Belated thoughts on Dark Knight

Dan wrote a great list of observations. My favorite bits:

Everything you hear about Heath Ledger is true. ... It is a subtle film, except when it's not. And when it's not, it's over-the-top. But who the fuck cares. ... In a movie bursting with ambition on all fronts, perhaps the greatest achievement are its words. How many action films can boast that? ... The film does not have much to say about the goodness of humanity. ... This is the first film-with-terrorism-metaphor that our age of terrorism deserves.

Obviously the best film of 2008 so far, can't wait to see it again on IMAX. Building on its terrorism metaphor, I had this thought: Despite his constant, city-wide destruction, the Joker never has a posse, and his one-time conspirators rarely survive a scene. His omnipresent army of allies are bribed, released from the nut house, used as props, pawns, or simply drawn into madness. How did he manage to rig that building so quickly? How did he turn that cop so easily? After a while you let go of reason, and the Joker becomes more as a virus than a villain. He can't live without a host.