Killing the Villain
Our friend Matt Holmes has written an article about the new upcoming Dark Knight, and I agree with him completely. As a matter of fact, I wanted to elaborate a bit more. It refers to Christopher Nolan not showing how the Joker became the Joker. Matt applauds this move and so do I.
Mystery is what makes a true villain. If you know every thing there is to know about him he becomes much less intimidating. Most villains hide in the shadows for a reason. They are not only stalking their prey but are also hiding their true identity, in which lies their true vulnerability. Why can’t evil just be evil anymore?
A recent example of this is Rob Zombie’s rape reimagining of John Carpenter’s 1978 classic Halloween. In the original Michael Meyers was simply the Boogie Man, nothing more nothing less. He killed simply to kill. Dr. Loomis new this but apparently Zombie didn’t. There can be nothing worse than taking a horrifying villain and making him human. We should not pity villains.
A similar case earlier in the year was 2007’s worst film, Hannibal Rising. This movie makes Wild Hogs look like Citizen Kane. In it we had to endure the backstory of how Lecter becomes the blood thirsty cannibal that we would see in Silence of The Lambs. For those of you who were lucky enough not to see it; some starving soldiers ate his sister.
Why can’t Hollywood let an audience use our imaginations to conjure our own ideas of what might have made Lecter the way he is. I can guarantee that my image was 1000 times scarier than what Rising gave us. Shame on Thomas Harris for writing this garbage. To pen a brilliant character and then piss all over your creation for another few dollars. Dirty motherfucker.
Kudos to Christopher Nolan for doing what he is doing and kudos to Matt for sticking up for it.
What’s next? AvP 3: Dr. Phil’s Couch? I can see the Alien and Predator crying to the good doctor about how their daddies abused them. How they got picked last for kickball. And how the only thing that helps is devouring a box of fucking Twinkies. And just when you think they will finally settle their differences, Oprah comes swooping in and eats both of them and their box of Twinkies.
There you go. Now give me my 100 million dollars motherfuckers.
Thanks Obsessedwithfilm.
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6 Responses to “Killing the Villain”
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This is great. This will only make the Joker appear crazier and even more unpredictable, since we don’t know a method behind his madness. We don’t need a back-story, it only ruins the character.
This movie is really shaping up to kick ass.
@ Chris - Thanks for giving Hollywood another dumb-ass idea. It’s just to bad that they won’t give you a dime for it.
It’s a great move, primarily because we already know the Joker’s origins. Those who don’t can look it up online. In Nolan’s view of Batman’s world, evil is simply there at all times in various incarnations; it doesn’t need to be set up or balanced with Batman as in earlier Batman films.
Yeah, this definitely is the way it should be done. There always needs to be mystery to your villain. Great move Nolan.
@Chris: When do we start shooting?
Yesterday