Friday, July 25, 2008

Dark and Light

So…..I leave for a weeklong trip with the youth in the morning. I am a little too tired to go, but I am sure it will be good. I do not want to leave my family again for sure! :) But alas, here we go. So, I'll be gone for awhile, but if anyone even reads this anymore, I promise to get more regular when we get back. Until then, let's talk about the new Batman, which blew me away! The "disappearing pencil" scene was unreal!


I am not a true comic book guy, but I did watch a few cartoons, and what boy doesn't like superheroes? So I look greatly forward to these summer comic blockbusters. I love the struggle between good and evil in all these, and the religious undertones they all seem to have. This flick did NOT leave me wanting in this category!


There are so many spiritual themes in The Dark Knight, such as the obvious warnings of how easily we can be corrupted by fear and darkness. It is a weakness we all share and one which the movie suggests we can all choose to defeat, as well.


The principal drama struggle is about how temptation rips at those most involved in the fight of good and evil, as we all should be. And particularly how morals seem to get pretty fuzzy in tense situations. . "You either die a hero, or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain," as Alfred tells Bruce.


Also…..Heath Ledger and Aaron Eckhart are amazing. The former, is the greatest villain I may have seen EVER.




The heart of the movie is the idea that we all embrace evil as easily as we do good, when necessary. And this constant running internal struggle is what makes it so good--and so disturbing. It is a violent and disturbing film. This is not a super hero flick for kiddos. It is thought-provoking for adults, but potentially terrifying for children.


I want to write more…but duty as a dad calls. My baby is crying and I gotta' run.

1 comment:

Kristi said...

I just saw this last night with a bunch of PUMP friends. It was so amazing, although I walked out of the theater a bit depressed. I loved the message in the standoff between the boats - who is "good" and who is "bad"? Very cool. All the actors were really, really compelling.

Right as I write this, we are watching "The Psychology of Batman" on The History Channel. Check it out, if you can.

See you this week at PSP! It will be a great week.