Dark Knights for Dark Times

I'd never have guessed that The Dark Knight would rise to #3 in the all-time domestic box-office chart in just a month, with a chance to move into #2 by next weekend. After the film spent three weeks at the top of the charts, I might have imagined that the country would run off instead to see Pineapple Express this past weekend for some comedic catharsis. But Batman topped the charts again.

It is a decent comic-book movie, but I disagree with the critics who see it as so much better than the rest of the lot. It is quasi-profound, but not profound in fact.

I also quibble with the notion that Heath Ledger's portrayal of the Joker is Oscar-worthy. Jack Nicholson played a far more compelling Joker some two decades ago, with more range and charisma and convincingness. Ledger's Joker is just creepy, and creepy is one of the easier roles to play. The overwhelming and irrational human sentiment that gushes up when a life ends prematurely has much to do with the acclaim he is getting. There, I said it...

Yet I suspect that the sullenness of The Dark Knight, the despair of Ledger, and the morose quality of Christian Bale must in some way tap into something happening in our culture at large. We need to get our nation on a couch.