Thursday Was A Dark (K)night

I ventured out on Thursday night with Kelly, Todd and Mark to see the midnight showing of Dark Knight. We went to Studio 35, an old independent single-screen theater in Columbus' Clintonville neighborhood. The place is great, they serve pizzas that they order from down the street and there's just enough peeling paint and stains to make you feel like nobody will care if you put your feet up.

We got to the sold out theater at around 10:30, giving us the chance to catch most of the 1966 Batman they was showing as people filed in. The movie has the same cast as the television show and provides just as much camp. I had never seen the movie and I thought it was really fun. The bomb run scene has to be a classic and I'm surprised I've never come across it before.

The feature started just after midnight, to the cheers of a crowd who had obviously been waiting some time for that moment. The crowd was a good time and I'm glad I went to Studio 35 instead of the local megaplex. People in the crowd were not afraid to cheer and you could tell everyone was having a good time.

I was really surprised at how dark the Dark Knight really was. It was not gratuitous violence but instead the psychological aspects of the film that made me find it somewhat disturbing. While I doubt there is anyone reading this who has not already seen the movie I will still resist the temptation to spoil its better surprises. However, I will say that hopelessness plays a huge role in the movie's overall theme. Ledger's Joker is a charachter who is very upfront about his motivation - destruction.

It would have been easy for Ledger to over-act the part, but he does an impressive job of keeping the silly laughs and exaggerated gestures to a minimum. As Kelly pointed out to me after the movie, in a weird way his Joker is actually a fairly believable charachter. This more realistic portrayal makes his charachter all the more disturbing. Had Ledger delivered the charachter as the far more cartoonish version we saw from Nicholson in the 1989 film it would have be easier for the viewer to distance themselves from his insanity and nihilism. Ledger forces us to confront a Joker that is deeply disturbed yet always in complete control.

It is a shame that the historical treatment of his charachter will always be clouded by his death. Dark Knight is currently enjoying a 9.5 rating on IMDB, putting it .4 points ahead of The Godfather and Shawshank Redemption. The movie is certainly a masterpiece. However, I have to wonder how much of the current hype is related to the movie and how much is related to Ledger's death. It may be the case that some time will have to pass before we can make an objective judgment of this movie's place in cinematic history. In the meantime, at least it will give me something to talk about.