Overall rating

5 / 5

The Dark Knight

PostedJuly 20, 2008

BigTuna

from Savannah, GA

The Dark Knight (2008)

This movie is one of the most anticipated movies of the year. Scratch that; one of the most anticipated movies in a few years. Much of its anticipation and hype comes from the tragic and untimely death of actor Heath Ledger, whose portrayal of the Joker has critics and movie-goers raving and screaming 'Oscar!’ Their reactions are well-deserved. The ending credits weren't even close to rolling before I was convinced that this was a performance that was well worthy of an Oscar nomination.

The Dark Knight starts where Batman Begins (2005) leaves off. Batman (reprised by actor Christian Bale and his cheesy Batman voice) is still considered a menace and vigilante to the city of Gotham and not the savior that he truly is. At this time, Gotham criminals are in fear of the Batman. Criminals search the skies for the Bat-Signal as if this decides if they deal that night or not.

Throughout the movie, the story delves into the internal fight between Batman and Bruce Wayne. This fight gets deeper when Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart) comes onto the scene. Dent the young, new, fiery District Attorney, vows to clean up Gotham's streets. Bruce feels as if Dent can be the hero that Batman cannot be for Gotham. Dent has a face, a goal, and is part of the community, whereas Batman is considered a freak and a menace by most of society. This causes Bruce to battle over whether or not to give his gig up. However, Bruce also feels some relief from the thought of one of Gotham’s own stepping up to the challenge. The thought of being with his long time friend and love interest Rachel Dawes (played by newcomer Maggie Gyllenhaal) does put some sway on his options. However Rachel is tied to Dent. While Rachel still loves Bruce deeply, his commitments to his role as Batman keep them apart.

While the mob mostly keeps off the streets, hiding their hard earned money in local banks, the Joker (Ledger) wreaks havoc on the streets of Gotham. Unaffiliated with any gang of criminals in the city, the Joker works temporarily with some low level criminals, then disposes of them after the dirty work is done. The Joker’s true objective is to manipulate the minds of citizens, including Batman and Harvey Dent; to watch as the city drives itself into a state of frenzy; and to ultimately do all of this for his own amusement and pleasure. He is a brilliant and evil man. The story line doesn’t delve too much into his psyche, but the Joker constantly goes out of his way to tell the story about how his face was mutilated, and each story is different. Ledger’s portrayal of the Joker is nothing less than genius. Every movement, every word, everything is brilliant. His Joker is completely different from Nicholson’s Joker. Both were great in their own ways. So those who try to compare shouldn’t. Every scene with the Joker was amazing. Watching the Joker walk away from an exploding hospital so nonchalantly, while dressed in a woman’s nursing outfit, gave me the chills. But before leaving the hospital, he stops to sanitize his hands of course. Brilliant.

The movie is fun, it’s disturbing, its action packed, it’s sad. A lot of serious issues are addressed, including the battle between who decides what is good and what is evil, and who deserves to die and who deserves to live. In summary, at the end of the movie I was trying to decide if I enjoyed the movie or not. So much of it was intense and I ended up leaving with a massive headache. I know it was a great movie, definitely the best comic book adaptation I’ve seen on the big screen.

Yes, I recommend this movie.

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