I have a different view of the movie.

1. I am a big fan of Batman. I am biased here.
2. I like Heath better than Nicholson as the Joker.
3. The Gotham City in the movie seems like the Southern part of Chicago where all gangs of sort are thriving and people are silent about the rise of evil in their surroundings: a City built by the hands of Barack and the Communists.
4. Vigilante, for me, is the same as a militia. Vigilantes filling up the roles of a failed police force is not a crime for me. It’s even constitutional. It’s somewhat similar to the issue of Second Amendment to me. The potential abuse is the same either for a regular policy force or a vigilante. If the government peace and order efforts fail, the power rests on the people.
5. Batman never said he was a hero. He never asked for reward. He did what he had to do because “he owes the City of Gotham so much”. McCain never said he was a hero. It is we who said he is. The same is true for all the uniformed officers who sacrificed for their country; they are all heroes to us. McCain, time and again, says “I owe America so much”.
6. Do we really need a hero? Yes. All of us must be heroes in our daily struggle. Batman should not be the only Batman of Gotham City. Every person in that City must do what Batman does, fight evil and corruption. “Doing nothing, hoping for and relying on a sacrificial hero, then blame that hero if things don’t turn out well” is, for me, what Pres. Reagan was referring to “Americans should fear a future when they do nothing”. Appeasement, for me, is almost the same as “doing nothing”. The 9/11 tragedy is an example of that fear.
7. Bush didn’t just sit at the WH: He made a very painful decision for us in waging war against terrorism. Sadly, when the costs of that decision reached beyond our expectation, many of us blamed him for everything, forgetting the main reason for such decision.
8. Some the present-day Hypocrites have even tried to “wash their hands” from that decision. Instead of helping the President to continue and win the war, these Hypocrites think that it would be better for us to surrender the President to the enemies as a peace offering. In the movie, the people of Gotham City at times of great peril were willing to offer Batman to the enemies in exchange for temporary relief, without thinking that doing the same would mean only thing: a total defeat and surrender.
9. Two-face’s character is just like some of the coward Republicans today. They have surrendered their beliefs and principles by listening too much to the lies and propagandas of the other party. And ther actions are proved to be more catastrophic.
   Enough of the above. I really enjoyed the film. Because Batman is my fav.

Never mind if the movie is another flick from the friends of Soros.

I’m proud to say that I’ve barely noticed it and I could take this installment of the Batman Movie saga or leave it, but then again I very rarely watch TV.

So the advertising budget and the hype was wasted on me completely, as it has been with almost every Hollywood film produced and distributed since 1998.

The last movie I saw and reviewed here on Redstate after seeing it in a theater was “No Country for Old Men” which I enjoyed for the performances (mostly because of Tommy Lee Jones) even though it was the bleakest movie that I’ve seen in moral terms since “Eyes Wide Shut.” Maybe even bleaker. Everyone will recall that the protagonist in that movie hermetically seals his fate and that of his family the instant he awakens with a conscience for a dying man.

I wish you’d talked more about the parallels between fantasy art morals and real-life ones in this review. Now I have to go and see it myself and write my own ;).

But otherwise it’s an interesting review and it’s nice to see you blogging like this again, Leverkuhn.

Spoilers ahead!!

First: Yes, I am extremely torqued off that Two Face was treated as B-list villain. I was under the impression that they were setting up Harvey Dent to turn in the next movie. When they showed him in the hospital bed, I thought that would be the end of him for this movie. He is well-developed character in his own right, the transition from “White Knight” to Two Face is worthy of its own movie (sorry, but that one scene where he has a gun to the head of a Joker henchmen is not a transition). Most of the remaining villains are gimmicks (such as Mr Freeze) and would be incredibly lame in Nolan’s more realistic version of Batman.

Seeing Dent as two face was one the most shocking moments I have ever seen in a movie theater, and coming from a movie filled with them, that’s saying something. (And for my next trick, I will make this pencil … disappear.). /End fanboy rant.

Analogy to the War on Terror

While nearly every aspect of the film was part of the analogy, it didn’t have a have message in your face “this how the world is, and this is what you should think about it.” In fact, it leaves no conclusion of any kind, leaving it up to you to decide for yourself. And that is what makes this one of the best movies I have ever seen.

Obviously, Batman is supposed to represent America. At first glance, it seems like the film is trying to say that America’s self-justified vigilantism (during one of the opening scenes, Batman rounds up a bunch of lame pretenders who ask “what makes you different form us”) only produces more dangerous, more violent, and more unpredictable madman, such as the Joker, and in real life, radical Islam. In the movie, the reason the Mob turns to the Joker is out

But wait, if Batman’s actions are only escalading the violence (one of the criticisms of America), why did he begin his crusade, and what propose do they serve? Dent has the answer. During the scene where he has dinner with Bruce, he talks about how the only reason that Batman needed to come into existence was because everyone allowed corruption and crime to flourish around them. If everyone had individually taken a stand, and dealt head on with problems initially, the world wouldn’t need Batman, and it is because of him that other people, like Dent himself, are inspired to take a stand. Later, during a press conference, he talks about how things have to get worse before they get better, and how the night is almost over and the dawn is coming.

And then of course there is whole “even though everyone secretly knows that what he is doing has to be done, we must all pretend that we oppose him” aspect of how we turn on those who do the right thing. Even before Dent becomes two face, there is constant worry that all the work he has done will be undermined by any character flaw his opponents can find.

There is the “how far and dark can you go before you are no better then the villain” theme, like is required in any movie of this type, but unlike other films, it actually works in this one.

That’s not to say that the whole movie reflects our point of view. There were quite a few other ideas that I’m sure there something over at daily kos. goes to check Just one guy who says the move is “Democratic (like the party) because, well he says it is, and that all there is too it., and another guy who is bothered the whole idea of heros, because “It’s like we the little people need some rich guy to save us.”

I have to go to work soon, but there is so much more that I wish to write. Maybe I will after I see it again this week.

This is how Human Events painted Pelosi as a Joker (no pun intended).

No malicious intent here guys. I just want to illustrate here that the subject movie becomes a fair game in this election.

PS: It’s just okey if RS bans this comment.