Chapter 175: The Dark Knight

A round, chubby face appeared on the computer screen.

This was a white youth in his 20s, with round cheeks like two ripe pink peaches, making people want to pinch them.

A pair of blue eyes were squeezed into two thin slits by the fat on his face, looking like Majin Buu in Dragon Ball.

The wall behind him was covered with images and posters, all of various Batmen, some from comics, some from movies, and the table in front of the camera was also filled with various Batman model figures.

This chubby white youth took a deep breath and adjusted his headset to ensure the microphone could clearly capture his voice.

Then he opened the video editing software, ready to start today's recording.

"Hello, everyone, welcome back to my channel, I am George Mo Lisi."

George Mo Lisi waved at the computer camera, "As promised, I am now ready to set off to watch the midnight screening of that movie. After watching it, I will also return as promised to share my viewing experience with you."

Saying that, he let out a 'ha' and said: "2,000 likes, you want me to taste that piece of dog shit so much? Damn it, I swear to God, I really didn't expect that there were so many people paying attention to this movie."

"I guess only a small half of you are super fans of Batman like me, and the others should all be attracted by that stupid 'Why So Serious,' right?"

"Hey, friends, I want to tell you, don't believe Warner's set, that's all a trick made up to trick us into walking into the cinema to eat that piece of dog shit."

"Warner spent a full $200 million on this movie, they must be unwilling to lose their investment, so they will tell you how good that damn Chinaman acted, how much he looks like a... 'Super Joker'."

George Mo Lisi made quotation marks with both hands, "This is all to arouse our curiosity and trick the dollars in our pockets. Don't be fooled, guys! When Warner chose such a Chinese person to play the greatest villain in superhero history, it should have known it would pay the price!"

"'Why So Serious' is a complete farce. Warner wants to attract all your attention to that Chinese Joker, to fight poison with poison! No, no, don't fall for the tricks of these Hollywood profiteers."

"Let us boycott this movie together, let us boycott Warner's disgusting act, it desecrated our most beautiful memories, it made the whole Gotham ashamed because of this, it made Batman a laughingstock in the mouths of all comic fans. The entire comic circle is laughing at us for having a Chinese Joker from now on."

"No! We must never let this happen! Let us refuse this disgusting Dark Knight to join our Batman universe together, let us forget the existence of this movie together, let us say NO to Warner, let him see the unity and power of us fans!"

"In the end, we will make that Chinese kid who plays the Joker a real clown!"

"Alright, friends, that's today's video. Hope you like it, if you think it's helpful, don't forget to like, share, and subscribe. See you next time!"

George Mo Lisi is a blogger on YouTube, an emerging video website, where he shares his collections and plot interpretations of Batman daily.

Unknowingly, in more than a year, the account already had more than 50,000 followers.

Most of them are Batman fans like him, and a small part are those who think he speaks interestingly and is full of passion, which is quite interesting.

George Mo Lisi felt that the speech just now should be the most passionate one he had recently.

He checked the script prompts on the computer screen, found that only a few words were missed, and then used video editing software to edit it, cutting out a few places where he stuttered and where he looked at the script.

Finally, he exported the edited video as a video of about 5 minutes and clicked upload.

He drank a cup of coffee, changed into his favorite red Batman T-shirt that he thought was the coolest, tidied up his hairstyle, and left the apartment he rented, ready to go to the cinema to taste that dog shit movie that made him feel unhappy when he thought about it.

Just when George Mo Lisi went out, in the middle of the night in New York, a woman was also ready to go out.

Although if her old man were at home, he might stop her from going out late at night.

However, who let him fly to a small island in the Pacific Ocean with friends to have fun now?

Ivanka turned 26 in October, but she still lived in the building named after her family.

She felt that the reason for breaking up with her ex-boyfriend was here.

It was all Donald's damn desire for control.

When will he understand that she is no longer that seven or eight-year-old girl who needs her father's care at any time?

"Good evening, Zhu Di, help me book a movie ticket, the midnight screening of 'Batman 2: The Dark Knight'... Yes, that's right, just at the Chame cinema... Um, tell Peter, I'll go out in about half an hour."

Ivanka made a phone call to her private assistant in the room, notifying her that she was going out to watch a movie, and asked her to arrange a driver and necessary security.

While waiting, Ivanka watched the video she just brushed on YouTube again.

This fat guy named George Mo Lisi reminded her of her old man.

Self-righteous, talking nonsense, all bullshit, but surprisingly quite watchable.

Ivanka is a New Yorker, and when "My Blueberry Nights" was released, she hadn't broken up with her ex-boyfriend yet.

When the two were dating, they accidentally saw this romance movie set in New York in the cinema, so they watched it.

After watching it, she also asked her assistant to help organize a profile of the male lead to satisfy her curiosity.

She usually works in her old man's company, and if she is not careful, she will be "You are fired," so she really doesn't have much time to care about the entertainment industry.

She initially thought that the somewhat charming male lead was an Asian American, but after reading the information provided by the assistant, she was shocked, it was actually a Chinese person!

After that, she remembered the name Nuo Chen.

During this time, Warner inexplicably began to use "Why So Serious" as the name to launch a large-scale event on the Internet, asking people to upload selfie photos with smiles, selecting the person who smiled the most ridiculously, and providing a $100,000 prize for this.

At the same time, it also launched an advertising offensive based on this promotional slogan in major cities, cinemas, and TV stations on the east and west coasts of the United States.

The strange and somewhat crazy character in the advertisement also attracted Ivanka's attention along with the name of his actor.

It is really because the name Nuochen is too special.

It doesn't look like an English name at all.

Ivanka felt that this man should be the first person in the world to come to Hollywood to make a movie without taking an English name.

Well, it makes people a little unhappy.

However, it's really cool.

After connecting the Joker, who wrapped his face in a layer of white ash and looked a bit scary and hard to distinguish his specific race, with the melancholy and charming Chinese boy in "My Blueberry Nights," Ivanka was really shocked.

After this discovery, Ivanka also agreed with her boyfriend Jared at the time to go to the cinema to watch this movie together in July...

Unexpectedly, before the movie was released, the two broke up.

"Ivanka, ready." Private assistant Zhu Di knocked on the bedroom door.

Ivanka came back from her memories, stood up, and walked out the door, "Thank you, Zhu Di."

Late at night on July 14, 2007, George Mo Lisi came to the cinema closest to his home.

As for why it is claimed to be released simultaneously globally on July 15, but it is July 14 in the United States?

That is of course to give some respect to the world's number one film market and leave the right of the global premiere to them.

Otherwise, according to the time difference, they would have to wait more than ten hours after Chinese audiences finished watching the movie to see it. Wouldn't these movie fans or comic fans in the United States be pissed off?

In short, July 14 is the summer vacation file of American movies, and it is a Friday, and the cinema George Mo Lisi arrived at was quite popular.

It didn't look like it was 11:30 at night at all.

George Mo Lisi saw that posters for Paramount's blockbuster "Transformers," released on July 4, were posted everywhere in the cinema.

In addition, there was "Die Hard 4," which had been released for two weeks but had a bleak box office, and an animated film "Ratatouille."

Then, about one-third of the cinema's territory was still the promotional area for "Batman 2: The Dark Knight."

Warner Bros. seemed determined to go against George Mo Lisi.

The promotional materials in the cinema were still dominated by that disgusting Joker.

Wearing a green suit, face covered in white mud, a red mouth split to the ears, this fierce villain in Gotham City looked at everyone passing by him from the poster with a mocking smile.

A line of red words that seemed to be written in blood, "Why So Serious," was above his messy, seaweed-like hair.

Even George Mo Lisi, who was pinching his nose to watch at this time, had to admit that the text and image did indeed complement each other. There was a cool, bad feeling. It was really somewhat attractive.

It also made people want to know if the phrase "Why So Serious" had any special meaning?

At the bottom of the poster was the movie title "Batman 2: The Dark Knight."

Speaking of which, George Mo Lisi was also somewhat confused.

In his memory, it seemed that no superhero movie would use a villain in the film as the focus of promotion.

Whether it was Spider-Man 1-3, Fantastic Four, or Batman 1, 100% of the posters were printed with superheroes, not the villains sanctioned by the heroes.

As a result, Warner didn't know what medicine it took wrong this time.

It was normal before, but it happened to enter the sprint period of promotion before the release in the last two months.

They actually replaced the original posters and advertisements dominated by Batman Christian Bale with that evil and strange Joker!

Did Warner executives think that a Joker who was indeed different from the past could attract movie fans and Batman comic fans to walk into the cinema?

What a joke!

"Batman 2: The Dark Knight. Midnight screening, one ticket, pick a good seat for me, thank you." George Mo Lisi walked to the ticket window and handed in a $10 bill.

The black girl selling tickets looked at the computer and said: "Um, sorry, sir, the midnight screening you want only has front-row seats left. Is that okay?"

George Mo Lisi was shocked: "WTF, what did you say? How is that possible? Is this movie selling so well?"

The black girl smiled: "Yes, very well, maybe better than you imagine, sir."

George Mo Lisi said incredibly: "Why?"

Just then, a couple walked past behind him.

The man was saying: "I want to see how the Chinaman who was scolded so badly on the Internet acted."

The female voice replied: "I don't care how he acted, I just want to know why he got 1st place. Warner said let us find the answer in the movie, I want to see, does he smile better than me?"

Damn, moron.

The United States is indeed a country of morons. While George Mo Lisi felt annoyed by the IQ of his compatriots, he also understood something.

He remembered that he seemed to have seen somewhere that a work is scolded the most severely, and it is often the hottest.

Plus the moronic activity carried out by that shameless company Warner, it actually deceived so many stupid Americans.

No wonder it could attract so many people to watch this disgusting movie on the weekend.

The black girl selling tickets said something he didn't hear clearly, and he was too lazy to ask again, so he directly asked for a ticket for the 2nd row.

The lights were not turned off when entering the cinema hall.

George Mo Lisi looked at the back, and felt that the occupancy rate was at least 70%.

Are there really so many morons?

In addition to surprise, George Mo Lisi comforted himself. This is actually a good thing. The more people there are, the faster it will spread when everyone knows it is a bad movie, and the sooner Warner will die.

George Mo Lisi sat down. His fat body squeezed the cinema seat full, one hand drinking a super-large cup of cola, and the other hand grabbing in a super-large bucket of popcorn.

After a while, after some more audiences came in, the lights in the cinema hall went out.

The logo animations of Warner Bros., Legendary Pictures, and DC Comics flashed on the big screen in turn. They all turned into ice blue, exactly the same as the color tone of the promotional poster.

George Mo Lisi felt that this was the reason why he had always had a good impression of the director Nolan.

This Englishman likes to pick some seemingly unimportant details.

But in the end, it is often these details that create an engaging atmosphere.

The movie started with George Mo Lisi's admiration for Nolan.

The first set of shots was a building with geometric beauty, which formed a modern metropolis in an orderly manner.

Movie audiences across the United States, everyone who saw this scene in the cinema.

Including Ivanka, who was in a niche cinema in New York, were murmuring its name in their hearts—

Gotham City.

The tense music appeared with the movie screen, and almost instantly, many people felt that something was about to happen.

With a bang, the glass curtain wall of a skyscraper was broken from the inside out.

Two guys wearing Joker masks appeared on the screen.

One of them was holding a fishing gun, ready to shoot the rope to the roof of the low building opposite.

Just when the audience felt that the movie would continue to develop along this line, unexpectedly, the screen flashed to the street on the ground.

A busy intersection with people and cars.

A man carrying a travel bag stood with his back to the camera, and the camera slowly pushed towards him from far to near.

The man stood, feet apart, his messy hair dancing in the wind.

George Mo Lisi didn't know what was going on, just so simple, just a slightly hunched back, actually gave him a sense of oppression of a beast looking for prey.

The camera slowly pushed from far to near, and the focus gradually concentrated on the mask held in the man's left hand.

That was also a Joker mask.

But it was particularly gloomy and weird.

A family travel car stopped in front of the man with a 'squeak.'

The man put on the mask and opened the car door.

The dense and urgent music suddenly became high, just like a grand ball finished its announcement and officially started.

And the opening shots of the next five minutes of the film will be paid tribute to by countless movies in the next dozen years, and will also become the inspiration for countless literary works.

Some film critics even believe that this is the most engaging and wonderful opening of a film since the 21st century.

But in the early morning of July 14, 2007, when The Dark Knight was first presented to the world, all the audiences sitting in the cinema, including Roger Ebert, no one would think about the film structure or existence meaning of these five minutes.

Because from the moment the man put on the Joker mask, the development of the plot was like a train that suddenly accelerated, making people overwhelmed.

The two men at the opening of the film really used the fishing gun to slide to the roof opposite.

At the same time, the plot in the travel car was also advancing side by side.

There were three people in the car, the driver and the co-pilot, two men each wearing different Joker masks, and the dialogue between them simply and effectively explained the ins and outs of the current plot.

The driver said: "Alright, everyone is here, let's start."

The person in the co-pilot seat was surprised: "Just the three of us?"

The driver shook his head and said: "There are two more on the roof, five people sharing the money is already not a few."

The person in the co-pilot seat reminded: "In that case, it should be six shares, don't forget the guy who planned the action."

The driver sneered: "Does he think he can share the money without doing anything?"

Co-pilot: "Hehe, I know why people call him Joker."

When the two in front were talking, the person in the back row wearing a gloomy Joker mask kept silent, checking the firearms in his hands by himself.

At this time, he was finally ready, turned his head and looked out the window.

The movie screen followed his turning head and switched to the two on the roof.

They seemed to have just talked about this topic.

One person was organizing the tools in the bag while asking: "... So, why is he called Joker?"

Another person picked up a hammer, knocked open the electric box in front of him, and said in his mouth: "I heard he is very good at makeup."

"Makeup?"

"Yes, the kind used to scare people, war makeup."

The dialogue ended.

The three on the street parked the car on the side of the road and rushed into a bank.

It can be seen that this is a private bank with high specifications. Several people rushed in, and the driver swept a shuttle towards the sky, "Don't move, everyone lie down for me!"

The co-pilot rushed to the counter and began to spray garbage talk, threatening the teller.

At the same time, the two on the roof had already opened the electric box, which was full of dense lines.

One of them was holding an instrument, connected to the wires in the box, muttering in his mouth: "Found it, silent alarm, let me see where it is connected."

His companion stood behind him and reached into his arms.

The screen gave the bank again, several robbers were using force to threaten and control the situation.

The person wearing the gloomy Joker mask opened the travel bag he had been carrying. It turned out to be grenades.

He pulled the safety of a grenade and stuffed it into a hostage's hand.

Then, the screen switched to the roof again.

The robber who was connecting the line was puzzled: "What's going on, why is it connected to a private number?"

His accomplice behind him said: "Is there a problem?" While asking, his right hand was raised.

The head of the person in front blocked the line of sight, and he couldn't see what he was holding in his hand.

What else? Of course, a gun!

Ivanka's heart was also raised. The fast and sharp editing had already made people a bit dizzy, but now, the story seemed to have a new development.

As expected.

When the person in front said "No, I've already handled it," the person behind him pulled the trigger without hesitation.

Even if it was expected, the scene of black eating black appearing so directly and crisply still made all the audience shiver.

If Ivanka was just watching seriously before, then this gunshot made her concentrate seven points of energy.

But as a lady, this kind of killing still couldn't make her concentrate all her attention, and three points of her mind were still thinking about that question:

Where exactly is Chen?

These people are all wearing Joker masks, it's really hard to distinguish.

Ivanka was quite confident before, because she had watched "My Blueberry Nights" several times, and she thought she was familiar with Nuo Chen's body shape.

But smart as she was, she knew that nine times out of ten, this person was among these five people wearing Joker masks, but she was still not sure.

Although the close-up shot was given to that gloomy Joker, the slightly hunched and thick back looked like a Westerner, completely different from the thin and upright body shape in "My Blueberry Nights."

At the same time, since he got in the car, he seemed to have become the background of the whole plot, and the photographer's lens never aimed at him again.

He also disappeared into the crowd.

Will it be him?

Ivanka opened her big blue eyes, and the light and shadow of the big screen were reflected in her eyes.

(End of this chapter) ===== CHAPTER 176 =====