film: The Dark Knight

Jerman's Rating: 4 steps forward, 1 step back. Rare high morals with token immorality. Defcon 4 of 6 (Heavy) Surprisingly there was very little blood, guts, brains, gore of any kind. Plenty of people got shot, but there was rarely blood. The Defcon is instead for lots of disturbing images (again- not for gore, they are just disturbing). The action sequences are pretty intense too. I can imagine that most people could tolerate both, unless you know you'd have a problem with either.


Batman begins comes out, and people raved about it, I still liked my Tim Burton Batmans best. The Dark Knight is definitely the best of the Batman films. It is very dark, but teaches so many good things. I have utmost respect for the writer and the director.

You could see John Travolta in Hairspray, Ewan McGregor as Obi Wan, even Jack Black in Panda. I could never see Heath Ledger's face in the Joker, ever. This Joker is one of the best villains in film history. Denethor was demented and losing his mind, the Joker is totally psychotic, in a way Darth Vader could never approach. He abides by the overlord rules, he is the antithesis of Batman. I was a little sad that there was no Harley Quinn, she's a favorite character of mine. The Joker steals ever scene he is in, and rightfully so.

Ok, back to morals, which is what this is supposed to be about. A big one (maybe The moral of the film) is about falling. Anybody, no matter how high, or good, if isn't careful can fall to be corrupt and murderous, even Batman, even you, even Google. This is a very rare moral that I see in film, but a good one to remember. It is good to be reminded of how it happens, what it looks like, and what people should do about it. This is where the film gets its title.

There is one little punch (this is kind of cute) about people spying on other people- even for good. It treated with a lot of gravity. Power is power, used for good or ill, and is always dangerous. (take that Homeland Security! spying is bad (so says Christopher and Jonathan Nolan))

Other things it discusses are: when to keep/break your standards (rules), being a vigilante, following your purpose, standing up for good, sacrifice, passing off the mantle, and many other things. The token immorality is always a hard list to come up with, I'll really have to watch it again and watch carefully. They are there though.


This Batman is most excellent, a superb film in every sense of the word. The Gotham world is perfectly created, each character is perfect, the film making is perfect. This will take your breath away and make you think about it for a while after. It isn't one that you can watch over and over though- its a hefty meal.