The Dark Knight (film) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"I don't get political points for being an idealist. 

I do the best I can with what I have."

~(Lt. James Gordon)~

"Because some men aren't looking for anything logical,

like money. 

They can't be bought, bullied, reasoned or negotiated with. 

Some men just wanna watch the world burn."

~(Alfred)~

"People are dying, Alfred.

What would you have me do?"

~(Master Wayne)~

"Endure, Master Wayne. 

Take it. 

They'll hate you for it, but that's the point of Batman. 

He can be the outcast. 

He can make the choice that no one else can make. 

The right choice."

~(Alfred)~

"No,

today I found out what Batman can't do. 

He can't endure this. 

Today you get to say,

'I told you so.'"

~(Master Wayne)~

"Today, I don't want to."

~(Alfred)~

"Things will always get worse before they get better."

~(Alfred)~

The Dark Knight (film) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: The Dark Knight is a 2008 British-American superhero film directed, produced, and cowritten by Christopher Nolan. Based on the DC Comics character Batman, the film is the second part of Nolan's Batman film series and a sequel to 2005's Batman Begins. Christian Bale reprises the lead role of Bruce Wayne/Batman, with a returning cast of Michael Caine as Alfred Pennyworth, Gary Oldman as James Gordon and Morgan Freeman as Lucius Fox.  The film introduces the character of Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart), Gotham's newly elected District Attorney and the consort of Bruce Wayne's childhood friend Rachel Dawes (Maggie Gyllenhaal), who joins Batman and the police in combating the new rising threat of a criminal mastermind calling himself "The Joker" (Heath Ledger).

Nolan's inspiration for the film was the Joker's comic book debut in 1940, the 1988 graphic novel The Killing Joke, and the 1996 series The Long Halloween, which retold Two-Face's origin. The nickname "the Dark Knight" was first applied to Batman in Batman No. 1 (1940), in a story written by Bill Finger.

On January 22, 2008, some months after he had completed filming on The Dark Knight and six months before the film's release, Heath Ledger died from a toxic combination of prescription drugs, leading to intense attention from the press and movie-going public. Warner Bros. had initially created a viral marketing campaign for The Dark Knight, developing promotional websites and trailers highlighting screen shots of Ledger as the Joker, but after Ledger's death, the studio refocused its promotional campaign.

The Dark Knight was released on July 16, 2008 in Australia, on July 18, 2008 in North America, and on July 24, 2008 in the United Kingdom. Considered one of the best films of the 2000s and one of the best superhero films by film critics  the film received highly positive reviews and set numerous records during its theatrical run.  With over $1 billion in revenue worldwide, it is the 17th-highest-grossing film of all time, unadjusted for inflation.   The film received eight Academy Award nominations; it won the award for Best Sound Editing and Ledger was posthumously awarded Best Supporting Actor.   The Dark Knight Rises, the final film in the trilogy, was released on July 20, 2012.

Cast:

• Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne / Batman:

A billionaire dedicated to protecting Gotham City from the criminal underworld by night. Bale said he was confident in his choice to return in the role because of the positive response to his portrayal in Batman Begins.  He continued training in the Keysi Fighting Method and performed many of his own stunts, but did not gain as much muscle as in the previous film because the new Batsuit allowed him to move with greater agility.  Bale described Batman's dilemma as whether "[his crusade is] something that has an end. Can he quit and have an ordinary life? The kind of manic intensity someone has to have to maintain the passion and the anger that they felt as a child, takes an effort after a while, to keep doing that. At some point, you have to exorcise your demons."  He added, "Now you have not just a young man in pain attempting to find some kind of an answer, you have somebody who actually has power, who is burdened by that power, and is having to recognize the difference between attaining that power and holding on to it."  Bale felt Batman's personality had been strongly established in the first film, so it was unlikely his character would be overshadowed by the villains, stating: "I have no problem with competing with someone else. And that's going to make a better movie."  

• Michael Caine as Alfred Pennyworth:

Bruce's trusted butler and confidante. His supply of useful advice to Bruce and his likeness as a father figure has led to him being labeled "Batman's batman."

• Heath Ledger as the Joker:

Before Ledger was confirmed to play the Joker in July 2006, Paul Bettany, Lachy Hulme, Adrien Brody, Steve Carell, and Robin Williams publicly expressed interest in the role. However Nolan had wanted to work with Ledger on a number of projects in the past (though he had been unable to do so), and was agreeable to Ledger's chaotic interpretation of the character. When Ledger saw Batman Begins, he had realized a way to make the character work that was consistent with the film's tone:  he described his Joker as a "psychopathic, mass murdering, schizophrenic clown with zero empathy."  Throughout the film, the Joker states his desire to upset social order through crime, and comes to define himself by his conflict with Batman. To prepare for the role, Ledger lived alone in a hotel room for a month, formulating the character's posture, voice, and personality, and kept a diary, in which he recorded the Joker's thoughts and feelings.  While he initially found it difficult, Ledger eventually generated a voice unlike Jack Nicholson's character in Tim Burton's 1989 Batman film.  He was also given Batman: The Killing Joke and Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth, which he "really tried to read and put it down."  Ledger also cited A Clockwork Orange and Sid Vicious as "a very early starting point for Christian [Bale] and I. But we kind of flew far away from that pretty quickly and into another world altogether."   "There's a bit of everything in him. There's nothing that consistent," Ledger said, and added, "There are a few more surprises to him."  Ledger was allowed to shoot and mostly direct the videos the Joker sends out as warnings. Each take Ledger made was different from the last. Nolan was impressed enough with the first video shoot that he chose to not be present when Ledger shot the video with a kidnapped reporter (Anthony Michael Hall).  On January 22, 2008, after he had completed filming The Dark Knight, Ledger died of an accidental prescription drug overdose, leading to intense press attention and memorial tributes. "It was tremendously emotional, right when he passed, having to go back in and look at him every day [during editing]," Nolan recalled. "But the truth is, I feel very lucky to have something productive to do, to have a performance that he was very, very proud of, and that he had entrusted to me to finish."  All of Ledger's scenes appear as he completed them in the filming; in editing the film, Nolan added no "digital effects" to alter Ledger's actual performance posthumously.  Nolan has dedicated the film in part to Ledger's memory.

• Gary Oldman as James Gordon:

A lieutenant in the Gotham City Police Department and one of the city's few honest police officers. He forms a tenuous, unofficial alliance with Batman and Dent. When the Joker assassinates Police Commissioner Loeb, Mayor Garcia gives Gordon the position. Oldman described his character as "incorruptible, virtuous, strong, heroic, but understated."  Nolan explained that "The Long Halloween has a great, triangular relationship between Harvey Dent and Gordon and Batman, and that's something we very much drew from."  Oldman added that "Gordon has a great deal of admiration for him at the end, but [Batman] is more than ever now the dark knight, the outsider. I'm intrigued now to see: If there is a third one, what he's going to do?"  On the possibility of another sequel, he said that "returning to [the role] is not dependent on whether the role was bigger than the one before."

• Aaron Eckhart as Harvey Dent / Two-Face:

The district attorney who is hailed as Gotham's "White Knight". His battle with the criminal underworld leaves him disfigured, transforming him into a murderer bent on revenge.  Wayne sees Dent as his heir, recognizing that Batman's war on crime will be a lifelong mission, which heightens the tragedy of Dent's downfall.  Nolan and David S. Goyer had originally considered using Dent in Batman Begins, but they replaced him with the new character Rachel Dawes when they realized they "couldn't do him justice." Before Eckhart was cast in February 2007, Liev Schreiber, Josh Lucas, and Ryan Phillippe had expressed interest in the role, while Mark Ruffalo auditioned.   Hugh Jackman was also considered for the part. Nolan chose Eckhart, whom he had considered for the lead role in Memento, citing his "extraordinary" ability as an actor, his embodiment of "that kind of chiselled, American hero quality" projected by Robert Redford, and his subtextual "edge."   Eckhart was "interested in good guys gone wrong," and had played corrupt men in films such as The Black Dahlia, Thank You for Smoking, and In the Company of Men. Whereas Two-Face is depicted as a crime boss in most characterizations, Nolan chose to portray him as a twisted vigilante to emphasize his role as Batman's counterpart. Eckhart explained, "[He] is still true to himself. He's a crime fighter, he's not killing good people. He's not a bad guy, not purely."  For Dent, Eckhart "kept on thinking about the Kennedys," particularly Robert F. Kennedy, who was "idealistic, held a grudge and took on the Mob." He had his hair lightened and styled to make him appear more dashing. Nolan told Eckhart to not make Dent's Two-Face persona "jokey with slurping sounds or ticks."

• Maggie Gyllenhaal as Rachel Dawes:

The Gotham assistant district attorney and Wayne's childhood friend. In Batman Begins, she tells Wayne that if he ever decided to stop being Batman, they would be together. She is one of the few people to know Batman's identity. Gyllenhaal took over the role from Katie Holmes, who played the part in Batman Begins. In August 2005, Holmes was reportedly planning to reprise the role, but she eventually turned it down to do Mad Money with Diane Keaton and Queen Latifah.  By March 2007, Gyllenhaal was in "final talks" for the part.   Gyllenhaal has acknowledged her character is a damsel in distress to an extent, but says Nolan sought ways to empower her character, so "Rachel's really clear about what's important to her and unwilling to compromise her morals, which made a nice change" from the many conflicted characters whom she has previously portrayed.

***

^{"What did you do?"}

^~(Batman)~

^{"I took Gotham's White Knight...}

^{...and I brought him down to our level.} 

^{It wasn't hard.} 

^See,

^{madness, as you know...}

^{...is like gravity.}

^{All it takes is a little push."}

^[LAUGHING]

^~(Joker)~
 

^{"The world is cruel.} 

^{And the only morality in a cruel world...}

^...chance.

^Unbiased.

^{Unprejudiced.}

^Fair."

~(Harvey Two-Face)~

"You either die a hero...

...or

you live long enough to see 
yourself

become the villain."

~(Batman)~


***

"The Power of One"

Scripture Reading:
Ephesians 4:3-6 NIV1

"1bI urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. 2Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. 3Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.

4There is one body and one Spirit - just as you were called to one hope when you were called - 5one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all."

Introduction There is one in every crowd – that person who laughs at the wrong time,

or tells a joke that falls like a lead balloon,

or covers up their feelings of self-consciousness with inappropriate behaviour,

or . . . the list is endless.

You know people,

you know that ONE who stands out, not for positive reasons but for negative ones . . . there is one in every crowd.

And we roll our eyes or shake our heads and walk away . . . kind of embarrassed because we know them, but do not always want to admit it.

Let’s face it.

There could be one in the pew,

or in your family,

or maybe you have a friend that is one of those people!

One of those people whom others talk about, but for all the wrong reasons!

One often has a negative feeling to it.

It suggests aloneness,

separation,

isolation,

segregation,

seclusion or

forgotten-ness.

One often gets a bad rap.
Three Dog Night

, a rock band of the 60’s and 70’s, wrote the lyrics of a song called "One."

The opening line of that song goes like this:

"One is the loneliest number that you'll ever do."
(Three Dog Night, 2004)

It’s a sad song about lost love and the brokenness of relationship, reducing two to one –

reducing together to alone.

But one can also be a positive.

Remember the very recent past and all those folks at our Christmas dinner?

That was the power of one.

One person inviting another and another, and one telling someone else – and the result was eighty people who shared a meal and an evening together – a truly community event! Because of the power of one person asking another.

The power of one!
http://meafordbethanynazarene.com/media/1/January%208,%202012%20The%20Power%20of%20One.pdf