The Dark Knight | REVIEW

This is probably my favorite review to date. After years (yes, ever since Batman Begins) of waiting, I finally watched The Dark Knight a couple of hours ago, and you know what, it was nowhere near as to what had initially expected! But did that stop me from loving it? Not one bit! The Dark Knight raises the bar for all future comic adaptations and puts a heavy challenge on the table for future competitors. It is Christopher Nolan's uncompromising take on Batman and the intense chronicles that he has to face as Gotham's silent savior. It spans for a solid 152minutes and even if you go in an average moviegoer, you're sure to come out a fan of the Batman. Here's the NON-SPOILERISH LOWDOWN:

The Dark Knight opens with Batman, Lieutenant James Gordon, and new district attorney Harvey Dent beginning to succeed in rounding up the criminals that plague Gotham City. They are unexpectedly challenged when a mysterious criminal mastermind known as the Joker appears in Gotham. Batman's struggle against the Joker becomes deeply personal, forcing him to "confront everything he believes" and to improve his technology to stop the madman's campaign of destruction.

What Christopher Nolan does is he takes these 'hard-to-believe' elements from comic books / graphic novels and gives them an excellent grounding, making every single lil' detail believable and uber-realistic. There's nothing that Nolan does not explain in this flick, be it Batman's high-tech inventory of weapons and gadgetry or the fact that a masked crusader protects the people of Gotham. Nolan also boasts his aggressive nature of shooting a movie and making it believable by using a minimal amount of CGI; so little that you'll hardly ever notice it's there. The cinematography is top-notch and certain instances such as the opening bank-heist scene just 'scream' out the names of some of Hollywood's all-time greats a la Michael Mann. The seamless cuts and wide angles of the cityscape blows The Dark Knight out of the 'comic-movie' league and puts it someplace much higher. There's a touch of quality to it that is hardly seen in ordinary adaptations, and trust me, I love comic adaptations...but never have I seen such standards and such effort put into any of them. And this is not because I'm a Batman-fan or because I am fanatical about this movie, no, it's because the film really is a stroke of genius.

I once thought that Batman Begins was dark and gritty. That was before I laid my eyes on its sequel. The Dark Knight is darker, grittier, and I dare say it's even disturbing. There's very real emotion throughout the course of the film and that emotion radiates far enough for the audience to relate to. The movie sinks deep into a level of reality unlike any other comic adaptation before it, and brings to us a vision of Gotham as though it is a real metropolis on this planet. The characters talk about crimelords and politics and corruption and the fact that a masked-man jumps off rooftops to protect their city from evil. It's sometimes too real to digest, which makes the movie disturbing in many ways. It's not a bad thing though, because it proves that the film has power to tweak with one's emotions and perspectives. We've always known comic adaptations to be fun and action-packed, deep down and at the back of our heads we always know that things are going to be fine in the end. Films like those deliver more of the 'fanboy goosebumps' and 'geekasms' because no matter how heavy they get, they never manage to alter your emotions to the extent that you're actually disturbed about it. The Dark Knight is different. It holds that energy and although some people may hate it for said reason alone, I'd like to think that a movie with the power to meddle with my feelings must be somewhat special to say the least.

When it comes to acting, The Dark Knight boasts performances that are surreal. It's obvious that Heath Ledger's final performance as the Clown Prince Of Crime is the main attraction of this show, but I won't say that he steals the spotlight. Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, and Gary Oldman reprise their roles as Bruce Wayne / Batman, Alfred, Lucious Fox, and Liutendant Jim Gordon respectively, and they all hit their roles spot-on yet again. Aaron Eckhart is the f*ckin' Harvey Dent in more ways than one! When he's doing good for the betterment of Gotham you can't help but vouch for him, but when his 'other side' is revealed you want to hate him yet somehow relate to his sympathetic side! Despite the fact that I pay a lot of attention to continuity, Maggie Gylenhall (although not a babelicious, bootylicious, sexy lil' vixen), does justice to the role of Rachel Dawes. In fact, it would have been great if she had been picked to play Rachel in Batman Begins to begin with. And now, on to Mr.Ledger. His performance alone tells you a number of things about the man. He was fearless, intense, and dedicated to his craft. Unlike the versions brought to life by Nicholson or Romero, this new take on The Joker shows you a psychopath without a path. A madman who isn't really mad or crazy. And this, folks, is by far the most disturbing part of the movie. The Joker is so hyper-realistic that you tend to wonder about the possibilities of his existence in our real world. And frankly, you wouldn't want that to happen after going through The Dark Knight.

I've always said that a soundtrack makes or breaks a film. James Newton Howard and Hans Zimmer take on the daunting task (again) of composing tracks worthy of Chris Nolan's and Batman movie standards. Let's not take Batman & Robin into account, shall we. The soundtrack does a great job at sending goosebumps down your spine. It helps a whole lot in setting the mood for a scene. Kudos to the men behind the music because the music for this film rocks! Not literally as in Metallica, I mean, just rocks!

I'd say the only downside to The Dark Knight was Batman's suit. I like the way his suit was in Tim Burton's films. I even liked the one in Batman Begins. The new suit isn't a disaster, but I've always been a fan of the cloak that covers his shoulders more than the cowl that hangs over them...y'know what I mean? Plus, the head-wear is so tight that it affects the way Batman speaks. Sometimes it's as though he has a lisp, which annoyed the heck outta' me! The thickness of his voice is fine, but screwing with the pronunciation is not a good thing. They should have done something about that. It's not enough to spoil the flick, but it's noticeable.

On a whole, The Dark Knight is bound to go down as a trend-setter. Comic adaptations hereafter will strive to be as bold and as daring as the 'Knight. Again, I love comic adaptations. I enjoyed Spider-Man 1, 2, and I can't wait for part 3. Huh? What? Did you just say part 3 was out more than a year ago? Venom? Sandman? You mean that load of horsecrap was actually Sam Raimi's work?! What the f*ck was he smokin', eh? Anyway, back to Gotham...The Dark Knight is a must-watch for not only Batman fans, but also for fans of comic books and movies in general. It's not comical, it's not sci-fi. It's very real and very intellectual. It surpasses all limitations of being a comic film except for one. The gore factor. Since this doesn't have a [R] on it, they had to do a bit less with the blood. Still, it doesn't affect the movie much. There's more than one story arc in this film since it has so many characters to deal with. But no matter how complicated it gets, the basis of The Dark Knight is the struggle that Batman has to go through in order to remain as Gotham's guardian, and certain decisions he has to make which will, at times, cause an initial negative reaction instead of a positive one. The Dark Knight truly is something special, and it makes me happy to know that although it's different from what I had expected, it still kicks all sorts of ass and is a new entry into my list of favorite movies.
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Wrap : Yes, The Dark Knight gets a full-fledged 5.0 out of 5.0! Don't call me biased, there's no prejudice in this rating! When it comes to The Dark Knight, you can literally see the effort and good use of finance oozing off the screen. It takes a lot of craft and serious thought to pull off something of this stature, and Nolan has managed to do that. The downside of Batman's voice isn't even enough to bring this baby down because it has so much more good in it. From acting to camera work to effects to the pace and the flow of the story, The Dark Knight nails all of em'. It gets my perfect rating, I'm gonna' watch it again soon, the 2-Disc Special DVD is going into my collection, and it makes me happy to know what somewhere out there Tim Burton is nodding in appreciation at the trend and theme of Batman that he created nearly 20 years ago. It also makes me effin' glad to know what somewhere out there Joel Schumacher is being called an @$$hole for almost killing the Batman franchise if it had not been for Christopher Nolan. Now...when is part 3 due?

P.S. : It's a shame that Heath Ledger isn't around to see this. I don't care if he wins a effin' Oscar or not, his performance was phenomenal. Hats-off to the man, and if there are award ceremonies up in Heaven I'm sure Heath just got nominated.

R.I.P, Heath Ledger.