Batman: Dark Knight, Friend or Foe (Updated 07-23-08)
Last night I went to go see the new Batman. It was very interesting. Camera work was out of this world. Acting was phenomenal. Make up was great, but a little too disturbing at times (Two-face).
Now with all this said, how in the world did Batman get a PG-13 rating? Now, I've only seen two Rated R movies, Brave Heart and the Passion of the Christ. Now, Batman is most definitely a R rated movie if I've ever seen one.
Note: What I am going to write is personal preference, if you can watch this movie to the glory of God-by all means watch it.
There is way to much killing of innocent people to justify the movie for me personally. The killings weren't just a gun shot. It was a knife. A pencil through a guys head. The Joker is happy to blowup a hospital (Everyone escaped though). The movie makes killing look joyful.
The one thing that I really did like in the movie was when two ships were out on water. One ship had criminal men on it. The other ship had innocent men, women, and children on it. The Joker set each boat up with explosives and gave the other boat the detonator. They had to decide by 12am what boat would die, if no boat blew up then they'd both blow up. Near the end of the scene, one big tough criminal went up to a National Guard and said something along the lines of, "You don't know how to get your hands dirty. Give me the remote and I'll do something you should have done a while ago." You anticipate him on blowing up the innocent people, yet instead he throws the remote out the window into the water so they can't kill the innocent people.
A little over halfway, a really good buy turns bad. Two Face arises. His lover has died. He now wants vengeance on everyone. Now, this truth is true but the way the communicate it wasn't very good. They said everyone who is good still has evil inside. (What I mean by this is that our hearts are desperately wicked, who can know it?-Jer. 17:9)
This was the darkest movie I have ever seen. I thought Two Face was actually going to pull the trigger of a gun at point blank range to a little sweet kid in front of the father so he would know what it was like to comfort somebody when they would die just like Two Face's sweetheart.
Batman sadly had references to Jesus. Although, Batman is treated like a criminal-in fact he kind of is. He was our protector, etc... Batman did crimes to protect the innocent in a sense. Batman had one rule and almost broke it-not to kill anyone. And the movie portrayed Joker as having no rules and it was much more fun that way.
Throughout the movie, you will laugh at times. However, after you endure through the Joker and his "making someone smile" by using his knife to cut their mouth and then kill them (Thankfully they don't show too much of it), however you hear brutal stories about it, if you are like me and others you will feel sick.
After the movie, I came and had to take a shower at 1am to feel clean. It was that bad for me. I then had to read an up lifting book.
This is my preference of the movie, but I would urge you to check out plugged in at http://www.pluggedinonline.com/movies/movies/a0004153.cfm.
Bad looked real fun in the movie...Plugged in did a great job reviewing this movie. Please check it out.
-Agape
P.S. I'm a 19 year old teen who doesn't like this movie...in fact, I should have walked out of the theater and will not watch this movie again.
But again, if you can glorify God while watching it, please go ahead!
5 comments:
Agape - good post. I have to say that I disagree, so I'm going to post why I disagree, but I'm only doing so for helpful discussion and I definately think that if your conscience forbids you to see this movie you should not see it. To go against conscience is neither right nor safe.
I would like to contend, however, that the violence in the movie is not shown as fun. It is despicable. The Joker is not supposed to be funny in this movie - he never was intended to be funny. He is a sicko villain who you are supposed to hate. I was annoyed by the nervous laughter by one person in the theater every time the Joker did something. Maybe they thought he'd be like past incarnations of the Joker - funny in a dark way. He wasn't at all.
So I contend the movie does not make killing look joyful. Yes the Joker takes joy in killing the same way that any villain delights in evil, but the movie doesn't encourage people the be like the Joker. Rather it shows him as the wicked person he is, a person to be fought against and hated, a person who only brings sorrow and should be stopped. No one in the movie was happy when those people died except the Joker.
The story itself is a good one. Batman makes lots of self-sacrifices and is the true hero in the story - he is the character we should be following, not the Joker. The themes are excellent, whether political (dealing with terrorism), moral (Two-Face's very athiestic morality of chance, compared to Batman's strict rules and ethics), etc. The movie gives you lots to think about and that is a good thing. The bad guys are truly bad (none of this bad guys with good intentions stuff) and the good guys are really good (none of this anti-hero sort of thing) which is refreshing. I much prefer that in a story, like the classic tales of a knight (symbolizing order and good) vs. a dragon (symbolizing wickedness and chaos). Hmm... Dark Knight vs. Joker?
I did not see how in any way Batman had references to Jesus.
Personally, I enjoyed the story. I thought the movie was excellent, and I greatly preferred it over other films that have come out lately. Take Prince Caspian for instance - that movie was violent as well and it also distorted and corrupted the source material - I couldn't stand the Prince Caspian movie, to be honest.
Anyhow, just some thoughts. You don't have to agree with me by any means, but I thought I'd show the other side to the coin, so to speak.
I just want to build off of some of what the aspiring theologian said, that the evil was portrayed in such a unique, distinct way, that you could not see that he was pure evil. There were a few moments that were violent, and creative, and I will admit, I did laugh. I now think about it, and am not proud of it, but it was just a more creative way to kill a person. (I can't believe I just said that.)
But on batman, he is the true example of self-sacrifice, he literally put his whole life on hold to protect Gotham. It does not mean that he is a representation of Christ, or that his violence is real. But he did commit himself to a good cause, and that might be an example to follow. Just my two cents
Over and Out,
Chris Hutton
I enjoyed the movie because it was greatly done. It had an awesome direction and great casting. The themes were good. Batman sacrifices himself for the good of Gotham, and the movie itself makes you hate the joker. I felt no sympathy for some of the people he killed (which, in fact, were most villains, such as Lau and the poked-eye gangster). So the good in the movie is extremely good, and the evil in the movie is extremely evil.
I don't think the movie deserved an R-rating. It is indeed a strong PG-13 reated movie, but I doesn't reach to the R-rating. The violence in the film is stong but not gory, and it has almost the same suspense as The Prestige (same director as The Dark Knight).
Anyway, it was a great movie. I can't wait for the third one.
Being a Christian forces me to filter movies and entertainment differently than the world. While we as Christians can take "The Dark Knight" and see it ultimately as a triumph of good over evil, many others don't see the movie the way we do.
The star of the movie wasn't Batman- it was the Joker. I know this is true because I've seen a lot more Joker t-shirts and hoodies than I have ones with Batman. Within the world, there seems to be a lot more fascination with the face of evil than with the face of Gotham.
Good for you for writing this post!! I have not seen the movie...but I know it's not something worth my time or my brain soaking in. Sounds pretty disturbing to me too, from the way you put it...I really appreciate you writing this!
The world portrays doing bad stuff as "fun" during the teen years. People say what you watch does not affect what you think or do...but it really does.
Wonderfully written post!
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