Well, to be honest, I still am not sure if I have seen this film. As of the writing of this review, I have seen the film three times now and I am still not sure I have seen all that the film has to offer.
When I was a child, I used to collect comic books and I always had one favorite hero, The Batman. I had no idea why I liked him. Maybe it was his dark outfit, maybe it was him trying to save Gotham City from the bad guys. I have no idea to this day why I selected him as my favorite. All of my other childhood friends were into Superman. I like him but to me he was just to good to be true. After awhile, I quit reading the books and moved onto baseball cards.
I forgot all about Batman until I heard about a story called The Dark Knight Returns and rediscovered Batman as a dark hero that the world deserved and have not left the Batman world since.
So who is the man that we call “Batman”? To me he is a Ronin because he has always blamed himself for his parents death as a child. In the new batman film, he looses another one close to him and it looks to make him more of a “Ronin.”
So with all of this in my mind, I went to see my childhood hero, “Batman’s” latest film, The Dark Knight . I had only one thought after I saw it at the IMAX, “My God, They have finally gotten my hero right.”
THIS WILL BE A HEAVY SPOILER REVIEW ALERT, SO IF YOU DO NOT WANT THE FILM SPOILED, THEN PLEASE STOP READING NOW.
If you are going to show a hero, you must also show the villain. Batman’s main villain is The Joker and he is shown the way that the Joker was meant to be played by the late, Heath Ledger.
Alfred states the best description of “The Joker” and he makes this comment. “You crossed the line first, sir. You squeezed them, you hammered them to the point of desperation. And in their desperation they turned to a man they didn’t fully understand.” …….”Because some men aren’t looking for anything logical, like money. They can’t be bought, bullied, reasoned or negotiated with. Some men just want to watch the world burn.” Mr. Ledger’s acting makes you think that all he wants to do is to watch the world burn while he laughs at the result.
I think that the Academy Award Oscar should just be given to the estate of Mr. Ledger for his performance as the Joker.
Near the end of the film “The Joker” makes A statement that shows that him and Batman are the same..
The Joker: You just couldn’t let me go could you? This is what happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object. You truly are incorruptible aren’t you? You won’t kill me out of some misplaced sense of self-righteousness, and I won’t kill you, because you’re just too much fun. I think you and I are destined to do this forever.
Batman: You’ll be in a padded cell forever.
The Joker: Maybe we can share one. They’ll be doubling up, the rate this city’s inhabitants are losing their minds.
This led to the first major question that I had about the next film. Do they recast the Joker or do they try and find another villain? The Joker was supposed to be in the third film and with the death of Mr. Ledger would you want to even try and make another one? How can you top this battle between good and evil between the Joker and Batman?
Now for what I liked about the film…
The voices of sanity for Batman, Alfred Pennyworth: (Michael Caine) and Lucius Fox: (Morgan Freeman) These two fine actors show why they are great actors and give the film a voice of logic in insane times.
The role of Harvey Dent: (Played by Aaron Eckhart) In this role, he gave Batman hope that he could be the white knight face that Gotham needed. He could be the hero and save Gotham from crime. When you see it all go wrong for Dent, Eckhart’s acting makes you see that he has fallen and the white knight is no more.
I loved this role, I actually believed that he had made a deal with the devil to get revenge and in the end it cost his life and almost his dream of hero for Gotham.
The role of James Gordon (Played by Gary Oldman) tells us, the movie viewer, what the city of Gotham needs.
Lt. James Gordon: Because he’s the hero Gotham deserves, but not the one it needs right now…and so we’ll hunt him, because he can take it. Because he’s not a hero. He’s a silent guardian, a watchful protector…a dark knight.
In this film, he becomes the police commissioner. He also knows that he must also play a two-face role with Batman. In private he must hunt Batman for his fake crimes and he knows that he will need him to save the city from itself.
Now for the one thing in the film that I really hated, was the role of Rachel Dawes: (played by Maggie Gyllenhaal).
This character was never in the comic book and was made for this series of the movie. She was supposed to be a love interest for Bruce Wayne. Instead, when she dies in this film, she becomes another reason for Batman’s “Ronin” outlook. He has now lost his parents and the only woman that he has ever loved. I thought her acting was very bad and she slowed the pace of the film in every shot that she was in.
At the time of this writing, the film has made over 440 million in the US Market and is within striking range of the 600 million $ that “Titanic” made in the 90′s.
I have written words of praise for this film in order to try and convince you to see this film. I honesty do not if the words I have written have done this film any justice. All I can ask is that you take your time and please see this film. It is worth your time and your $. We are given a hero that we deserve, as a world. We are not given a hero that we need. I think this is why the film has done so well in the USA. He is what we need as a nation, a dark knight.
Grade A+
The Chechen: What do you propose?
The Joker: It’s simple, we, uh, kill the Batman.
[mobsters laugh]
Salvatore Maroni: If it’s so simple, why haven’t you done it already?
The Joker: If you’re good at something, never do it for free.
How I saw it. CGV IMAX
Opened in South Korea on 6 August 2008
Opening weekend in USA. $158,411,483 (USA) (20 July 2008) (4,366 Screens)
MAY HEATH LEDGER FIND THE PEACE IN DEATH THAT HE COULD NOT FIND IN THE TIME OF HIS LIFE.
{ 2 trackbacks }
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
If you read Batman, Year One (I think she’s in there) and Batman, Year Two, by Frank Miller, (both graphic novels available at Amazon) you’ll meet Rachel Dawes.
Batman: Year One was the basis for a lot of parts of Batman Begins, and other elements from those two graphic novels are also in The Dark Knight.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rachel_Dawes
The character appears exclusively in the films, and is not based on any comic book character.
Hoop. My bad. I was thinking of Rachel Caspian, the character in Batman: Year Two (shoot. I’ve just revealed that i’m a nerd, haven’t I?). . .who is a romantic interest of Bruce Wayne’s that seems to have been the inspiration for Rachel Dawes.
It was a good film (even if it borrowed many elements from other films–the speeder bike from Star Wars, 007′s ariel escape, etc.), but I have seen nearly all of it before in the the cartoon series, “Batman Beyond.” I still find it a shame that they didn’t take the franchise into the future as was originally envisioned back when Warner Bros. decided to revive the character in the early 2000′s. Having an aging and crippled Bruce Wayne in the Alfred role while mentoring Terry adds a different dimension to the on-going tale of the Dark Knight. Plus, the Joker and his gang were taken straight from the series straight-to-dvd film about the Joker.
Well, we’ll see how the new Justice League film comes together with both Bats and Supes in it (Watch “World’s Finest” and you’ll get the Bats and Supes reference). I can’t wait to see how Wonder Woman will fit in to the group.
Also, if you get a chance check out the new “Spectacular Spider-Man” series on the CW network. It’s quite good, once you get past the first 22 minute episode.
I will say that originally I was going to give this movie a pass. I prefer to dig for the underdog than to follow the hype. This movie had a lot of hype and after seeing it in Taiwan for NTD $100 (about 3,000 won) I can say that I got more than the hype promised and more than the price paid.
Because of the hype my eye was on Heath’s role. I have liked him in other things but I didn’t want to follow the idea that he “gave the performance of his life” just because he was dead. However, for the first time in all of the Batman movies, Ledger’s “Joker” actually scared the crap out of me.
Having a background in Psychology I found this “Joker” far more dangerously deranged than the almost comical version of Nicklson’s “Joker”. There was something in Heath’s face which made it seem like he might have known this role would be important. His laugh, his licking of his lips, his total demeanor made me wonder if he hadn’t maybe checked himself into a nut house just to perfect the role.
In additional to his mannerisms, the fact that his a large part of his costume was only altered by simply applied makeup (vice the perma lip thing of Jack’s “Joker”) Heath’s version has changed the “face” of the “Joker” in a way that may not be easily replaced. I really enjoyed his role and am for the first time ever glad I followed the hype.
As far as the role of Batman, eh he was hot…that strange voice changing thing was well fun in the dark I guess. He even had cooler toys that “IRONMAN”. However, for me the one actor that truly gave justice to “Batman’s” balance between ruggedly charming and just shy of total darkness was Micheal Keaton. Ahh the things I do to that man’s “Batman” would get a higher than PG 13 rating.
The other characters did an OK job. However, ever since “The Secretary” it’s hard from to see Maggie as anything other than…well anyways watch the film and you’ll see what I mean. My main complaints about this movie were the fact that the healing of “2 Face” was too quickly done and the ending was far too lame to be acceptable. It’s as if they were filming and then all of the sudden realized they needed to reveal the true identity of “Harvey Dent/Two Face”, strike a reason for his wrath and then wrap up the film all while staying just under 3hours. They could have really done something great with the ending instead they rushed through leaving you knowing that there will be another film but not necessarily waiting breathless to see it.
All in all I’d say I got the best deal of all…all that action, cool toys and a few nightmares all for 3,000 won or under isn’t anything to laugh (even manically) at.
Enjoy!!