Why So Serious?

Well it seems like "The Dark Knight" is set to overtake Spider-Man's title of 'highest grossing comic book movie' and I couldn't be happier.

I really really really didn't like the first "Spider-Man" (the third one too). I had problems with the effects and with some of the performances but my main problem was the Green Goblin. I found him to be a really shitty villain and his plastic mask did him no favors.

I knew directly after seeing it that I didn't like the film but I could not exactly place why. About a week or so after it came out I read a review written by filmmaker Kevin Smith where he hit the nail on the head. He described the rooftop scene where the Goblin is trying to talk Spider-Man into being bad as reminiscent of a young child playing with his action figures.

Green Goblin: "Come on be a bad guy!"

Spider-Man: "No way man!"

In order to have a truly great comic book movie you have to have a truly great villain. Sure Sandman in "Spider-Man 3" had this whole sob story and was all misunderstood and such, but we never had time to care 'cause the movie was trying to ram so many other things down our throats that we wound up not caring about any of it. Zilch.

While I do have some problems with "The Dark Knight" (the "scary" bat-voice, some editing in an early scene and the way hand-to-hand combat was filmed) all of them are rendered tolerable thanks to one key element - an awesome villain.

People have been saying for a long while now that the late Heath Ledger is headed for a posthumous Oscar nod (and possible win) and after seeing this movie I agree completely. Heath's Joker is one sick, scary son of a bitch. This character is a completely un-predictable sociopath and that's what makes him so scary - he doesn't care and you never know what he's about to do.

A problem I had with the first film was the philosophical speechifying. You know the whole, "Gotham is worth saving," stuff. Here the speechifying goes down a lot smoother because the debate about man's base nature, is so tightly woven into who Joker is as a character. Whenever Batman (in the "scary" voice), Harvey Dent or Jim Gordon would go off on a tear about heroism or some such, I found myself waiting for the plot to move forward. The Joker, on the other hand, I could listen to for hours.

If you haven't seen this film yet you probably should. While it's not as rip-roaring as "Iron Man" it's still a great ride that has something to say and features, front and center, one of the greatest swan songs in cinema history.

Heath – you will be very sorely missed.