AN IMPORTANT, AND PERHAPS UNEXPECTED, MESSAGE
You know what wouldn’t surprise me? I have this really strong feeling that a lot of people are going to see The Dark Knight, like, a million times each, this summer, simply as a result of Heath Ledger’s – admittedly very shocking and sudden – death.
For this month’s article, I was initially going to be writing about the films of 2008 that I, for one, am looking forward to, in order to give you all an idea of what films you should be intending to watch. However, I unfortunately do not control the world, and thus the unexpected occurred, and ruined my plans; if I were to totally ignore Ledger’s death and what it entails, then that would simply make me appear slow and uninformed, and then nobody would view me as a credible writer, and so – even though it now makes me look like someone who just HAS to follow the crowd, and swoon and gasp at how hunky and gorgeous he was (sorry, but I’m just not keen on him) – I have found myself unexpectedly writing about his death, in order to give you all an important message.
You see, it’s strange how events like this provoke guilt trips or an excessive sense of sympathy within people. Of course, I would be hypocritical if I were to say “don’t watch the film!”, seeing as I encouraged everyone to do pretty much the same thing in my Waitress article in issue 1, when I wrote about the death of Adrienne Shelly. I dislike Heath Ledger, true, but it would be heartless of me to try and desensitise his death, or be cynical about it. I simply think that The Dark Knight is now unarguably going to be about the Joker. Even if that’s not the film-makers’ intention, the public are going to make sure that that is the case.
Batman Returns was a great film – not just a rehash of the1990s’ entries to the franchise, but a dark retelling and an actual decent film – and many (including myself – please don’t misinterpret my standing on this film. I really do want to see it) have been looking forward to this sequel. Casting Heath Ledger as Batman’s craziest – and probably most famous – nemesis seemed like a strange choice at first, but if you’ve seen the images of him in his costume and full make-up, no doubt you’ll agree that he seems right for the part. This casting choice has thus far perhaps brought the most publicity to the film. With news of Heath Ledger’s death suddenly sucked up into a maelstrom of media, this publicity is going to get an even bigger boost. If foul play is suspected – which, at the time of writing, it is not – then The Dark Knight could potentially have money pouring in at the box office.
Simply, I urge you to see this film for the right reasons. If Christopher Nolan’s track record is anything to go by, it’s going to be a great film. Christian Bale has already succeeded in portraying Bruce Wayne and his alter-ego very well, Michael Caine is always great fun to watch, the fantastic Maggie Gyllenhaal has replied Katie Holmes as Bruce’s childhood friend, Rachel (thank God)—oh, and it’s got Gary Oldman! But yeah, seriously, don’t go to see this film because you feel guilty about the fact that a young, talented actor died way before his time. Go because you like him as an actor, because you want to celebrate his life, or simply because you know you’ll enjoy the film.
By The Duke
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2 comments:
That was a good read. I'm pretty interested in seeing this film and more so now. Don't mean to be heartless, but Heath Ledger's death didn't bother me at all, so I won't be going out of guilt or anything.
Oh, I notice you're using the banner for The Sanctuary. Man, that feels like a long time ago.
Sigh, The Sanctuary. It took people about a week to tell me that it was being shut down.
I wanted to see this film before all this happened, I love the Batman films (even if the originals are very cheesy), although I suspect that the motorbike with guns on the front will leave a lot of fans confused. Still, Heath Ledger dying will do the film some good and turn some more people into Batman fans. That may sound bad but I can't see how his death will be good for anything else for the film (people will realise what's going on with the amount of money it makes).
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