The Dark Knight

[giacooper]

I read a movie review on Crossroads.com on the new Batman flick, The Dark Knight. The author of the review favored it and I have to say, I've seen the movie, and I thought it was great.

Here's the thing. A lot of Christians are furious that a fellow believer would enjoy this movie and find it acceptable. It is dark, don't get me wrong. But the makers of this movie drew startling parallels between the world we are living in and the state of Gotham City. When you watch this movie, you are left with a feeling that we should be doing more to protect our country from the enemies attacks and the darkness that seems to be all around. Why can't people see this? Why does everything have to be so cut and dry?

Also, people have said that if you are a Christian, you shouldn't watch it because it takes the Lord's name in vain. I don't even recall hearing this, though I'm sure it was in there somewhere. Does this mean the entire movie and it's message should be written off? And why should the author of the Christian movie review be ridiculed because he interpreted a movie a different way than someone else (these other people, I might add, haven't even seen the movie)? Do you think this might be a case of, "this is black and this is what and there is nothing else in between?"

I'm curious what others here might think.

~Gia:)

[kshsj777]

I haven't had a chance to see this movie, but I liked the first one.

[melw]

i agree with some of Gia's thoughts. I saw Prince Caspian and enjoyed it and many people have no qualms becuase at one point CS Lewis became Christian.

I always think about the movies i see. Often if you watch something i can get uncomforatble if things are taken too far. Like a lot of swearing for the sake of swearing. Sex and nudiity for no real reason.

I don't think we should ever judge someone for the movie they saw. I think we should watch a movie before judging it. unless you know some things and it goes against your own beliefs.

for example i won't watch Harry Potter and ones that totally go agasint what i believe. Though a bit of fantasy is fine, as long as you don't consider it fact.

MEL

[DrRita]

I saw the movie last night . . . I did enjoy it and yes, it's pretty dark. One of the things that struck me was how the one man who leaned on his own understanding ended up being turned against good. . . I don't want to spoil it so that's all I'll say.

The second thing I wanted to say was Heath Ledger's performance was extradorinary . . . but it really really made me sad. I am thinking that his preparation for that character and the consequent performance might (I said MIGHT) have been contributory to his suicide. He really really got into character. I am sure it will win him an Oscar.

[ProfessorAlan]

The Wall Street Journal's review of Dark Knight also commented on the bleakness of the movie as possibily contributing to Heath's suicide, as well as Christian Bale's recent alleged violence issues.

[mel3]

In my opinion, theres a lot more films out there that are much darker.

[giacooper]

Honestly, I didn't think the movie was all that dark...in the great scheme of things. There are movies out there that I think, if I was part of, I would have a much harder time putting behind me. Think of war movies like Gettysburg or Schindler's List. This kinds of movies I would think would haunt me a little more than Batman.

If nothing else, I thought The Dark Knight was "dark" because it has a whole lot undertones that spoke of Spiritual Warfare. In a world that doesn't speak openly on such things, I can understand why that would be unsettling.

~Gia

[DrRita]

It wasn't the movie that was dark . . . I agree there are many more haunting and dark movies. It was Heath's character and the fact that it was his last movie. And that he committed suicide later on.

Prof is right . . . it had an element in it that was disturbing. Not the movie itself, a spiritual darkness that hovered over it. I can't put my finger on it but something . . .

[ProfessorAlan]

I would describe the overall mood as "despairing" or "bleak," which I thought was qualitatively different from other movies I've seen. I dug Frank Miller's re-working of the Batman character, and the gritty/dark stuff works well in the comics, especially when contrasated to the optimistic/light Superman character.

[mel3]

Batman is essentially human, not a super hero.

[giacooper]

Batman is essentially human, not a super hero.

Yeah, but that's why I like Batman. He doesn't need superhero powers. :)

[Phy]

It wasn't the movie that was dark . . . I agree there are many more haunting and dark movies. It was Heath's character and the fact that it was his last movie. And that he committed suicide later on.

Prof is right . . . it had an element in it that was disturbing. Not the movie itself, a spiritual darkness that hovered over it. I can't put my finger on it but something . . .

I loved this film. I've seen it three times, and I'm not done yet, I'm sure. I liked that it was an unabashedly grown-up movie. This is not a movie to take the 10 year old to and then over to McDonald's for the Happy Meal tie-in toy.

Ledger didn't commit suicide. He died from accidental complications of drug interaction and an prescription drug overdose. He was a drug user, and he did have genuine problems sleeping, but his death was accidental, not suicide. It is true that the role got into his head, and it is also true he had trouble sleeping.

The Joker was a diabolical psychopathic character who delighted in finding his enemy's achilles heels and exploiting them, putting people in situations where they only had two choices, jeopardize your life, or jeopardize your soul. Similar to Khan's famous line in Star Trek, The Joker's credo seemed to be "I'd done worst that kill you, I've damned you." But Batman believed in the inherent goodness of people, and stakes the lives of the citizens of the city on his premise. (I don't happen to agree with him, but for the purpose of the film, it was the one source of hope in a script whose themes were escalation, descent, and substitution.)

We spent two hours last night talking about the moral implications of this film, and another hour today talking about it on the way home from seeing it in an IMAX theater.

I'm tickled that we finally get a deep, dark film that has very little swearing and almost no on-screen gore. There is no sexual content in this film, and no blood. However, the moral choices presented are gripping and startling, and while the camera is careful not to show anything graphic, the scenes are all the more chilling for what they suggest. The viewer is given much of the job of filling in blanks in this film, which engages the imagination in startling and troubling ways.

Good. We do not live in a safe world, and this film gives us tremendous grist for discussion about the nature of good and evil. Good, by itself, is not enough, and sin is evil, and evil is neither cute nor harmless. This film depicts a being of cunning and resourcefulness who must be stopped, and who cannot be stopped by anything less than a sacrifice.

Praise be to the God who has given us the wherewithal to understand and appreciate sacrifice. Would that we will not be shy about employing it when necessary to save those closest to us.

Or total strangers, for that matter.


There is a lot to think about coming out of this film, as evidenced by these posts from fellow Christian thinkers:

http://www.faithfusion.net/index.php?itemid=460

E. Stephen Burnett:
In the future, if I’ve ever encountered anyone, whether non-Christian or professing Christian, who claims total evil isn’t real or that people are basically good, I’ll likely refer to The Joker in The Dark Knight. His is an especially insidious evil.

But the film’s representation of goodness is even deeper. I’m still trying to wrap my head around the moral quandary at the end, which — a hint of spoiler may be impossible to avoid here, so I hope you’ve already seen the film — Batman himself resolves by deciding to become, in effect, a penal substitution for one man’s sins. This skewed and backward-heroic act, becoming the villain but really the hero, the total unfairness of it all, is riveting. But it’s a choice that we ultimately know Batman must make for the Joker’s evil plan to be thwarted.

http://www.pluggedinonline.com/movies/movies/a0004153.cfm
Paul Asay


SPOILER




The Dark Knight poses and plays with ethical conundrums, most of which seem designed to push Batman, his allies and all of Gotham over the brink. "Madness, as you know, is like gravity," the Joker says. "All it takes is a little push."

The Joker succeeds in transforming Dent into a vicious villain with (quite literally) a two-sided face, and then sits back as his pet project flips that coin (one side now charred and scarred) to determine who dies and who lives. "The only morality in an amoral world is chance," Dent says.

Batman argues that the world's not governed by chance, but by choices. And when Dent dies, Batman makes the movie's most interesting choice of all: He takes the blame for the people Dent killed. He becomes, unjustly, a fugitive hated by the very people he's protecting.

"Sometimes, truth isn't good enough," Batman says. "Sometimes people deserve more. Sometimes people deserve to have their faith rewarded."

The decision, like Dent himself, shows us two faces.

On one side of it, Batman creates a lie—a flat-out fabrication that patronizingly presumes he knows what's best for Gotham's citizens, and that they're too fragile or shortsighted to accept the truth. In an age when we are all wary of lies, deceptions and governmental cover-ups, this kind of fabrication (well-meaning though it may be) feels especially wrong and, in any case, always violates one of God's core commandments: Don't lie.

On the other, Batman takes Dent's sin on his own shoulders, leaving the DA, in Gotham's eyes, pure and spotless and clean. Sound familiar? It can be read, at some level, as an echo of the sacrifice Christ—utterly innocent, yet humiliated and judged on our behalf—made for us.

[guynmo]

I have seen the movie 2 times now and must say I loved it. I have been a Batman fan since I was a little kid and while the comic books captured my childhood imagination Batman has been someone I have followed for most of my life.

I should say that the overall theme of witnessing something (his parents death) and then doing something about it i.e. fighting crime - has always struck a chord- children can relate because they can't imagine losing a parent to crime yet in this world this has happened. The movie is without a doubt a grown up movie, the themes of this movie are beyond a comic book treatment and directly go to good vs. evil a theme that we as Christians are familiar with.