So I saw The Dark Knight Rises

[cleolinda]

I don't really know how to talk about this. I don't want to talk about--I don't have words for what this guy is, or what he did, to children. As a writer, I'm fascinated by the psychology of crime and why people do things--and how other people respond to that. However, I don't want to talk about it. I don't want to feed this guy's fire. As far as I

Comments

[thebratqueen]

Which part of the ending are you wondering about? Because I've been wondering how the Talia reveal influences people's reactions, depending on where they fall on the spectrum of "Didn't know that Ra's al Ghul had a daughter in the canon" vs "Instantly knew that's who Marion Cotillard was playing the millisecond she was cast in a Chris Nolan Batman movie regardless of how often she and Chris denied it in interviews wherein them being asked about it should've maybe clued them in that this plot twist wasn't exactly subtle." (guess which camp I fall into

[cleolinda]

Oh, I was wondering what people would think of the very last couple of minutes. Kind of the "should Harry Potter live or die" thing

[anne_jumps]

I get it too. People who are big comics readers are complaining, but come on -- you want that exciting reveal moment, "Dick" or "Tim" or "Jason" is not going to give you that moment. ROBIN is.

[notemily]

I agree!

The Joker

[ext_1314899]

Since you said we can discuss the movie here I thought I'd just put my idea of what the Joker was doing during the chaos. I imagine that Bane saw him as too much of a wild card to be let loose so he kept him in his Arkham cell. The thing being he did what he did for Bruce, he gave him a television to watch the city be destroyed. If he gives him a front row view, he has no desire to escape and we get a fun-house mirror version of Bruce's own plight.

Re: The Joker

[cmdr_zoom]

I can, in fact, imagine Ledger-Joker sitting in his cell watching TV, on the edge of his bed, hooting and clapping like a seal (loose straitjacket sleeves flailing).

(How long he'd stay there, I don't know, but...)

Re: The Joker

[cleolinda]

See, I think the only way to do justice to a character that great would be to have Bane set him free with the others, or at least give him as much screentime as the Scarecrow. Actually, it would have been hilarious/awesome if the Joker had been the judge and the Scarecrow had been the "prosecutor" or something. But you'd want to know what happened to him after Bruce saved the city as well, since he's so much more a force of nature than Crane, who we saw Batman easily overpower in TDK. And then you get to the "do we imprison him or kill him?" screenwriter quandary, which was exactly what they tried to avoid in TDK to begin with. There's just nothing you can do without Heath Ledger, no one wants to recast, and there's not anything you can discreetly say happened to him without "and we had to say that instead of having the Joker be in the story... because the actor is no longer with us" lurking underneath it all. I really feel like Christopher Nolan must have been really, really traumatized by what happened, maybe even feeling some (

Re: The Joker

[cmdr_zoom]

I think you're right.

and if you'll forgive me, I also think that the previous movie gave us the perfect response to the one you call July 20:

"What were you trying to prove? That deep down, everyone's as ugly as you? You're alone!"

(but that, I know, risks conflating him with the cachet of the character - bestowing the real-life mantle on him. It's a tricky thing.)

[larthia]

I'd been trying to say all that you said (outside of the lj-cut, still haven't seen the movie myself, so I'm not reading direct commentary) to my friends and acquaintances, but I couldn't find the right way to phrase it. And now you did, and I am thankful.

I hope you (as well as many other people) will be able to enjoy the film, safely and again, tomorrow.

[cleolinda]

Yeah, it's INCREDIBLY vague commentary--I didn't even mention performances or music or even the plot, really--more just "in retrospect, it plays better as one long trilogy movie than a stand-alone movie, maybe look at it more that way." But, you know, give people the choice to read it or not.

I'm glad the first half of the entry helped any. I had to sit there and think, how do you talk about how you're not going to talk about something, and how do you say "We're not talking about this" in a way that isn't incredibly self-centered? "Well, *I* want to talk about the movie, so whatever." I honestly wouldn't have even wanted to, except that it was so ironically, thematically relevant. Which is more what I wanted to get into.

[phyncke]

I am planning on seeing it this weekend. I admit to hesitating but I would have just seen it later on. We got our tickets though. I love this series of Batman.

[cleolinda]

I really do love the two Burton Batmans in their own way, but I'm kind of a Christopher Nolan fangirl in general, so. And I have come to really love the Zimmer score, which I remember feeling kind of meh about when there was only the first movie.

Honestly, any feelings of discomfort watching the movie aside, this weekend will probably be the safest weekend to see it. There will be so much security in the immediate aftermath. I hope nothing else happens at all, of course.

[phyncke]

Well, I saw the film and really enjoyed it. I had no weird thoughts as I watched it. I cannot help but feel that they left it open for more in this series...there have to be more Dark Knight movies. I cannot believe that is the end. I will not be surprised if there are more of these.

Anyway. I liked it a lot.

[halfmoon_mollie]

I have not seen it yet, going tomorrow. However, I would like to thank you very much for what you said As far as I'm concerned, his name is July 20-2012 and he deserves nothing.. Any kind of publicity is exactly what he wanted. I could make a sweeping statement that if there were less publicity about this kind of thing...but I'd be wrong.

Otherwise, I'll avoid this for now. Also, thank you for the warning about possible mild spoilers.

[cleolinda]

Yeah, particularly with the character thing. Whose MO was seeking as much publicity as possible. I mean, there was an older news segment clip someone posted with Park Dietz (a criminal psychologist I always enjoy seeing on TV) talking about how mass-murder publicity almost always results in copycat attempts, because of the way the stories are reported. There's going to be interest in this guy just because of how complicated his whole scheme was, but... seriously, fuck him

[notemily]

There's a huge part in The Gift of Fear about how giving attention to killers just breeds more killers. I immediately thought of that when you brought up the date-based name. I think that's brilliant.

Also, I haven't watched the other two movies since the previous one came out, and I still loved it!

[cleolinda]

Well, I don't know that it's the best system, but I think it would help to have the blandest, most impersonal designations possible, and dates are something you can assign immediately. Even better, designations that kind of run together and aren't easily differentiated, to keep the attention away from the person who did it--the opposite of fame. Whatever anyone can think of to withhold what this guy wants works for me. I'm onto "this guy" or "that [expletive of moment's choice]" at the moment.