TDK

I went and saw The Dark Knight today. I'm still trying to decide what I think about it. It is a well made movie. The acting is strong across the board I would say. The action does not let up. There is hardly any swearing, nothing that couldn't be in a PG movie, and zero sex. There is gun-play, martial arts, and some animal violence. I don't recall there being any free flowing blood, if there was blood it was dry. It had very few of the earmarks we usually look for when trying to tell if a kid should not go. But the movie was INTENSE! It tread in very dark waters. It questions the balance of security and freedom, ends and means.

The Joker is a psychopath, he is a criminal mastermind, but not for gain. There is a scene where he burns all the money he has stolen. He is out to spread fear, not to put himself in power, not in a traditional sense, more to just see what would happen, to know that he CAN cause fear. Really, he is an anarchist. A divisive element, with no permanent allegiances. He wants to show the world that society is a pretense, that when push comes to shove, people are selfish, willing to kill to save their own neck.

A lot of people die in the movie, cops, mobsters, minor characters and important ones. And they die in pretty gruesome ways. At least you know it is gruesome, because it is setup to be gruesome. Like I said, there is no free flowing blood. The actual moment of death is always left to the imagination. I kept expecting to have to shield my eyes, I never did, but it is hard to shut out the images that my mind has created to fill in what the movie left out.

Not many movies do that anymore, leave things to the imagination. And really, I think it is more powerful then seeing exactly what happened.

When I walked out of Batman Begins three years ago, I left feeling that it was totally awesome. This time, it was just as well made, as well acted, but it feels different. A critic I read called it The Empire Strikes Back to Batman Begins' Star Wars. There is still some optimism at the end, but not nearly as much as the first one. This one is good, just keep the darker thematic elements in mind when you see it.

A Long Time

Recently, my high school graduating class held its 10 year reunion. On the one hand, I cannot believe it has been 10 years since I roamed the halls of Lake Mary High. Living in Utah, it was never even a consideration to go back to Florida for the reunion. But I did see some pictures taken at the party of some old friends. Even if I did go, I think I would have been uncomfortable though. I got this really weird feeling seeing those pictures. Even though I value most of my time since high school, I felt like I didn't have much to show for my time. While I have finally found a field that I enjoy, and can actually see myself doing, it has taken most of these last 10 years to figure that out. I'm sure that my experience has been markedly different over that time from my former classmates. I came out to BYU, and went on a mission representing my church. I didn't drink, or smoke, or experiment with drugs. I'm not saying that I think they all did, but I'm sure that many did. I don't know how much we could have related to each other. One thing I noticed in the pictures was that nearly everyone at the reunion had some kind of drink, and none of it looked like fruit punch. I would have been even more of an observer than I was back then. I don't want to sound like I feel like I am better than them because of my faith. I probably could learn a lot about being a good person from many of my old classmates. People that, at first blush, seem so different from me. The thing is, one night in a Florida hotel with 10 years removed from common experience is not the ideal venue for that.

Maybe, if given a more personal setting with my old friends I would have been able to enjoy myself, but large group settings have never been my thing, whether alcohol is being served or not.