The Dark Knight (2008)

I've been in love with Batman forever:

And I've been in love with Christian Bale since about 1993. So, it just makes sense that I really really really loved this movie. It had a lot going against it: the almost 3 hour run time, the hype surrounding the film and Ledger's death seemed a little much, the expectations based on the hype and my life-long love . . . . But the movie really is just wonderful. (Spoilers to follow)

First, they managed to have the courage to kill off the "girlfriend." A superhero just can't have a girlfriend and especially not one who had the audacity to tell him that no she would not date him. Spiderman would have gone soooo much better without Mary Jane (well, and without the emo bangs, dance number . . . ). A superhero has to have some angst and a dead girlfriend just makes it that much deeper.

Second, it manages to give us one full-fledged villain while creating and killing off another in the course of the film (and, of course, giving us an all too brief glimpse at Cillian's pretty blue eyes). That's hard to pull off and even harder to do well. This is all not to mention, of course, Ledger being brilliant as the Joker. I don't know that he'll get an Oscar nod--really, who is going to get one for a Batman movie? Hollywood just doesn't take superhero movies that seriously yet (I think the tide is turning, though). Anyway, he's genius. And Aaron Eckhart does a magnificent job as a good guy gone bad, a bad guy who is just wacko, and not trying to compete with Ledger. There is a wonderful balance to the villains.

Third, we got to see Batman go through a crisis of conscience while maintaining the dignity of the film and the character (for a bad example of this, see Daniel Craig in Casino Royale--the script's treatment of James Bond, not the acting). And we also see Bruce Wayne go through a similar crisis and Bale manages to keep the characters separate while maintaining their intrinsic connection.

And, of course, there are all of the fun Batman gadgets, Alfred, and all of the other fantastic characters that make a Batman movie just lovely.

One tiny confusion does arise in the scene where Batman is leaving the police station after learning that Dent and Rachel are in danger. Gordon seems to ask Batman who Batman is going to save. Batman yells "Rachel" but then ends up at the location with Dent. The rest of the film then rests on the fact that Batman chose to save the "White Knight." The problem is whether Batman chose to save Dent or whether it was a trick of the Joker. Was Batman telling Gordon to go to Rachel (because Gordon says later that he was supposed to save her--albeit to Dent/Two Face in order to save his own son so it could have been a lie)? Was Batman tricked? Did Batman change his mind? None of this would be super important except the juxtaposition of White v. Dark Knight and the choices humanity makes are crucial to the second half of the film. But, regardless of that one thing, the movie is just wonderful, really very wonderful. Definitely a must see, definitely a must own.