Movie Tickets

[npc310]

I got an e-mail from movietickets.com a few days ago inviting me to purchase tickets to The Dark Knight Rises. Oh boy! I thought to myself. I've been waiting four years for this! Without thinking, I followed the link in the e-mail (I never do this), and the movietickets.com website opened. There are decisions to be made at this point. 3-D or not, DBOX, do I want to go to the midnight showing, etc... at this point I've got to think about things. And it was during my ponderings that I came to the realization that I am scared to see this movie. This movie can do nothing but disappoint me, just as TPM did. But then I argue with myself. I had pretty high expectations for The Dark Knight, and it far exceeded them.

Easily the best comic book movie ever, I still remember the feeling I had when I left the theater after seeing it the first time. Like I didn't want it to end; so sad that it was over. Joker could have escaped, and started a whole new round of chaos, with Batman chasing close behind.

I remember feeling like I was in the audience at the press conference, and being so shocked when Dent stepped forward and claimed to be Batman. I gasped, just like the reporters on screen. I remember believing that Gordon was really dead, up until just moments before the reveal that he driving the armored prisoner transport. I remember the back-and-forth between Two-Face and Maroni. "It couldn't hurt your chances." I knew it was a thinly-veiled lie, and the he was going to flip the coin on whether or not to kill Maroni. It surprised me that he flipped for the driver, too, and ended up shooting him. I remember the end of the movie, when Two-Face is holding the Gordons hostage. I remember thinking that he's going to kill the little boy. I remember arguing with myself that the filmmakers wouldn't do that; they wouldn't shoot the little boy like that. I remember feeling such relief that my instinct was right, and such dread that Batman was going to be hunted so relentlessly by the police for "killing" the Harvey Dent.

And it was such a great Joker story. From the bank robbery at the beginning, I knew it would be. Having each member of the team executed by the guy who performed the next task is such a Joker thing to do. Surrounding himself with such chaos. Snapping a pool cue in half, dropping on the floor between them, and having Gambol's last two men "try out" for the team. He conquered the mob, burned their money, assassinated city leaders, and he was always one step ahead of everyone. Threatening the hospitals, and blowing one of them up is exactly the kind of menace that I would expect from Joker. Giving Harvey Dent that little push over the edge of sanity, which unleashed Two Face. Instilling such fear in the populace that they want to get out of the city, and then threatening the bridges and tunnels, which would drive people to the ferries, and then planting bombs on them.

You all have seen it, I'm sure, so I don't need to keep re-hashing it. Suffice it to say that it was among the best movies I've ever seen in a theater, and the thrill I felt at that time has not been matched since. Will TDKR be the movie to do it? The hope I hold that it will leaves so much room for disappointment.

[Josh_Kablack]

The only part that scares me about Dark Knight Rises is that this time around Commissioner Gordon lives 4 1/2 blocks from my house. They had to truck in a bunch of fake snow and everything, since they were filming at the end of July