Thursday, August 2, 2007

23 and what it meant,plus The Dark Knight

I was seeing the movie "23" a few days back,starring Jim Carrey.And it was a good movie,no doubt,although a bit cliched,as all suspense films these days tend to be. Although I had a vested interest in watching the movie(to see the beautiful Virginia Madsen as well), there was a line in the movie that really hit home:

"There's no such thing as destiny,there are only different choices..Some are easy,the others aren't. Those are the ones that define who we are as people"

I suppose the screenwriter,whoever he is,has summed up the whole search for the meaning of existence in those 2 sentences.

Because,in the end,it's all about the choices we make. And the choices you make define who you are. Even if we don't do anything and sit around on our arses all day long,we are making a choice in deciding to do nothing. Although I am one of those people who are more happy to sit back and let things happen to them instead of taking a more proactive stance in life,it is only recently that I have realised that you need to do things for yourself in this world and make things happen,instead of letting things happen to you. Should you fail in your attempt,at least you know that you have tried the best you could,and that is what we should all strive for in our lives,be it in the work place or in the sphere of human relationships and interactions. Because the pain of not trying for anything just because we were scared of the result,or worse,because we were lazy, is the most excruciating experience we will ever feel,and it is certain to leave a bad taste in our mouth for a long time to come.

(Borrowed heavily from Conversations with God by Neale Donald Walsch,a must read)

Now,on to more exciting stuff...the teaser trailer of The Dark Knight, the new Batman film directed by Christopher Nolan,That Genius amongst film directors,has been released,and although it did not have any visuals,I had an idea as to the central theme of the movie.

Nolan and co-story writer David Goyer have said that this movie is a continuation of where the last movie ends.If you remember,Gordon and Batman are standing on the rooftop of a building and Gordon says that there is a possibility of escalation :"We start carrying semi-automatics,they buy automatics" just about sums it up. So this one looks as if there is going to be a murderous backlash from the criminal community,and of course,The Clown Prince of Crime himself,The Joker.

Heath Ledger's casting as The Joker took me by surprise. I was not disappointed,because Ledger has shown his ability to deliver the goods in "Brokeback Mountain". But my obvious thought was that "He just isn't physically right for the part". Lachy Hulme would be more physically in line with what The Joker looks like. And my personal favourite for the role was Alan Cumming. Or Sean Penn,whom Warner Bros first approached for the role.Penn would have been amazing!!Cumming too has the maniacal glint in his eyes which is so The Joker.

However,after hearing Ledger deliver his first threat as the homicidal maniac "Starting tonight,people will die. I'm a man of my word.HAHAHAHAH!!!",I feel a bit reassured.Chris Nolan is not one to follow stereotypes,for starters. And his choice of actors are such that they are exactly right for the role they play,or in other words,you can't imagine anyone else playing that part,instead of wondering whether they had been miscast or not. And Nolan does deliver.

Ok,ok,I'm a bigtime Batman geek alright!!!

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