The Natural Narrative

Back in the day (okay, okay, just a few short years ago) I was one of the millions of movie enthusiasts who faithfully arrived for the midnight showings of all three of Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings films. Not only was it a kick to sit amongst school-age Elves, Dwarves and gray-bearded Gandalfs, but it also always felt like I was getting to indulge in my devotion for the movies with a few hundred people who felt largely the same way I did. After Frodo headed out from the Grey Havens and the book on LotR hysteria began to close, I found myself wondering if there was a chance that genuine passion would return for another film. Was that wonderment simply part of my childhood, or could I experience the same feeling as an adult?

 

Cut to 2008, as I’m cleaning up my station at work fifteen minutes early in an attempt to beat Southern California rush-hour traffic. My objective - make it to the IMAX theater thirty miles from my apartment for a Tuesday evening show of The Dark Knight. Upon arrival my boyfriend and I share a soda and sit in the ever-increasing line, talking about what we’ve heard about the movie and reveling in the anticipation of the crowd.

 

In front of the theater sits a model of the Batmobile (bless you, clever marketing strategies) with a sardonic Joker prowling the premises. There are a few unpaid Jokers in the line as well, parading in snappy suits with Jack Nicholson-esque color schemes. True, this may not be Rivendell, but there’s definitely something going on here. Once inside, we see that the IMAX Theater itself has been attacked with Joker graffiti- ghoulish streaks of red paint full of tantalizing messages. The towering IMAX screen has an eerie clown face staring outward at the moviegoers. Add that to the viral marketing strategies I’ve seen on the internet (see ibelieveinharveydent.com) and it suddenly occurs to me that movie nerd-dom has without a doubt moved forward into the twenty-first century.

 

I love sitting in a theater with other people who aren’t afraid to let their geek flag fly. When I saw The Empire Strikes Back in theaters during the Special Edition re-release, the entire theater began chanting “Yoda, Yoda, Yoda” as the green Lucasfilm icon came on the screen. In The Dark Knight, the first wide-angle IMAX shot of the high rise buildings in Gotham was enough to make the theater burst into impressed applause as the camera guided us directly into the heart of story.

 

If you hadn’t guessed by now, I can say with certainty that this film lived up to and exploded past all of its hype and expectation. I’ve heard that it feels long to some viewers, but the nearly three-hour running time seemed to just, no pun intended, fly by. It’s so rare that a film manages to present the complete package: exceptional writing, carefully crafted storyline with enough symbolism to make any scholar drool, and a superior level of acting that would make James Lipton close the New School of Acting and run off to join the circus. And even in the face of my scholarly gushing, it’s a good MOVIE. Things blow up. Christian Bale embarks on a number of gravity-defying stunts. They really flip an eighteen-wheeler, for fuck’s sake. It manages to be thought-provoking AND entertaining, a feat that most movies fail to achieve.

 

It’s so very refreshing to see a movie that does not rest its entire weight on CGI. Admittedly, I’m a purist- when the Death Star blows up, I long to see the scale model explode with real fire like it did in the original trilogy, not the hollow computerized effect they replaced it with in the Special Edition. Therefore, when I say that it thrilled me to see that eighteen-wheeler flip over, it was because I knew that somebody really had to get their hands dirty and figure out how to make the stunt as realistic as possible. While I appreciate the technology that allows us many new avenues, I still find it much more gratifying for effects to be grounded in some sort of real experience. And P.S, thanks to director and writer Christopher Nolan- now I want to go base jumping in Hong Kong. J

 

Heath Ledger, Heath Ledger. What a great loss to the acting world. Amidst the entire pre-release buzz was the looming question of whether or not Ledger’s Joker would stand up next to Jack Nicholson’s 1990 performance. It turns out that this question has no relevance, because the men have crafted two such starkly different representations that to attempt to compare them would be ridiculous. What made him such a brilliant villain was his complete lack of motive, complete with conflicting stories about his past. The purest evil is without origin, without rhyme or reason. Ledger transformed himself into this character and it looked effortless. If acting was the love of his life, his performance in this film was a beautiful final testament to that passion.

 

Gary Oldman is the man. Enough said.

 

I’ve been a fan of Christian Bale ever since Newsies, and this movie continued and strengthened my love for this strangely underrated actor. (Quick side recommendation: go rent The Machinist.) One thing though- his voice as Batman makes me laugh! Bale is a master of accents; he is from Wales but you could never tell because he changes his accent for every role. Bruce Wayne has a plain American accent, but Batman has a gravelly rumble of a voice. I did find myself momentarily distracted and entertained by a daydream of Batman pulling up to a drive-thru and ordering in that voice (can I get a double double, no tomatoes?)

 

The second of my two gripes about this movie (Batman’s bronchitis-voice being the first) is that Morgan Freeman didn’t have enough screen time. Although, I suppose that’s personal preference, because in my opinion Morgan Freeman could have been in all nine hours of Lord of the Rings (don’t forget the Extended Version and Special Features) and I would have been happy about it.

 

Aaron Eckhart also joins the superhero movie world as Gotham D.A. Harvey Dent, whose horrifying turn as Two-Face was a unique representation of the famous villain. I suppose I’ll contradict myself slightly by saying that the CGI visual work for Two-Face’s decimated left side was truly disturbing and effective. I loved Eckhart in Thank You For Smoking (ah, the Netflix list is just getting longer and longer!) but he seemed to really stretch his legs out into this role. Trilogy, anyone?

 

Christopher Nolan, thanks for getting it right. Your film inspired movie lovers everywhere to don their best combinations of green and purple and hit the theaters despite a difficult time in the American economy (IMAX tickets are fifteen bucks a pop, that’s like three gallons of gas!!) It was a pleasant surprise to discover that it was a film completely worthy of that level of worship. I can’t wait to see what’s to come in Nolan’s Gotham. He may be modern film’s White Knight after all.  

- KW 2008

DISCLAIMER: This is my original work. If you wish to do anything else with this work (link to it, excerpt it, burn it in effigy) please contact me at narrativnatural@gmail.com.