Dark Knight/ Bright Idea

Subject: The Dark Knight

Topic: Art/Design, Movies

Since T was so kind as to get the ball rolling on the campaign for The Dark Knight, I shall now venture to critique my favorite poster for the upcoming sequel.

Using a run-down, brick wall as the canvas for a portrait of the Joker works well, touching on the kind of setting that Gotham City is; dark, squalid and urban. While the portrait is minimal, there are a handful of ideas being examined here. The image is not just on bricks, but rather the white washed bricks mimicking the Joker's base make-up. The eyes have been applied quickly using only circles, void of detail, feeling and humanity (same as the Joker).

The lips are my favorite aspect of this image. Using Batman's logo as the Joker's lips was brilliant. Here we have made a connection between our story's hero and villain, and possibly their relationship. Bloody, harsh and violent, just as the lips have been applied. Last time I checked lip-stick didn't drip that freely. Also, I have to agree with and T her "elongating one's mouth" idea, although it is very Nip/ Tuck.

This is a breath of fresh air to the movie poster business. We have iconic movie imagery presented in a imaginative way, and ideas concealed underneath it. Unlike the last "Dark Knight" poster which has not been critiqued here.

i'll tell you why

ok whoever directs the ad campaigns for the new batman movie is a genius. he/she has successfully made me both excited to the point where spontaneous combustion would be an unsurprising cause of death and terrified beyond all reasoning.

i think it's the general consensus that batman begins was easily the best batman movie ever made. therefore anyone that views this new movie next summer, will probably die upon seeing the opening credits. i think the dark knight will make batman begins look like my puppy's doo doo. this movie is going to be beyond belief.

i grew up on batman (the cartoon). and enjoyed the movies made in the 90's. he was always my favorite. and to be completely honest i always thought that the joker was a little bit... lame. he was more of a nuisance than anything. half of the time his crimes backfired and the other half... well they weren't that amazing. to me at least. when i found out that heath ledger was playing the joker i was interested and thought that he would play the villain according to my vision of the cartoon. these posters and the trailer changed all of that.

i am completely and utterly terrified of the joker at this point.

the way he is portrayed in the movie... i would be out of that city faster than you could say "go go batmobile" this joker is the thing of nightmares, folks.

both of these posters show the joker with a menacing looking knife, that i would bet my face, is used for "elongating ones' mouth." both posters also ask "why so serious?" you want to know why i'm so serious? because there is a fucking psychopath dressed as a clown running around my city. that's why.

overall, the trailer and the posters made me about 400% more excited for the movie than i already was. rock on.

-t