Why So Serious?

Yep, i finally saw the Dark Knight, and yes, Heath Ledger was brilliant in it, but he wasn't the only one. i always hated the original Batman because, like everything else Tim Burton does, it's just so over the top. As a kid, Jack Nicholson scared me to death. i still don't like to watch his movies, he's just so oily and /shudder. But Heath brought a certain rationality to the character. Yes, he did things that were insane, but because he was smart, because he was brilliantly orchestrating things behind the scenes, and putting on a crazy face so no one took him seriously. It's funny, they could have turned this into another "why is the Joker what he is?" film, but fortunately they didn't; we didn't need that, it had been done before (badly). Instead, we got a brilliant look at what made Two-Face what he was.

Another thing that's interesting about this version of the franchise is that Batman is so much more dark and twisty even while he's being more noble and moral. He's harder on himself than he needs to be, in my opinion. i'm really enjoying these films much more than the old ones, and am really starting to hope that David Tennant will be the next Riddler, because i really cannot imagine anyone else bringing the same level of brilliance to the game.

Oh, and i'm enjoying the Scarecrow, too. And the mayor (Richard!). And more than anything, it just's wonderful to see Gary Oldman playing someone who isn't a bad guy. FINALLY.