2008 (4), 2011, 2012
Formats
Movie theater, IMAX theater, Blu-Ray, HDTV (w/ ads)
Premise
The Joker challenges all of Gotham to cross the line.
Loved
Everything about it.
Thoughts
Sick. In a great way. This was one of those films that I'd rather not say much and let you discover its greatness on your own.
This film was intense for many reasons. Obviously, the late Heath Ledger was the MVP. There aren't enough superlatives to describe this legendary performance. For lack of a better phrase, he made the beloved Jack Nicholson's version look like a clown. From scene one, Ledger's Joker grabs you by the balls, refusing to let go. He was frightening in his loud moments, terrifying in his quiet moments. A true agent of chaos. Perhaps the only drawback was that it became difficult to truly praise the rest of the excellent cast.
The action and score also kicked it up a notch. The centerpiece set was the insane tunnel scene as the Joker picks apart a convoy of armored police vehicles, but they paled compared to the debut of the Batcycle. I had rarely heard such gasps of exhilaration and applause when it takes on the eighteen-wheeler. Especially in IMAX. Once again, Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard delivered another great score, this time rife with distressing dissonance deserving to accompany Ledger's creation.
This reminded me of Vertigo, not in terms of style or plot, but in terms of having an experience. In both films, there came a point in which the filmmakers flipped everything upside down and blew my mind away. There were times in the surprise third act when I thought to myself "I can't believe I'm seeing characters doing these insane things to each other". Both masterpieces took me to wonderfully dark places I never thought possible in cinema.
Random
Comparing the differences between regular theater, IMAX and Blu-Ray was quite amusing. In IMAX, it was sometimes distracting for shots to go from wide screen to full-blown full screen intermittently. In Blu-Ray, the IMAX scenes were actually further back, not cropped. So the shots switched between wide screen and letterbox. Unfortunately, since the IMAX scenes were further, they (like the famous truck scene) lost a bit of the 'oomph' factor. On the flip side, I think I could see more clearly in Blu-Ray than in IMAX. Still, my favorite experience was watching in IMAX. When I become rich and famous, I will need to install an IMAX in my mansion.
