the rivalry between Batman and the Joker in the future. They will likely be as different from this movie as the movie is different from what came before. One can only hope they'll be as original and yet as spot-on as this one.

Heath Ledger, R.I.P.

In the mid-90's, the film adaptation of James O'Barr's comics series THE CROW became a footnote in movie history when the film's star, Brandon Lee -- son of Bruce Lee -- died during filming, victim of an on-set accident.

Now another comics adaptation will likely mark the final performance (in white greasepaint) of a young actor -- albeit one who is a bigger star. Heath Ledger, who will play The Joker in this summer's Batman sequel THE DARK KNIGHT, was found dead in his apartment this afternoon.

It's still not clear how or why this talented Australian actor died, possibly of an overdose of sleeping pills. But when watching THE DARK KNIGHT, I'm sure I'll have that slight feeling of horror mingled with sadness in the pit of my stomach that I had watching Brandon Lee mowing down thugs in THE CROW -- watching the onscreen images of someone who never got to watch the movie himself.