"The Dark Knight"

For my birthday in 2002, Megan Houpt (DMTC, Peter Pan, 2001) gave me a gift certificate good for Century Theaters in Downtown Plaza. I've missed several good occasions to use it ever since. But that's OK, because one mustn't be hasty about such things.

Bruce Warren suggested seeing the new Batman movie and had coupons of his own. I thought: "Now is the moment for Megan's gift!" With the money saved, we were able to get the large popcorns without flinching at the cost.

Prior to the show, there were numerous action-adventure movie trailers. The only question in my mind was: "Which are the movies that were filmed in New Mexico?" I figured now is the time that trailers for the action-adventure movie Game, filmed in New Mexico, should be hitting the big screen, but, worrisomely, they didn't feature that one. Instead, they promoted a quirky new Kevin Costner movie (featuring Kelsey Grammer and Nathan Lane), called Swing Vote, where, by some Electoral College fluke (New Mexico is a swing state after all), Costner's character (through a single, contested ballot) gets to decide who the next President of the United States gets to be. Looks like a fun movie, and seems to feature lots of shooting on the West Mesa, WSW of Albuquerque, and lots of idyllic fishing in the Rio Grande River at the Alameda Bridge (where I don't think the fishing is really all that good, because sometimes the river all but dries up in the summer, but whatever).

So, what is my reaction to "The Dark Knight"? Confusion, mostly. In general, I have trouble following a lot of action-adventure movies, because I can't quite hear (or understand) the barked dialogue over the thunderous explosions and revving engines, and so as chaos envelopes the big screen, I'm left wondering "what are their motivations?"

Like, where does The Joker get his resources? How does he have time to set up these various traps? Bruce got agitated over the ferry scene, and being a former New York City dweller, fretted that someone would feel motivated to carry out such actions in real life (for example, there was a scary ferry slasher in the late 80's). My reaction to his concern was "this will happen when pigs fly." Even the Pentagon couldn't set up such a thing - an unbalanced criminal would have no chance.

I have to admit Heath Ledger plays a mean Joker. Favorite quotes:

• Watch me make this pencil disappear....
• I believe whatever doesn't kill you simply makes you... stranger
• Why... so... serious?
• Let's put a smile on that face!
• (To Batman) I don't want to kill you. What would I do without you?
• I'm a dog chasing cars. I don't have plans. I just do things. I'm not a schemer.

The movie is a long one (2 hours and 38 minutes?) After a while, the action seems - repetitive?

The end is rather downbeat and grim, apparently in accord with the Batman tradition, whereby the Dark Knight is as much a fugitive from society as a dark necessity of society: the scapegoat; the one who breaks all the rules, because someone must be in a position to do so in order to preserve society (someone like a self-supporting billionaire...yeah that's the ticket!), and thus someone who must also suffer the consequences (like repeatedly dealing with the K-9 unit). It's the kind of thinking that got us Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo, and ultimately it's counterproductive. Gotham City's best see the downside quite clearly, however, but they don't have the strength to escape their fate.

Yes, Buddha required sacrifice: Heath Ledger died for Gotham City's sins.

That's not the way it should have been, but that's what you get with The Joker.

In any event, that's all the philosophizing today that Megan's Gift permits.