A psychopath with a plan

[Rich-n-Texas]

I took a day off from work Friday so I could catch the opening of "The Dark Night", and well, I may have to take another one and see it again. I'm probably going to be echoing others' sentiments, but nevertheless, this movie easily lived up to its billing.

The way I saw it, the story revolved around three and sometimes four characters, but it was Heath Ledger's Joker that kept me focused. This villian was able to manipulate and intimidate almost anyone who stood in his way. Not bad for a psycho. At no time during scenes where the joker was the focal point did I see Heath Ledger (maybe because I didn't see "Broke Back Mountian), and I'd compare his performance to Denzel Washington's crooked cop performance in "Training Day". Where Ceasar Romero's Joker was protrayed as a fruit cake, and Jack Nicholson's Joker was more comedic, Heath's Joker was just plain evil, with no regard for human life. Even during scenes were he wasn't invloved, what he was up to and how it affected the story was always in my mind. The scene where he has his head out the window of the moving vehicle is what's playing over and over in my head. That's the one that truly frightened me, and convinced me that his character wasn't supposed to be funny.

This flick definately was not your typical *comic book hero saves the city* fare. There were some plot lines that lent the film towards that type of campiness, but for the most part this was a serious *good vs. evil* drama. As was the case in "Batman Begins", the marque players' performances were top notch, but getting back to Heath's Joker, his performance was so believable that I just wanted to hate the character, but that feeling was tempered by the reality that there will never again be a Heath Ledger as "The Joker", which certainly made for mixed emotions. Also sad was no scenes of protruding nipples from under Rachel's outfits.

Those are just a few of my impressions of "The Dark Night"; I don't want to say anymore because I fear spoiling it for others, and I'm definately going to see it again because as someone else mentioned, there were parts of the movie that became complicated for my simple mind, and as well, there were points where I couldn't hear the dialog clearly, which I think has more to do with the theater where I watched it.

I give this movie...