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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN WWW.KANSAN.COM News WEDNESDAY, JULY 23, 2008
Movies: 'Dark Knight' is light at end of superhero tunnel
Turns out, all the hype was well-deserved.
"The Dark Knight" is a case study in great filmmaking. The acting is superb, the storyline is rich, and the audio and visual elements are stunning.
The film's strongest point is its villain, The Joker, played to perfection by Heath Ledger. Ledger's leering smile and chilling delivery fit his character's anarchic tendencies and provide nonstop entertainment. There isn't anything innately funny about The Joker's sadistic crimes, but it's hard not to smile at Ledger's brilliant performance.
It's up to Batman (Christian Bale) and District Attorney Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart) to stop The Joker's crime spree. Bruce Wayne, Batman's alter-ego, becomes the movie's tragic hero as he tries to choose between
justice and love against impossible odds. Both Bale and Eckhart deliver in "The Dark Knight," playing multi-faceted and complex roles.
Director Christopher Nolan follows up the success of "Batman Begins" by taking the Batman series deeper and darker than ever before. Nolan's version of Gotham is visually appealing and the dialogue is carefully crafted, not to mention his stellar action sequences, which make the 152-minute movie fly by.
If there's a negative stigma attached to comic-book movies, "The Dark Knight" sheds it.
Asher Fusco
Book: 'Mountain' fable worth reading
Epic battles, an evil princess and a prophet sent by God to save his people are the interweaving fibers of Coelho's fable, "The Fifth Mountain." The prophet Elijah is as confused and lost as any young man, but carries the weighty burden of saving the city of Akbar's inhabitants from invading Assyrians.
Guided only by the occasional voice of his guardian angel, Elijah must use his quick wit to avoid assassination and eventually return to Israel and stop the worship of Baal. He doubts himself continually, but realizes that he cannot understand God's plan for him until his task is finished. During his years in Akbar, he is aided by the help of a widow, who believes it her duty to offer Elijah a safe haven in her home.
As the story unfolds, Coelho uses every character to reiterate that one must follow their destiny, and that the universe will conspire to fulfill that destiny. As the story winds to an end, Elijah is triumphant in finding love, exalting God, and understanding a tiny piece of life's many mysteries.
Although this book falls short of the inspiring words of Coelho's previous masterpiece, "The Alchemist," it is soul-stirring and worthy of a read.
Gretchen Gier