The Dark Knight - AHB

I, along with every other teenage boy hopped up on testosterone and filled with angst, love Batman. Although I never was in to the comic book scene, I used to really enjoy watching the old tv show with it's absurd catchphrases - "Holy _____ Batman!" - to the "Pow!", "Wham!", and "Boom!" graphics that followed a really killer Bat-punch.

Christopher Nolan is a brilliant director, so I was instantly excited when he chose to resurrect the series. Although I was underwhelmed by the first effort, I think the Dark Knight is one of the best major action movies to come out during my lifetime (and I usually try and shirk the overly popular stuff).

One of the things that really grabs me about this film is the underlying story line of each characters development. Batman, Harvey Dent, and the Joker are all interesting case studies of human nature. Good and Evil are just treated with the same kind of overdone brushstrokes that are usually the case in major Hollywood films. Sure, we can still label Batman the "good guy" and the Joker "the badie", both there are strange parallels in their characters that question the underlying motivations of each. Harvey Dent is the uncorrectable civil servant who goes off the deep end when he loses Rachel, but what makes him fascinating is his sort of nihilist response. If there is no essential meaning in the world, why should a coin-toss play God?

Another scene I find really interesting is the the two boats with the remote detonators for the bomb on the other ship. This little scenario seems like it is straight out of a philosophy book of ethical dilemmas. I was left wondering whether or not what happened would actually occur in real life. I find myself almost agreeing with the Joker's assertion that "when the chips are down, these civilized people will eat each other".

There are a host of good quotes from the film, and I find them coming back to me again and again.

-Because he's the hero Gotham deserves, but not the one it needs right now. So we'll hunt him, because he can take it. Because he's not our hero. He's a silent guardian, a watchful protector. A dark knight.

-You either die a hero or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain.

-Don't talk like one of them. You're not! Even if you'd like to be. To them, you're just a freak, like me! They need you right now, but when they don't, they'll cast you out, like a leper! You see, their morals, their code, it's a bad joke. Dropped at the first sign of trouble. They're only as good as the world allows them to be. I'll show you. When the chips are down, these... these civilized people, they'll eat each other. See, I'm not a monster. I'm just ahead of the curve.