We’re all about sang froid comportment, right? Walk in a single file, no running in the halls, no need for hysterical callow hyperbole, keep your pants on, hold your fire and all that shit, yeah? Yes, everyone is doing somersaults over “The Dark Knight,” and we’re trying to separate the sycophantic fanboy’s from the real critics that don’t sport debilitating erections every time the WB farts out a viral clip, but this new trailer and poster are really threatening to release the boy in us.
But by, release the boy, we mean the child who adores the dark, fucked-up psychotic episode, mind you. The dialogue of The Joker [Heath Ledger] trying to fuck with Batman’s [Christian Bale] head in this thing sounds all too realistic and grim for a tentpole, “comic-book” movie. Could director Christopher Nolan really have gotten away with making a film about two sociopaths who desperately need each other instead of delivering the blockbuster most summer audiences are expecting?
Yes, “Batman Begins” was dark and gritty, but it still had the suspension-disbelieving comic book tropes we’ve all come to expect (and sometimes leave us one step removed from ranking these films alongside actual great films). In other words, they’re just great “comic-book films,” but Nolan really looks like he might be able to transcend that ghetto here into something that really resonates. Maybe?