After almost three years of anticipation, the wait is over. The Dark Knight (the second installment in Christopher Nolan’s hard, gritty, realistic re-boot to the Batman iconography) hits theaters today and the box office may not live to tell the tale. Heath Ledger, sadly, did not.
Director Nolan insisted on cramming as much of Ledger’s swan song of a rollercoaster tour de force of a performance as the Joker into the film as he could by way of obligation, and a cacophony of critics are crying out for a posthumous Oscar for the Australian born actor who died earlier this year from an accidental overdose due to mixing antidepressants with sleeping pills.
What a sad, strange legacy it’s been. Cesar Romaro. Jack Nicholson stoned out of his gills so that he could let go sanity wise and throw himself with abandon into the role. C.J. Jung might have a thing or two to say about the Joker archetype. The Fool. Portrayed in turns as a campy clown or a homicidal lunatic, there’s something for everyone. And Nolan has gone above and beyond to make this darker, nastier and more visceral than his last outing.
Christian Bale is no stranger to darkness and duality, either. He and director Mary Harron (I Shot Andy Warhol) begged and pleaded with producers for over a year and a half to earn the starring role as Patrick Batemen in the screen adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis’ satirical masterpiece American Psycho. His entire career is a study in the art of absolutes and character acting. For The Machinist, he lost a horrific amount of weight at the expense of his own personal health to portray a man haunted and wracked by the guilt of running over a child, subconsciously killing himself and blinded by delusions and fantasies. In The Prestige, he played identical twin maguses with a penchant for illusion and a flair for one lasting magic trick that gained it’s way into the pantheon. Bale has a firm place in the pantheon. Not since Lon Chaney has an actor been so committed to living his roles.
Batman made his first appearance in Detective Comics in 1943. The Caped Crusader (also known as The Dark Knight Detective) has been one of DC Comics longest running and wildly successful characters. Christopher Nolan surprised quite a few critics when he left the art house cinema world and took on the helm of an ailing franchise that was in hospice after the catastrophe that was Batman & Robin (directed by Joel Schumacher). Well the wait is over as of today.
The Dark Knight grapples its way into area theaters on a myriad of big screens, Imax and beyond. Industry analysts are projecting an opening weekend gross of $180-190 million and the midnight sales have already come close to toppling the final installment of Star Wars (Episode III).
There’s been a lot of controversy, name calling and questioning regarding these posts and my own journalistic integrity and/or lack of maturity over the five-part Batman series that’s run in BRO this week, and for that, I truly, sincerely apologize. The art is more important. Comics, moving pictures, the printed page and music are a labour of love for me. Batman touches off on my own duality, so I feel very strongly about it. Comics are a legitimate medium and they’re one of the longest running art forms in existence dating back to paintings on cave walls.
Seeing Bob Kane’s brainchild come to life in increasingly vivid incarnations makes me all too giddy, and apparently, a lot of other people as well. This will be the last Batman article I write for quite some time. Thanks for reading, thanks for speaking out, and thanks for reacting.
See the movie. Find out what all the hype is about.
Dipson Market Arcade Film & Arts Centre 639 Main Street 716.855.3022