Oh, it’s a comic book adaptation? How I seem to forget that simple little thing. To be honest, it’s easy to forget that this complex, juicy, layered dissertation of the human condition is based on a nearly seventy-year-old comic book character that first began in the half-toned pages of Detective Comics back in November of 1939.

The Dark Knight, unlike Superman or Spider-Man 2 (which themselves were the best of their own genre), has completely emerged from not only from its paneled source material, but has soared into skyline of cinematic brilliance.

The story picks up soon after the events chronicled in Batman Begins, itself a fine piece of work. Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) has taken up residence in a penthouse in one of his buildings since Wayne Manor was still being rebuilt. The final scene of Begins hinted at the movie to come and revealed a new criminal whose calling card was a simple playing card — the Joker.

Even then, the question was just who would play the iconic character. After Jack Nicholson’s campy cackle as the Clown Prince of Crime in Tim Burton’s Batman, was there anyone who’d be crazy enough to fill those very large purple shoes? Of course, we all know soon the answer to that question. Enter the late Heath Ledger.

Talent that will be missed - farewell, Heath.

Still somewhat fresh off his success as the conflicted, love-struck sheep herder in Brokeback Mountain, Ledger took special care to enter into the mind of a deeply disturbed, psychopathic, chilling killer who eventually strikes terror into the hearts of everyone in Gotham City. Hell, even I was afraid of this man.

To say that Ledger nailed the role is an understatement of gross proportions. His voice, mannerisms, and even his gait were honed to horrific perfection. He became the ultimate predator; the top of the criminal food chain. What’s more, he was a clear picture of the pure evil that the entire human race could reveal into one, sadistic picture. Ledger’s Joker is a mirror image; not only of the Batman, but of each and every one of us.

It’s this study of humanity that presents the exceptional nature of The Dark Knight. How bad can one man be? How sadistic? How horrible? What will it take for a man to snap — can a man who’s of the highest moral character only to be be led into the depths of depravity that would frighten even his closest friends?

Aaron Eckhart as District Attorney Harvey Dent

This answer is revealed in yet another character, that of District Attorney Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart). Dent’s role as a white knight is one of utter depth; who delivers the single-most foreshadowing line in the film; a line in reference to the story of Julius Caesar, “You either die a hero or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain.”

Maggie Gyllenhaal ( who took over the role of Rachel Dawes from Katie Holmes) provides a bright spot in the film one which echos the thoughts of the audience, and ultimately brings the greatest point of tension. Her spark is just what the film needed to give the film its touch of humanity, and brings us face-to-face with far more than the “ex-girlfriend” from the previous film, but presents a difficult message for Alfred Pennyworth (Michael Caine).

The script, as delivered by brothers Christopher Nolan and Jonathan Nolan, is in a word, flawless. Every word, every nuance, and every scene is honed to a perfection that is as much a mirror as it is a search light into our very souls. The film presents several situations — each more terrifying than the next — of the kind of choice that would drive nearly any person to the snapping point.

It’s a study on fear, war, terror, and power. When men are driven by fear, will they survive? If we’re faced with war, what would be too high a price for peace? And if terror shakes us to the very stone core of our being, would we become the very thing we fear? Is there such a thing as too much power?

Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne/Batman

These are just a few of the myriad of questions that The Dark Knight asks not only its characters, but its audience. Batman Begins was an exploration of the masks that we all wear, but Knight is as visceral as it is a lance through the very core of everything we think we hold dear.

It’s a film that’s dark, cold, and chilling. It’s an example of just how well a story can be told, and firmly establishes the medium of film as the new literature for our time. We may never fully understand the depths to which the The Dark Knight will take us. But as Alfred opined in the film, “Some men just want to see the world burn.” Yet even in the midst of the burning core of sanity, a glimmer of hope remains in the unlikeliest of places.

Once I recovered from my stunned silence, I wondered what I had just experienced. In a very real sense, I had just seen how a single film can transcend not only the literary, graphic and cinematic world, but the very heart and soul of humanity itself.

Yeah, it’s that good.

If there was ever any question that Lego was an important part of my childhood, it was completely erased yesterday as I entered the Lego Imagination Center in the Mall of America. I was visiting southern Minnesota on business this week and we capped off the trip by visiting the country’s largest shopping mall. I couldn’t care less about the four stories worth of shops. I wanted to see the Lego store. And boy, did I ever.

I was in Lego nerd heaven. According to the Lego website, it was the first Lego store in the United States, built in 1992. The Imagination Center wasn’t just a store for Legomaniacs, it was a store for me. I had two loves in my childhood. One was Lego, the other was Star Wars. My heart fluttered when I saw the Lego Death Star (retail price: $299.99). But even that was dwarfed by the magnificent 25-foot-tall Lego clock tower. Just imagine that… two and a half stories worth of Legos!
The store also features a large Lego blimp (reportedly made with 130,000 bricks) hanging overhead next to a scale model of the International Space Station—also built with Legos. Another entrance is guarded by a near life-sized statue of Boba Fett, the famed bounty hunter from the Star Wars movies. Inside is a towering figure of the animated version of Batman. There’s plenty more to see, so anyone who’s ever loved Lego play would be at home in this store.

The store, located in the large atrium of the Mall of America, was filled with children of all ages. Just outside one of the entrances was an area where visitors could build Lego soapbox cars and have impromptu races. The entrance itself is a shrine to Lego that is surrounded by large Lego dinosaurs and Lego teenagers.

Inside the store were several aisles worth of Lego products that span their collection. Everything from the City collection to their popular Technic collection to the ultimate merging of my childhood fantasies: the Lego Star Wars collection. Why, oh why, couldn’t this have happened twenty-five years ago? I so wanted to buy the Darth Vader Tie Fighter, but the $99.95 price is a little too steep for me at the moment. It’d be a heck of a Christmas present, though, hint-hint.

The store features a “buy your own bricks” setup which allows you to fill a provided cup with as many pieces as you can for a fair price. There are mugs and t-shirts available as well (I couldn’t resist the Lego Vader vs. Lego Kenobi shirt).

There are now 25 Lego stores across the country, including California, Colorado, Florida, New Jersey, Oregon, Illinois, New York, and Massachusetts. There’s another Imagination Center in Anaheim, California, but there’s just something about being first. The Mall of America can claim those rights. While the other stores have their own attraction, the Mall of America’s Imagination Center is a destination in a class of its own.

Originally published on www.skippingtothepiccolo.com