Batman: The Dark Knight

Ok, so this post is in no way tech related, Microsoft related, anything normal related, it was just something I have been thinking about.

So I finally had the opportunity to go and see the Dark Knight last night, and it really is the amazing movie that everyone is going ga ga about.

Now I love movies, and I mean really love movies, and I was thinking when it comes to many of these movies with real action focused protagonist, what separates a good action movie from an amazing action movie?

The one thing which I have noticed in the movies I have really been blown away with, are the ones where the hero is not made to be superhuman, but just human in nature, doing things more than what say you and I would possibly do.

“The Dark Knight” showed us that frailty of human beings, we get hurt, we feel pain, we feel emotion, and how our own actions and behavior is dictated by those inputs. Batman gets hurt, both physically and emotionally… if he gets in a fight, he is going to take some hits, he is going to get hurt, he is going to feel and awful lot of pain. The embodiment of those human qualities gives, us the audience, the opportunity to relate… “If I did that, Id probably have the same thing happen to me,… although probably a bit more unsuccessfully”.

I see the same approach in the way that the character James Bond (played by Daniel Craig) in the latest installment of the Bond franchise,“Casino Royale”. In previous movies, Bond was able to get out of pretty much any situation with a quirky gadget and witty quip to the bad guys as he dashed off with a martini in one hand and an attractive woman in the other in to the sunset. Casino Royale showed us that Bond was a man, he too felt physical and emotional pain, and it is the emotional pain that dictates our actions and decisions we make.

It’s this humanization of these characters that enables us to connect and empathize with them and their situation. This is what separates the good from the amazing, if we can relate, we empathize and can, in someway, share the experience the character in the movie is going through. It is a lot harder to achieve the same level of empathy for someone who is an alien that flys around from another planet in a bright suit, or a massively mutated green man pounding cars with his fists, we can enjoy the story, but we are not able to make it our own.