Curse you Mega-hard Man!

I downloaded Mega Man 9 the other night and have cursed more times playing that game than I have in the past year. S far I have beaten Concrete Man and Galaxy Man. Tonight, I attempted to beat Jewel Man, but, alas, I was not able to get to him. I only tried for two hours, though. I'll give it another go tomorrow and see how things pan out. I'll load up on some of those Shock Shield things cause it is the spikes that get me. Oh well. In other news, this past weekend I took advantage of the Gamestop "by two, get one free" sale on used games. I know, I know. I shouldn't buy used games. But I need to think economically. I bought Rock Band, Mass Effect, and Burnout Paradise: three games I have been meaning to buy but have been too cheap and time deprived to get. Before that, I bought and beat Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. I beat that in a couple of days. It wasn't a very good gametime to price ratio. I should have gone with Tales of Vesperia and waited for the price on SWFU to drop.

The Dark Knight Review

The Dark Knight is by far the best comic book movie adaptation ever made. It even gives every non-comic book movie a run for their money.

For the sake of objectivity, I should preface this review by saying that I am a big Batman fan. I enjoy comic books but do not buy a lot of them. When I do buy one, though, it is typically a Batman comic.

The Dark Knight is the sequel to the very well received Batman Begins (2005). Directed by Christopher Nolan (Memento, The Prestige), Batman Begins is a "reboot" of the DC/Warner Bros. Batman movie franchise that plummeted into the the realm of corny, cheesy, and poorly acted superhero movies. It tells the origin story of Batman: the death of his parents, his travels abroad, and his return to Gotham City. Batman Begins was able to stand out as a non-comic book movie comic book movie. In other words, one does not need to be a Batman fan to enjoy Batman Begins (or The Dark Knight for that matter) due to the exceptional story, acting, and directing.

The Dark Knight has all of the familiar faces from the previous movie. Christian Bale (American Psycho, The Machinist) returns as Bruce Wayne/Batman. Trusty butler Alfred is played by Michael Caine (uh... it’s Michael Caine), and Wayne's confidant Lucius Fox is played by Morgan Freeman (again, it’s freakin Morgan Freeman). Maggie Gyllenhaal replaces Katie Holmes as Wayne's oldest friend and extremely brief romantic interest Rachel Dawes.

There a two big newcomers to the cast. The first is Aaron Eckhart (Thank You for Smoking) who plays newly elected district attorney Harvey Dent, the man destined to become the villain Two-Face. The second newcomer and the one with the most buzz about him due to his untimely death, is Heath Ledger (10 Things I Hate About You, Brokeback Mountain) playing the Batman’s ultimate chaos loving villain: the Joker.

The Dark Knight takes place approximately a year after Batman Begins. Batman’s example of an ordinary man taking a stand against corruption has triggered the people of Gotham to take up arms and fight. Several Batman wannabes attempt to stop drug deals and other petty crimes. The renewed faith in justice of Gotham’s citizens also paves the way for the election of a new district attorney that is willing to stand up and fight organized crime.

Gotham City is enjoying a new era of peace and prosperity. Enter the Joker, a psychopathic criminal genius who seems to have no other goals than to cause chaos. Money and power have no interest to the Joker. The only other thing that has any interest for the Joker is the Batman. Batman is a symbol of order, of a society with rules. The Joker is the complete antithesis of this. The Joker continues his wave of crime that was alluded to at the end of Begins. His escapades take him to testing not only the Batman, but the hearts of every Gotham citizen.

Going any deeper into the story could lead into spoiler territory, so let’s look at the performances. Christian Bale again takes the cake as the best Batman to appear on film. He is able to portray two distinct characters: the model dating, billionaire-playboy Bruce Wayne and the emotionless, calculating Batman. His Batman has clearly evolved since the previous film. He has become more the Batman that has an endless mission to safeguard Gotham and less the Bruce Wayne that died twenty years ago when his parents were shot in front of him. My only complaint this time around is that Bale’s Batman voice has become a little over the top. It sounds too forced and is at times painful to hear. Luckily, Batman is not much of a talker and does little to harm the movie or Bale’s performance.

Caine and Freeman continue to show why they are signed on to these huge movies, but there is nothing new to see. Of course, more of a good thing is a good thing. Gyllenhaal plays a better Dawes than Holmes did. Her timing and reactions are far more convincing. Gary Oldman, who plays Jim Gordon, Batman’s connection to the police department, does an even better job than he did in Batman Begins. There is less cheesy dialogue from him that was prevalent towards the end of Begins, but he has the only bit of cheesy dialogue in The Dark Knight.

Eckhart gives an amazing performance as Harvey Dent. He looks, sounds, and acts the part to the T. He is a noble white knight, as they call him in the film, that has a dark side. Trust me when I say the evolution he goes through shows the fantastic range of Eckhart’s abilities. I am looking forward to seeing him in the next movie more than any of the other characters.

Finally, there is the performance that the entire media is buzzing about: Heath Ledger’s final role. Ledger’s Joker delves into the darkest versions of the character’s comic book incarnations, most notably A Death in the Family and The Killing Joke. It is difficult to avoid comparing Ledger to Jack Nicholson, the actor who played the Joker in Tim Burton’s 1989 Batman. They are completely different, though. Nicholson was a goofy, fun loving mob boss. Ledger is scary. The details of his acting, the way he walks, how he places his hands, his laugh, every inflection he uses is perfectly crafted to create a man who has no humanity left in him. This performance would have put Ledger to the top of the Hollywood A-list in one fell-swoop. It is a tragedy to have lost such a gifted actor at his prime.

The Dark Knight is just as its title says: Dark. It is not your typical superhero movie. It is violent without being gory. It is a crime-drama/psychological thriller/non-stop action movie. There is literally no down time. The movie starts with a bang and does not stop for two and a half hours. It also uses a minimal amount of computer generated effects. Most of the effects are done practically, and it pays. The filming is beautiful (see it in Imax if you can) and the script is perfectly crafted. The way everything flows and connects constantly blew my mind. The Dark Knight is a must see movie for everyone except young children. It will entertain you. It will hurt you. It will also make you look inside yourself and seek out your true character. This is the kind of movie that only comes along once in a few years. It is worthy of Oscars in every category it can be nominated in. Go see it and be prepared to need a nap. It will drain you, but you may be on such a high buzz that you will probably not be able to fall asleep. I do not know if I can wait another three years for the next one. Ledger is irreplaceable, but the amount of talent on these movies will keep me wanting more. The Dark Knight satisfies every geek fantasy I have had for a Batman movie.