The Dark Knight
Thursday night we went to see the Dark Knight at the midnight movie. I have to say that the Rolling Stone review hit the mark. They call the Joker “pure chaos,” which he is in so many ways. Reviewer Peter Travers also approves of the way the movie refuses to explain the joker through “pop psychology.” No oedipal narrative here. He writes:
The deft script, by Nolan and his brother Jonathan, taking note of Bob Kane’s original Batman and Frank Miller’s bleak rethink, refuses to explain the Joker with pop psychology. Forget Freudian hints about a dad who carved a smile into his son’s face with a razor. As the Joker says, “What doesn’t kill you makes you stranger.”
In all, it’s a great movie full of twists and turns. We enjoyed it.
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I thoroughly enjoyed DARK KNIGHT, but Travers lapses into pop psychology himself in noting “Ledger’s Joker has no gray areas — he’s all rampaging id.” Not off the mark, but an odd rock to throw out of a glass house.
The Salon review, however, points to a few critical reviews that dampen my enthusiasm (but only a bit, we do loves our guilty pleasures)…
http://www.salon.com/ent/movies/btm/feature/2008/07/23/transsiberian/index.html
~S