Head Grenade Productions

I recently saw the new Batman movie, The Dark Knight, in theaters. Twice actually, but that’s not as important. I’m sure most people have already heard the great things about it, and about Heath Ledger’s performance as the Joker. Yep, it’s incredible. Probably one of the best performances of, well, anything that I’ve seen, and an acting performance that delivers a wonderfully memorable and evil villain. But, that’s not what I’m here to talk about right now. Besides, other people can talk about that sort of element much better than I can, so I’ll leave it to them.

What struck me was a comment one of my friends mentioned after I had seen the movie. He said one great thing was that, unlike most movies, you couldn’t exactly see where it was going to go, and the twists were real twists. Most movies set themselves up for one great big shock, which, when they’re not as good, can be seen long before they come and ruin any surprise and suspense that they try to build with that. But here, he said, time and again something new jumped in and threw everything for a loop.

I won’t say that the story was the most original thing I’ve ever seen, but I have to say it was an amazing story. It took the standard superhero versus supervillan story and pushed it, hard, until it reached a point of becoming much more. The realism, the growing and breaking and changing and lying characters, and a constant devotion to holding itself to the same standards it’s set up have made it great. It hits us as real because, while some of the technology is is beyond us and some of the physical feats are more than we could assume possible, there’s nothing really in the movie that we stop and say “that’s not possible, ever.” Exactly what you want to see in science fiction; and, when you think about Batman, and his utility belt, as well as all the other toys he plays with, he is a science fiction superhero. The characters are like people as well, growing tired, reacting to their conscience and thoughts when they know what’s coming, or are caught off guard, and the events affect them and make them rework their opinions and lives. And never does it slip; never does the dialogue stop snapping, do the characters break from this mood, does the story let up from it’s grip on you. It’s a masterpiece of storytelling, even if it may not be deep or philosophical, which one could certainly argue — I’m just not feeling up to it right now.

(more…)