I am an X-Men girl and I grew up rooting for Cyclops since their television series days so I'm not very educated about Batman, his nemesis and his superhero endeavours, but I do know The Penguin, The Joker, Two Face and a little bit of backgrounder based from some movies before. But I've yet to see a Batman flick that wouldn't make me sleep after the first 30 minutes. I have this condition of getting sleepy if the film is really boring. Anyway, with The Dark Knight, I was fully awake, my heart is pumping all the way to the end (Ok that was a bit of an exaggeration, but half of the film at least) and I never dared look away from the screen, scared that I might miss out on something crucial.
First of all, The Dark Knight is not a superhero movie, well not the kind where the characters are omnipotent and out of this world. The character of Batman in this film is undeniably human, vulnerable to physical and emotional pain and capable of making wrong decisions, as he showed while beating up Joker in the interrogation room, relentless, angry and vengeful for loosing the love of his life, Rachel.
Think of The Dark Knight as another true to life story of a cop who performs his duties as protector of the community in a little bit exaggerated plot. Bruce Wayne's ((Christian Bale) alter ego is gifted with the technology, training and great brains (including his) his huge fortune can afford.
The Dark Knight looks and feels very human, a powerful force that effect in its viewers the connection, unusual in Marvel or DC-inspired movies. In this sequel, Batman was confronted with uncertainty, torn between his one rule to keep his secret identity and putting a halt to the rampant, useless killings of the Joker just so he would show the face behind the mask. He was lucky enough that one person, of Henry Dent (Aaron Eckhart), sacrificed to be a fall guy, to literally save his face in the last minute. Dent the new DA of Gotham City, Batman's love rival, because of his faith in Batman's ability to protect Gotham City from lawbreakers, including the still standing international mobs, never let him give in to the Joker's whims.
In the end, Batman's inner goodness triumph over his dark side, so he didn't kill Joker. The movie was not able to establish whether Joker was captured or he escaped again, but it might be a prelude to another sequel. For now, I don't mind.
Joker, the name will stick with Batman but the actor is legendary. Heath Ledger is the best Joker so far, even better than Jack Nicholson in the Dark Knight. He is a complete distinction from the bell-ringing, headdress wearing nuisance that we grew up with. But of course, the plot is also very different from the previous Batman so we couldn't really compare.
Anyway, I love Heath Ledger's portrayal of the Joker, its excellent, well rendered and very convincing. He is despicable, purely evil, a true scion of Satan, out to sow chaos to the city, play with Batman;s conscience and test the morality of the people of Gotham City. He succeeded only with Henry Dent who became the avenger Two-Face, but with everyone else, Batman included, he failed. The citizen of Gotham didn't let their selfish part take over their fair judgement when they decided not to blow the ship holding the criminals of Gotham, shattering the grand ploy of the Joker for a midnight fireworks.
The Joker has his own share of misfortunes, like any else in this world, when his father slice the sides of his mouth during a fight with his mom and his wife despised him. I felt the sadness in his eyes concealed behind the scary make-up. Joker was driven by his own tragedies to execute his evilness but relied on Batman's own goodness for his life. He knew Batman will not kill him.
You will feel for him, get mad at him, loath him but he is undeniably funny in a sarcastic kind of way, and he makes sense all the time. That kind of reality in his jokes provokes even the straightest guy in the film, Batman and was able to transform the audacious DA of Gotham into a guy of darkness.
You would wish Ledger lived long enough to witness his confirmation as a real and A-list actor through his portrayal of the Joker.
As for Gary Oldman (Lt. Jim Gordon), Eckhart, Maggie Gyllenhall (RoseDawes), Michael Caine (Alfred Pennyworth) and Morgan Freeman (Lucius Fox) rendered plausible performance, as expected from top calibre actors, to establish the personality of Batman and give totality to the movie, although their performances are overshadowed by Ledger's performance.
The cinematography doesn't veer away from typical Hollywood action flick, but of course it is also a requirement for the movie. Kudos to Bale for standing at the edge of one building, held only by a thin steel string, for the sake giving the audience real thrill.
The lighting is superb, very Batman. I especially like the scene where Two-Face is holding hostage Gordon's family and only the side of his face is shown.
I miss the OST though, they didn't play it so much in this movie, or I was just too engrossed with the acting.
The make-up is fantastic. Ledger has to go through an hour of preparation for the silicon plastered in his lips but it made a lot of impact and conviction in his character while Two-Face's make-up or animation is simply wow!
Some Spoilers (It Can't be That Perfect)
There is one editing glitch in the scene where Wayne is stitching himself from dog bites; the cutting of the scene while he was looking down is quite awkward.
The scenes where Batman is scanning the whole building with hostages that looks like the Joker, while chasing the real one is too long and boring at some point.
Car chase is very typical, but again, that is what Batman is all about, the self-destructing car and the Bat-pod. Where else to showcase all these nice motors but in an all too familiar, overrated highway scene?
Nonetheless, Batman is my new favourite superhero and the Joker is my all time antagonist. The movie is definitely worth every cent and I'll probably go back for another ride. And don't forget to grab the original DVD once it came out. Everyone should have The Dark Knight, Heath's legacy.
