The Dark Knight - Movie of the Year

One word. Awesome. From start to end, The Dark Knight (TDK) didn’t disappoint me at all. And it even made my non-comic-reader friends join in the bat frenzy and ask me all sorts of questions to satisfy their thirst of wanting to know more about Batman’s comic roots. I was of course only too happy to oblige them. Neways, I caught TDK at TGV Bukit Tinggi on Friday night. Needless to say that the two screens allocated for the 9.30om show were packed to maximum capacity. TDK has managed to turn superhero-haters into people who appreciate a well written story, not withstanding a man in a tight black suit.

Spoiler Alert!

Where shall I start? Each of the characters were so skillfully executed and the emotional depth of the movie pierces the audience. Yes, it’s darker. And yes, it’s simply amazing. Christian Bale amazes with his dual role as the playboy billionaire Bruce Wayne and the Batman. Both of the characters potrayed were so visibly different in their mannerisms and ideologies, yet they were the same man. Batman is the true person here, and Bruce Wayne is simply the mask. We have a man tortured by his guilt of his parents’ death, and wants so badly to make the wrong right, though only within the limits that he set for himself. Not to mention that this Batman actually had a well built body unline Val Kilmer, Michael Keaton and George Clooney. AND, Batman gets bit, stabbed, kicked, punched and mauled by various entities, with the scars to prove. That’s realism, folks.

Next in line, The Joker. Heath Ledger’s performance was nothing short of utter genius. I’d say that he actually paid homage to the true Joker potrayed in the comics: the maniacal madman who relies on sick humor to prove his point of logic. Not to mention his hatred for the Batman and the simple idea of wanting to play games. Whatever The Joker did to Harvey Dent during the course of the movie reminded me so much of the comic titled The Killing Joke. There, The Joker tries to justify his madness by subjecting Comm. Gordon to severe mental agony and anguish, just to prove to the world that with enough problems, even the sanest man will go crazy. That was the exact thing that happenned to Harvey Dent. Madness is like gravity. All it takes is a little push! The scriptwriters need to be worshipped for coming out with The Joker’s lines. Heath’s performance simply deserves an Oscar nomination, at least. I found myself at times rooting for The Joker just to see the mayhem that he will cause, even laughing at the completely negative jokes that he makes. In short, the audience is captured by this performance. This man wanted chaos for no other reason other than to enjoy and bask in its horrifying after-effects. We see the chaos, then we see the selfishness of the regular guy when faced with this terror, and we see The Joker happily dancing to this.

Aaron Eckhart was simply amazing, even with his dual role to play. First, as Harvey Dent, being the white knight Gotham was looking for, and later on, being Two-Face, after falling off the ledge of sanity due to the loss of his love and his face. The confrontation between him and The Joker was simply nail biting, watching every moment of the Clown Prince of Crime slowly pushing Dent off his sanity, which was already on the brink of crashing away. Harvey Dent was quickly becoming the hero Gotham wanted, without a mask, which made Bruce Wayne ready to hang up his batsuit for good. Harvey Dent made the law seem all the more powerful to uphold justice, and Two-Face made us understand his predicament with his twisted sense of justice: let everything be decided by chance. Thus, the coin flipping.

Casting Gary Oldman as Lt. Gordon was a stroke of genius. We have more character development here, as we see Gordon, Dent and Batman try to work together to clean up Gotham, and later, overcome The Joker’s mad games. We see a man who is driven by his job, only to be hampered by the severe corruption that surrounds him. We share his mortal thoughts when we all realise the futile attempts of justice when confronted with corruption in the deepest manner. And we see a man who will go to great lengths to deliver that justice, even is he is alone in the fight for it.

Even smaller characters like Sal Maroni by Eric Roberts were given enough scope even in their small screen time. Not to mention The Russian who’s frustrated that even he cannot match the mayhem created by The Joker.

The picturization of Gotham is simply amazing. We get to see a city just on the brink of chaos. The citizens are panicky, fickle minded, and terrified. Gordon, Dent and Batman each have their limits, mind and body, and every second we see them edging closer and closer to their limit. The Joker, who’s own world contains no limits, no rules and only pure chaos, wants everyone to adopt this brand of life. Thus, his acts of terror and mayhem, each more despicable than the last one. And we see every one of the characters break their own rules just to achieve their goals. The whole lot of good vs bad, civility vs barbarism analogies are surprisingly well put and we begin to understand the pressures exerted on everyone by this maniacal Joker. Yet we don’t get tired of them. The action scenes are timed perfectly, and they are nothing short of wonderful.

For a comic geek like me, all I can do is drool at the magnificent movie that is The Dark Knight. It is not only the best superhero movie ever made, but it is simply one of the best movies ever made. Christopher Nolan has outdone everyone, even himself, by showing us how a superhero movie should be made. We are shown that even the best men will find themselves doing the wrong thing, and we can’t help but believe their justification for it. Forget Iron Man and Transformers. With an ending that is THE most unexpected and THE most daring that I have ever seen, I can only summise that it is the white knight that we want, but it is the dark knight that we need. 9 and a half stars out of 10 stars.