The Dark Knight (2008)
Cast: Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Michael Cain, Aaron Eckhart, Gary Oldman, Morgan Freeman, Maggie Gyllenhaal
Director: Christopher Nolan
Running Time: 152 mins
The much awaited sequel to Christopher Nolan's reboot of the Batman franchise thundered into cinemas in July and broke most of the box office records in sight. In fact it was a pretty miserable time for other movies to come out as there was really only one film people wanted to see. The 2005 hit 'Batman Begins' severed all ties with the previous quadrilogy directed by Tim Burton and Joel Schumacher which for most fans became progressively ridiculous, cartoonish and downright insulting to the much loved caped crusader. Nolan (Memento) surprised crowds with Batman Begins which explained the origins of the masked vigilante and was widely regarded as the best Batman film up to date while I considered it the best superhero/comic book adaptation of all time. The Dark Knight however promised to be bigger, better and darker than its predecessor while audiences flocked to see what would be Heath Leadger's final performance as an actor.
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The film revolves around Batman (Christian Bale) and his archenemy the Joker (Heath Ledger) which was signaled at the end of Batman Begins. The film brings back all the old faces such as Michael Cain as Alfred Pennyworth, Morgan Freeman as Lucius Fox and Gary Oldman as the all-round good guy Lieutenant Gordon. Assistant District Attorney and Bruce Wayne's long term love interest, Rachel Dawes who was played by Katie Holmes in Batman Begins was thankfully replaced by Maggie Gyllenhaal (The Secretary, The World Trade Centre). New characters such as Gotham's 'white knight' and District Attorney, Harvey Dent played by Aaron Eckhart (Thank You for Smoking, Meet Bill) and Batman's archenemy, the Joker played by Heath Ledger (A Knight's Tale, Brokeback Mountain) are introduced newly to the franchise. The film spends no time with reminding audiences of the previous film even though the Scarecrow (Cilian Murphy) makes a brief cameo in the early scenes of the film. The film feels tremendously like a sequel in the sense that the story is certainly a continuation of the previous film happening just a year apart. It would also help audiences to watch the animated 'Gotham Knight' series which is placed in between the two Nolan movies.
Batman Begins was certainly a fresh way of looking at the superhero especially after Joel Schumacher's embarrassing two films, Batman Forever and Batman and Robin. Still comparisons were bound to be made between The Dark Knight and the Tim Burton's first Batman film featuring Jack Nicholson as the Joker. The film was certainly great at the time with a memorable performance by Nicholson and an unforgettable soundtrack by Danny Elfman. Unlike the 1989 film which featured Jack Nicholson as Jack Napier, a henchman to a powerful mafia kingpin, who is thrown into a cauldron of chemicals transforming him into the Joker, The Dark Knight makes no attempt at establishing a background story or origin for the Joker. In fact it does exactly the opposite as the Joker himself gives multiple origin stories for himself which further adds to the mysterious and darker nature to the Joker's character. When I first heard about the film having cast Ledger for the part of the Joker I was certainly skeptical especially because I loved the first Joker portrayal. However, Ledger's performance is certainly one of the highlights if not the main attraction of the film. I assure you his performance is the best piece of acting I've seen since Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lecter and is likely to blow you away. Ledger's performance is so real and deep that solid performances by the rest of the cast are clearly overshadowed in comparison.
The film also is certainly darker than its previous installment while the story is complex and enthralling. One area I would give it a ten out of ten is its script which is by far the best part of the film. The characters are well constructed while Nolan's direction of the film has also shown a progressive darkness showing Gotham's decay over the past year. For action buffs the film also contains plenty of heart pounding action while the film itself can no longer be classed as a superhero/comic adaption but an ensemble of genres. The film is long and the story is complex but by no means would anyone be looking at their watches. This film is easily the best film of the year so far and the greatest adaptation of a comic franchise of all time and I just cannot see anyone tipping it off its throne in the following years. |
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