Retro Review (Part Two): The Dark Knight

 As I was preparing to put this retrospective of way back four years ago, I went digging to see what I wrote about The Dark Knight in 2008. The Blogorium existed in a proto-form at the time, mostly as a byproduct of a Myspace page I no longer update, so I knew I must have said something about the film. 2008 was the summer of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, The Happening, Hellboy II: The Golden Army, and The X-Files: I Want to Believe, all of which had accompanying reviews. But for some reason my write up for The Dark Knight never made the transition, so I thought I'd share it with you now:


The Joker Begins...

You have a bad day at the movies. Something you hoped to really enjoy doesn't go that way, and you feel bummed. You start doubting the ability of a movie to actually deliver what everyone says it does. Especially when the same people who loved that movie you didn't start ranting and raving about the second coming, arriving at a theatre near you this Friday. But you already have a ticket, because you hoped. Maybe you still have hope that one bad apple didn't spoil the whole basket. But you're still worried that you're being set up for disappointment again.

And then you watch The Dark Knight.

Folks, I'm not going to sit here and hype this movie up any more than you've already heard. By now you've fallen into one of two camps: 1) the die hards who will be seeing this no matter what, or 2) the casual viewer, curious about the Heath Ledger connection who will make up most of the matinee audiences.

The point is that both of you are already going to see it, so I don't need to tell you that of the four sold out auditoriums at the Grande tonight, I didn't hear one bad word about The Dark Knight. Not even lukewarm. I can tell you that The Dark Knight is exactly what you were hoping it would be but not in any of the ways you were expecting. Truthfully.

Yes, a BIG chunk of that comes from Heath Ledger's Joker. Neil has been saying for a few months now that the reason you see so many of the same clips over and over again in the ads is because they can't show you anything else. He's right, but not totally. While it's true that The Joker is an agent of chaos and does some truly heinous things on-camera, what Ledger and Christopher Nolan did with the character doesn't translate in "bite sized" clips. If you could hear one of his monologues about "where I got the scars", you'd understand. Or, will understand.

Or the magic trick. Jesus, the magic trick.

What may surprise many of you is how much of the film focuses on other elements, particularly leading up to why the Mob(s) hand control over to The Joker. The less I tell you about Two Face, the better, but let me say that Harvey Dent's arc in the film is possibly more interesting than Batman's, Gordon's, or even The Joker.

I know, I know; I promised no hysterics, or hyperbole. Once you've seen the movie you'll understand the "Oscar" push for Ledger, and I'm not exaggerating when I say he'd deserve it. No one's made this comparison to my knowledge, but it might help if you think of The Joker like Anton Chigurgh. The only difference is that he talks more and might be more terrifying for it.

There are so many things I'd love to tell you about The Dark Knight, but I think it's better you see it for yourself. Know that it's exceptional filmmaking, and while I couldn't possibly imagine calling it The Godfather Part II or The Empire Strikes Back, The Dark Knight is miles beyond Spider-Man 2.

A warning: Please don't take your children to see this movie. In fact, even though The Dark Knight is rated PG-13, this is in no way a movie for impressionable youngsters. The title is VERY appropriate, and the film is at times relentlessly bleak. The ending, while wholly fitting with the film, is not one of hope, and it doesn't give you the kind of thrill to see the next film (or really give you any idea who Nolan wants Batman up against). It's the ending that a film called The Dark Knight should have, but the middle and end have more than enough thematic material to traumatize the youngin's. Not to mention the Two Face makeup. Just a heads up.

So yeah, my batteries are recharged. I really want to see it again, and to figure out if The Scarecrow was doing what I think he was doing, or if Lucius Fox really did hint at Catwoman...

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Okay, back to the future, and let's take a look at some reflections four years later, in anticipation of The Dark Knight Rises.

 Let's start with the last paragraph, because yes, there is a throw-away joke during the scene where Bruce Wayne is talking to Lucius Fox about the new armor, and Wayne asks about dogs. Fox says something to the effect of "Are we talking about Rottweilers or Chihuahuas?" before offering "It should work against cats," which if you want can be taken as knowing foreshadowing of Selina Kyle (Anne Hathaway)'s presence in The Dark Knight Rises, although every review is making a point of saying no one ever calls her Catwoman.

 The other part, the one about the Scarecrow, came from misunderstanding what Jonathan Crane said after Batman ties him up with the Russian mobsters and imitation Batmen. Instead of taking his line about Batman's mental state not being "my diagnosis," as a snarky comment, I mistakenly believed that Crane was somehow behind the fake Batmen who show up before the Tumbler arrives. By the second time I'd seen The Dark Knight (which was about a week later), it made sense, but when I wrote that initial review there was some confusion about Cillian Murphy's cameo.

  Very quickly, while I couldn't possibly know that Heath Ledger was going to die when he did and the way he did, this initial review leans heavily on the "Joker" side of things. I was very impressed by Ledger, an actor I hadn't really paid attention to beyond Brokeback Mountain, and the execution of the Joker's "plan" was so much more interesting than Ra's al Ghul's in Batman Begins that I fixated on it. That, and the "magic trick," which comes out of the blue the first time you see it but I realize now was sort of the "Order 66*" of The Dark Knight: bloggers used it as way of proving they'd seen the movie.

 I want to clarify the The Dark Knight to Spider-Man 2 comparisons, because I think I know what I meant to say, but it didn't come out clearly at all. Spider-Man 2 is a great comic book movie, like X2 or Iron Man or even The Avengers. This is not diminishing those film in any capacity, but The Dark Knight surpasses great comic book movies and stands among great movies. It deserved its Academy Award nomination, even if there was no chance it was going to win (quick, who can name the Best Picture for 2008?)

 One of the reasons that I'm continually impressed by The Dark Knight, including this past weekend, is how well it works beyond being adapted from a comic book. Later reviews, particularly ones that arrived after the backlash began (one you can see being played out in early reviews for The Dark Knight Rises, but also Inception) pointed out that The Dark Knight is a lot like Heat or other Michael Mann ensemble pieces. It's more of a police procedural that happens to feature a guy dressed like a bat, a dude who wears "war paint" and self-inflicted scars (I think), and eventually a dude with a half-exposed skinless face.

 That's not to say it downplays the comic book component, but there's something about The Dark Knight that feels like Gotham City is a real place, with actual neighborhoods and city blocks and that functions without Batman. We spend a lot of the film with the police, Gordon's crime unit, the District Attorney's office, the Mayor (Nestor Carbonell of The Tick and Lost fame), and on the flip side, with the various criminal enterprises, headed up by the likes of Eric Roberts, Chin Han, and Michael Jai "Black Dynamite" White. There's even a Gotham City talk show hosted by Anthony Michael Hall (not actually Hall, but "Mike Engel") that figures into the second half of the film in a not-so-trivial way. Two ways, in fact.

 Compared to Batman Begins, the Joker's ultimate scheme feels miniscule but is no less important to the film. After all, he's already done the damage he planned for Batman - he killed Rachel Dawes and corrupted Harvey Dent - so what if a demonstration of human nature at its worst backfires? I like that it seems like something a guy who chooses to have limited means could pull off, and that his smaller acts of terror have more impact that Ra's al Ghul's sweeping attempt to level Gotham City ever did in Batman Begins. It helps to ground The Dark Knight in a reality that makes the crime more visceral, more potent. You don't need the splash of Jack Nicholson announcing that "This town needs an enema!"

 Oh, can I pick a nit quickly? It's something that sticks with me every time I see The Dark Knight, because while it doesn't need to be explained, necessarily, it might have helped to have a passing line between Gordon and Batman after he arrests the Joker to explain that someone knew Jim Gordon wasn't dead. It's fair to assume Batman knew, because why would he put himself in the position where the Joker had him dead to rights if there wasn't backup? Harvey Dent clearly didn't know, based on his reaction, and no one else involved in the escort did either. To be fair, this is Christopher Nolan using a cheat based on the assumption that because the audience doesn't know he's alive, it doesn't matter that no one else seems to. The surprise is for our benefit, even if the plan seems vaguely defined after it happens.
 
 Since the film and its villains were announced, I always assumed that The Dark Knight Rises would be more like Batman Begins than The Dark Knight, if only because there were continuous rumors that Liam Neeson would appear and accordingly Ra's al Ghul would be somehow involved in Bane (Tom Hardy)'s plan to be "Gotham's reckoning." I've avoided as many spoilers as I can, but I do know the film opens eight years after The Dark Knight, where Bruce Wayne is physically and mentally out of the picture as a result of Rachel's death and the deal he made with Gordon to cover up Harvey Dent's death. Beyond that, I know very little, but it seems like Bane is trying to finish what Ghul started on a broader scale than the Joker was ever interested in. That, or it's Knightfall.Then again, with Bane being involved, and Knightfall being what comic readers know Bane for the most, I kind of always thought it was going to be Nolan's variation on that particular arc. We'll see tomorrow.

 The Dark Knight is a movie I've watched several times over the last four years, and I find I continue to enjoy the film and discover little things here and there (I still love that the entire time we were watching Batman Begins we could see the Batpod, we just didn't know that's what it was). It's not just a better movie than Batman Begins, it's a damn fine movie period. Not just as a comic book movie, or as a sequel, but as a film in its own right, The Dark Knight works.


 * Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. If you look up early reviews, including Kevin Smith's, you'll see Order 66 mentioned in every single one of them, even if it's apocryphal at best in Star Wars lore.

News and Notes (part two)

Welcome back. Once I finished writing out all three fronts, I realized this was quite a lengthy post, and determined it would be best to split them up and let you read them in manageable chunks. Let's continue with our other two "Fronts", Releases and What the Hell was That?

The Release Front:

Up-Front Disclaimer - I'm not reporting any of the following from the position of an expert, only from the position of somebody who did some poking around and added his own conjecture.

I don't know where else to put this, but Amazon put up links a few months ago for Criterion Blu-Ray titles that I can't find confirmation about anywhere else. In addition to two reasonably likely titles (Seven Samurai and Videodrome), Amazon is also listing Terrence Malick's The Thin Red Line, Wes Anderson's The Darjeeling Limited, and Lars Von Trier's Antichrist as "Not Yet Announced" Blu-Ray titles available for Pre-Order.

For their part, Criterion doesn't seem to be saying anything. I just checked their "Coming Soon" page (this would be June 10th, 2010) and you're not going to find any of those movies listed. The Criterion Collection has been coyly playing with fans on their Facebook page by including links to stories about Malick's new film The Tree of Life (they have released Days of Heaven on DVD and Blu-Ray, so there is some relationship with the director), causing comments to explode with questions about the "4 Hour Cut" that will no doubt be the next Spine Number from Malick. I just don't know, especially since 20th Century Fox released The Thin Red Line (see below).

For The Darjeeling Limited, well, I just don't see why Fox is going to let Criterion put that out. Yes, I realize that Criterion and Wes Anderson have a working relationship (all of his films, save for two, are Spine Numbers already), but it's important to note that none of the other films were released by 20th Century Fox (Bottle Rocket was Columbia Tri-Star and Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums, and The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou all came from Disney / Touchstone). Fox, on the other hand, released The Darjeeling Limited on DVD and is already selling a Blu-Ray / DVD / Digital Copy combo for Fantastic Mr. Fox. Ergo, I don't really see that there's any incentive to let Criterion have Darjeeling, especially if they're doing pretty well with Mr. Fox.

Antichrist, well, to be honest with you, this makes plenty of sense. There is currently no U.S. release date for Lars Von Trier's latest film on DVD or Blu-Ray (it's available in Europe right now) and I don't know what studio really wants to try marketing it. Criterion has released The Element of Crime and Europa, and also has a history with "controversial" films like Salo and In the Realm of the Senses, so of the three titles, this one does make the most sense.

However, I have to reiterate that none of these titles are in any way actually confirmed. Pre-ordering them might be an exercise in futility, as Amazon has very limited information about the discs and the user reviews seem to reflect hopes more than any evidence they're coming out. The going rumor was that Yojimbo and Sanjuro were released on Blu-Ray because Seven Samurai's restoration was taking longer than expected, so I wouldn't be surprised if that is actually coming out. Videodrome is a 50/50 proposition, if only because Universal has been releasing back catalog Criterion titles on Blu-Ray (like Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Traffic, and Spartacus) on their own. Keep your eyes peeled, as will the Cap'n, but don't rush to pre-order those movies until you hear they're really coming out.

Finally, the "What the Hell Was That Front":

I actually don't even know what to make of the Mortal Kombat "proof of concept" video floating around the internet. I'm betting it won't embed correctly here, so I'm just going to put the link up. Yes, that is Michael Jai White, and yes, that is Star Trek Voyager's Jeri Ryan. I guess it's a "gritty" take on Mortal Kombat, and that's either really silly or potentially cool. I just don't know. Watch for yourself and decide.

Blogorium Review: Black Dynamite

The Cap'n has to openly admit something: I'm not as versed in Blaxploitation Films as I ought to be. Oh, I've seen the major "canon" films: Shaft, Dolemite, The Mack, Foxy Brown, Blacula, Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song, Boss *ahem*, and Detroit 9000, but I'm far from versed in the genre the way I am with, say, slasher films. I really wish I'd seen Black Belt Jones, for example, before watching Black Dynamite.

That being said, even if you aren't steeped in Blaxploitation history or just happen to really enjoy I'm Gonna Git You Sucka, you're going to really enjoy Black Dynamite. It's a different kind of parody than the Wayans / Zucker model of the mid-to-late 80s, mostly because of how hard it works to feel like a product of the era.

While this is going to sound strange, I’m going to draw a comparison to The House of the Devil, because both films manage to feel evocative of their respective time frames (Black Dynamite of the early-to-mid-seventies and The House of the Devil to the very early eighties) with a combination of camerawork, film stock, and set design. As with The House of the Devil, Black Dynamite could fool people into thinking they aren’t watching a parody… well, I won’t go that far. Stylistically, maybe, but if you’re paying attention to the story (and you’ve ever seen I’m Gonna Git You Sucka), then it’d be hard to mistake this for the genuine article.

As stories go, Black Dynamite has… a bit going on. Black Dynamite (Michael Jai White)’s brother Jimmy is gunned down by, um… drug dealers? Mobsters? The man?, causing the Cool Brother Who’s Out of Sight to put aside his Kung Fu practicing and Love Making in order to clean up the streets and get revenge. He’s helped out by “The Man” (in this instance, the CIA, with whom he served after being left behind in Vietnam), his main man Bullhorn (Byron Minns) and informant Cream Corn (Tommy Davidson).

Here’s where it gets a little more complicated, because Black Dynamite does manage to fit almost every cliché into one film: Black Dynamite teams up with the local Black Panther party to help overthrow the corrupt Congressman Monroe James, as well as local hood Chicago Wind (Mykelti Williamson). Then things get even more complicated as a vast conspiracy involving Anaconda Malt Liquor, The Fiendish Dr. Wu, and the President of the United States raises the stakes for Black Dynamite.

The level to which Black Dynamite is a parody (or just satire) of the genre is up to you. See, from what I do know of most Blaxploitation films, they are pretty ridiculous. Many of them were made on the cheap, so camera work can be a little shoddy, plots can go all over the place, and characters are painted in the broadest strokes possible. For example, Shaft is such a badass that most of the plot doesn’t need to tie together; he can pretty much wander around starting shit and seducing ladies at a moment’s notice. Alternately, it’s pretty hard not to say that Bullhorn is directly modeled after Rudy Ray Moore.

So when Black Dynamite abruptly shifts from being a “getting the drugs out of the community” to a showdown on “Kung Fu Island”, the level of parody is up for debate. Of course, when you’re watching a movie with a character named “The Fiendish Dr. Wu”, a “master of Kung Fu Treachery,” don’t take things too seriously. By the time that Black Dynamite switches directions for the fourth of fifth time (somewhere around the introduction of the orphanage), it’s easier to just enjoy the ride.

Helping to ease your enjoyment is Michael Jai White as Black Dynamite. I knew he was a charismatic guy from Exit Wounds, and that he was a martial arts master (okay, from the same movie, but also Universal Soldier). I guess that he might have been funny in Jerry Springer: Ringmaster, but honestly I don’t remember because of how bad that movie was. Here, however, he’s the ultimate package.

Jai White understands how inherently silly the genre is, and finds the balance between underplayed Richard Roundtree and over the top Fred Williamson. Even his kung fu, which is solid, is punctuated with ridiculous Bruce Lee-esque squeals and mannerisms. If you’ve seen the “Damoe” deleted scene from Kill Bill part 2, where Jai White has an outlandishly bad Australian accent, then you’ll have some idea of how funny he can be while kicking ass. But he’s also unmistakably a Bad Ass Mo-Fo in Black Dynamite. You don’t doubt that he could, say, defeat a nun chuck wielding Richard Nixon (spoiler).

While the targets are wide ranging and the acting is, at times, deliberately over the top, my favorite moments are the little ones. For example, early in the movie Black Dynamite is visiting Honey Bee (Kym Whitely) and sits down at his desk. The camera, at a low angle, swings up awkwardly as Jai White stands up, revealing the boom microphone at the top of the frame. This, as Adam was quick to remind me, is directly lifted from Dolemite, but what makes it even funnier is that Jai White quickly looks up at the boom mic not once but twice.

Other little things, like the fact that stock footage never seems to match the action sequences (particularly at the end of the Chicago Wind chase), awkward cuts to mask stunt accidents, or delaying a split-screen because Black Dynamite is having trouble hanging up the phone really sold me on the movie. In fact, I'm a little fuzzy on why people don't like Black Dynamite. A handful of reviews I saw indicated the film was all style and no substance, which I don't totally agree with.

Admittedly, the story is all over the map, but there is an actual through line from beginning to end. The unnecessarily over-complicated explanation of the Anaconda Malt Liquor conspiracy should make that clear. To be fair, the sequence with the pimps (which includes cameos by Bokeem Woodbine, Cedric Yarbrough, Miguel Nunez, Brian McKnight, and Arsenio Hall) doesn’t really go anywhere, but you do get to hear the following exchange:

Black Dynamite – “I’m declaring war on anyone who sells drugs to the community!”

Chocolate Giddy-Up – “But Black Dynamite, I sell drugs to the community!”

I highly recommend Black Dynamite to anybody sick of seeing crap like Epic Movie or Recent Movie 3 or whatever they pass themselves off as these days. While you don’t need to be a scholar on Blaxploitation films, it wouldn’t hurt your appreciation of what director / writer Scott Sanders and co-writers Michael Jai White and Byron Minns have accomplished. In fact, it may send you in the direction of the films Black Dynamite is satirizing. I, for one, am going to try to locate Black Belt Jones and see how much I missed in the first viewing of Black Dynamite.

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Just for good measure, a sampling of other great lines from the movie:

“Your knowledge of scientific biological transmogrification is only outmatched by your zest for kung-fu treachery!”

“Take your filthy black hands off the presidential dinnerware, you moon-cricket!”

“First Lady, I'm sorry I pimp slapped you into that china cabinet.”

“You diabolical dick shrinkin' mother fuckers!”

“Now Aunt Billy, how many times have I told you not to call here and interrupt my Kung Fu!”