Three things

[apocalypsos]

1. My mom is getting a tattoo for her fiftieth birthday. That's just awesome. I'm still trying to convince her to let me go with her, though.

2. Some girl at Borders knew what my LotR tat was and loved my anti-Twilight shirt. I don't know why I didn't get her online info. *headsmack*

3. I saw The Dark Knight!

I went alone, but I called my brother afterwards because I knew he'd seen it and we always talk a LOT after we see comic book movies. Bryan's not exactly talkative or enthusiastic about a movie, but if a comic book movie is really good he'll talk for a good long while because he's got that much to say. He and I were on the phone for about a half hour freaking out, mostly over the Joker.

I know a lot of people are saying that Heath Ledger is only receiving the Oscar talk in regards to this role because he passed away, but ... no. No, it's not that. This Joker is fucking terrifying. And the reason is because he feels real. Christopher Nolan has built a Gotham completely different from Tim Burton's Gotham, where the Joker defaced paintings while dancing to Prince, and -- thank God -- Joel Schumacher's Gotham, where Batsuits have nipples and Dr. Freeze dribbles out more bad puns than a Bell's Palsy patient at a cut-rate linguistics convention. Nolan's Gotham is definitely the most closest-to-reality Gotham we've ever had, and the consequence of that is that Heath Ledger's Joker isn't playfully nuts (although he does have his moments), he is entirely fucking batshit INSANE.. Even he knows he's fucked up. Just ask him.

And then there's Harvey Dent. Bryan and I talked about how much we both loved the different stories they told with both villains -- a hero we see grow into a villain, and a villain who emerges fully formed from the shadows. It's such a fabulous difference how we don't get to know a damn thing about the Joker. No name, no past ... hell, we think we get the story of his scars and then he slips us another one and it's obvious he's just making them up just for fun now. We learn next to nothing about the Joker other than that he's a clever chaotic psychopath. But with Harvey Dent, by the end of the movie we know him. He's not just a good guy because people point it out. He's a good guy because he IS a good guy. And then he goes and falls apart, and it's fucking heartbreaking. (Also, the makeup on Dent was phenomenal. I love the fact that they went so far, although I kinda felt uncomfortable about it if only because I knew there were kids in the audience.)

Also, JIM GORDON. Man, I love him. Gordon's always been this fairly down-to-earth character in a sea of weirdos in monster need of free therapy, and Gary Oldman -- who can play a nutjob as good as the next guy if not better -- turns him into someone you can trust. Even when he's covering for Batman, there's something to trust there. He's a good man. When they first called him commissioner, I nearly cheered.

I suppose most of my praise for Christian Bale is for the fact that he really let Ledger and Eckhart have the stage. He could do an amazing job performing as the mascot at a Cubs game, honest to God.

I think the only place where I hesitated was with Rachel. Maggie Gyllenhaal does a damn sight better with the character than Katie Holmes did, that's for damn sure, but the ending of her storyline left me cold for the same reasons so many others have said. Thanks to recent discussion, I had Women in Refrigerators in my head and ... well. *shrugs*

Bryan and I may go see it again tomorrow. Which means I have to spend the rest of tonight and most of tomorrow writing. *cracks knuckles*

Comments

[ladyelaine.livejournal.com]

The freakiest thing about Two-Face was that his horrible eyeball perfectly tracked with his normal eye. It must have been CGI (how could it not have been??) but it was real enough to make me doubt and wonder and constantly watch THAT EYEBALL and freak out.

[catystorm.livejournal.com]

There was a row of little - and I mean little, five year olds to ten year olds in the row ahead of me. And they flipped their shit, man. One of them started crying. I felt really bad for them, because I have a feeling their parents went "ooh, Batman! Let's go see that!" and didn't pay fucking attention to the fact that this is not a children's movie.

I knew that the makeup was spectacular when I couldn't LOOK at it dead-on without shuddering.

[astaria51.livejournal.com]

omg, I know! And that it stayed open when he blinked. O_O

[hannahrorlove.livejournal.com]

With Dent's makeup, the fact that a bit of the drink he had at the bar spilled out of his ruined side really sold it for me. It's not like he had lips to catch it there.

I've seen it pointed out that Batman's very effective in that he's a foil for his villains, which tend to be more dynamic characters overall. Bale seems to have known this already.

[deathbymutation.livejournal.com]

Ok I'm behind on my flist, what exactly is wrong with Twilight? I'm almost finished the first book and it ain't bad. Definitely not as bad as Harry Potter.

[myniamh.livejournal.com]

Just ask him.

How many versions of his origin were there? That was brilliant, can't remember if it's actual comics canon but it is a theory I've seen in fandom before, that he makes up his story every time he tells it.

[kanedax.livejournal.com]

Just two, but he was ready to give a third at the end before Batman took him out.

[silmaril.livejournal.com]

Even he knows he's fucked up. Just ask him.

No. Not unless I can ask him from the other side of 4-inch thick tempered glass, as he is sitting in a hermetically sealed room with dungeons-and-dragons style traps pointing inwards every square inch to be triggered if he so much as touches the walls.

The character---the way he was written---scared the stuffing out of me, and Heath Ledger scared the stuffing out of said stuffing and made it vaporize out of fear.

But under those conditions I would like to ask him, because it would be an interesting conversation.

I wouldn't like to shortsell Oldman or Eckhard, because they did great jobs too. (Oldman made me cry.) But the reason why most people are talking about the Joker first is that you do not get it out of your head easily, and if you don't talk it over, goodbye sleep tonight.

[squee1123.livejournal.com]

oh, i just got home from seeing it and my GOD. i had seen the screencaps of harvey's face all jacked up but it NEVER occured to me who he was until after i first saw his coin.

then both me and my sister turned to each other and mouthed TWO-FACE.

and when Fox made that crack about the new suit holding up to cats. Um. Can I say Catwoman? I will die if Nolan does Catwoman. He would knock that out of the park.

Actually. Nolan should do EVERY Superhero movie EVER because he is that awesome.

I'm still very hyped about everything and when my parents watch Batman Begins and then go see DK i will SO go with them.

I didnt leave ONCE during the movie. I had to pee after the press conference but i could not risk missing a second to go.

UGH. UGGGGGH. I want to go watch it again RIGHT NOW.

Heath...god. He terrified me in this movie. I had NEVER been afraid of the Joker but omg, I could have nightmares about this guy. The pencil thing?

Maggie was awesome as Rachel. I just. Man. I wanna watch it over and over and over.

[apocalypsos.livejournal.com]

when Fox made that crack about the new suit holding up to cats. Um. Can I say Catwoman?

I honestly didn't even think of Catwoman in relation to that comment until I left the theater, called my brother to rave, and he brought it up. God, we so need to go see this together. We always have a blast geeking out over comic book movies together.

[squee1123.livejournal.com]

hah, i can sometimes geek out with my sister...but its mainly me doing the geeking.

however when i babysit my boss's five year old son...we have a blast because he knows every single comic book superhero EVER. AND he knows which are Marvel and which are DC. he has hundreds of stickers that hes saved.

When i told him about the Wolverine movie he got super excited.

its the only thing i can talk to him about or else he just won't talk.