Deleted Scenes 07.24.08: Some Sputtered Sentence Fragments About The Dark Knight

Posted by Robert Sullivan on 07.24.2008

Only at the beginning...there are whole sentences, I promise. Come on in.

Hey everybody. It's Rob again, it's Deleted Scenes again, and welcome back (if in fact you ARE back) from last week's turf war in the comments section. As far as that goes, three little words followed by a bunch of other words presented in a handy little graphic, dear readers -



Oh, and that it's called a fallacy for a reason. That's more than three, but it's best to be clear about such things. Let's move on, explore happier topics...much happier topics...



Buhhhhhhh...

Uhhhhhhhh...

*skeet skeet skeet*

And that is why the Pulitzer for film criticism is headed my way this time next year, friends and neighbors.

Seriously, The Dark Knight was a cinematic miracle. Living up to the ungodly hype that surrounded the film is indeed miraculous, and Pope Benedict XVI should be giving the cast and crew of this movie a call pronto. I considered doing a Screenings of My Life for The Dark Knight, but there's only so many ways to talk about standing in line for an hour and then having your face rocked off with a couple hundred strangers for almost three hours. 'Tis always better to be concise, I say.

So, the big question - what of Heath Ledger? Was that hype warranted, did he live up to the hype?

Well...

If he is nominated for and indeed wins a Best Supporting Actor Academy Award for this film...let's put it this way, barring an unforeseen amazing performance by some other actor for some other film, the only way he'll lose is if the voters talk themselves out of it based on fears that it'll appear that he won "because he died."

Well, fuck that. Fuck it long, and fuck it hard. As previously stated, it will take an incredible piece of acting to deservedly take away an Oscar for Ledger's playing of The Joker. If Heath wins, he will have earned it for the performance, not the circumstances that surround it. Consider the category 99% closed for business.

I also want to make note of Aaron Eckhart's superb job as Harvey Dent. Somewhat overlooked in all of this was his marvelous work, and it's a true shame. As you guys know, I'm a big fan of Eckhart's anyway, but it's really wonderful to see him finally delivering on the promise he showed in In the Company of Men. All of the Paychecks and The Cores can't take this one away.

The others? Christian Bale, terrific. He continues to be the best Batman ever. Maggie Gyllenhaal, taking over due to Katie Holmes' brilliant career advice from Tom Cruise (OK, fine, allegedly)? She brought her A-game too, as there was a decided lack of Katie's omnipresent scrunched nose I'm-acting face going on. Morgan Freeman was delightfully Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine was delightfully Michael Caine, and Gary Oldman proves once again that he CAN be a good guy, and a damn good one at that.

One of my favorite moments from Batman Begins was Alfred's rescuing of Bruce Wayne during the mayhem at Wayne Manor. It was actually very touching to see Alfred as a hero and more than just butler-ready-with-a-quip. I've heard Alfred was written in the comics (and this was followed up on briefly and vaguely in The Dark Knight) as a certified badass, but prior to Batman Begins I can't remember it being shown on screen.

The parallel moment to that in The Dark Knight for me was...

OK, wait. Spoilers ahead. Vague spoilers, but spoilers nonetheless, and you might want to scroll down now.

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All right, everyone who wants to be gone appropriately vanished? Let's continue. Lieutenant Gordon is portrayed as dead at one point, and Christopher Nolan brilliantly waits jusssssssssssst long enough on his return that you've actually started believing, "Hey, maybe they're screwing with the source material and Gordon never becomes commissioner in this franchise's narrative." Thus, Gordon's return is genuinely surprising and provides a great moment for the audience to applaud, cheer, etc.

When he returns home to tuck his son into bed, the conversation is this -

James Gordon, Jr.: Did Batman save you?
Lt. James Gordon (brief smile on his lips): Actually, this time...I saved him.

As with the aforementioned scene in Batman Begins, we see that regular people can be heroes too, and Gordon becomes as big as Batman to his Batman-worshipping little boy. Call me sentimental and weak, but that was a beautifully touching moment in The Dark Knight to me and deserves to have a little attention thrown its way.

One last thing for the road, readers - I lend my support to the growing opinion that if The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King can compete in the big boy Oscar categories, so can The Dark Knight (if the film and director/writers are among the top five of their fields, of course). As others have said, "superhero movie" seems almost crude to describe The Dark Knight, and it deserves to be considered among the best of the year if that is the case when 2008 ends.

Not to mention all of the Lord of the Rings movies sucked, but that's neither here nor there.

Until next time.