The Dark Knight

What a film!

Comic book fun and unparalleled acting were never meant to be said in the same sentence. Yet its true in this case. It has the regular superhero action sequences and gizmos, but it goes way beyond just that.

One couldn’t imagine an Oscar winning performance coming out of a comic book adaptation, but it would be a crime to not give one to Heath Ledger for his incredible acting as the Joker. Strangely, its the villain who’s the star attraction of this superhero epic. The cast of Christian Bale, Gary Oldman, Michael Caine, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Aaron Eckhart give a stellar performance, but Heath Ledger stands head and shoulders above the rest. There is nothing artificial about his acting in this film. He becomes the Joker himself. Actors are revered for playing real characters, but to play a comic book character with such realism, simply feels unrealistic.

I can go on and on about the rest of the cast and Nolan brothers’ fantastic direction and gripping storyline, but its best experienced in the cinema hall itself.

This is no longer just a movie. It has become a phenomenon. I had the great luck of watching it first day, first show as I booked the tickets online in advance. Friday morning, as I checked its IMDB page ( http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0468569/ ) before leaving for the screening, I was surprised to see that it was already #3 in the top 250, with an incredible 9.7 rating! I dismissed it as initial hype, but now it has moved up to #1, beating even Godfather! And it has already gained such an immense fan following, that the rare critic who gives a negative review is getting mobbed by the fans online ( http://nymag.com/daily/movies/2008/07/why_youre_still_wrong_about_th.html )! Such is the passion generated by it. It has already beaten the record for the highest opening day sales, and should be expected to clear many more records in coming weeks.

30 thoughts on “The Dark Knight

  1. Hmm… The picture u’ve put up of joker is kinda a lil scary but yes definitely imaginative. Must watch this move after ur review. But i’ve not watched earlier batman movies, is it necessary to watch those?
    and sid change ur profile picture, this is a terrible one u have

  2. a waste of talent i’d say… he was too hot to have commited suicide. how did they complete the movie cos he died in jan. so u mean oscars posthumously? no point of that i guess

  3. @ragdoll : This is a totally new take on Batman, and there’s only one more movie before it called Batman Begins. But like other superhero movies…its not ‘episodic’ in nature so you don’t necessarily need to watch the earlier one.
    Heath Ledger was already done with the shooting I guess…because I couldn’t make that out while watching the movie. Oscar is for his fantastic acting, not because he died. I would be surprised to see if anyone else comes up with better acting than that this year.

  4. Fucking awesome acting by Heath ledger.I was clapping, whistling and whoo-hooing everytime Joker came on the sreen.Christian Bale seems so lame in front of the Joker.Bale’s voice seems so fake when he becomes the Batman, and is different when he is Bruce Wayne.But neverthless, not bad at all.
    I hate to say this but Jim Carry was not match against Heath Ledger as the Joker.

    I noticed one thing.In the original comics and the cartoons, the joker laughs A LOT, living by his name.So did Jim Carry.But Heath Ledger was in a different league of his own.
    The sloppy tongue like a gecko cleaning the lips, the crazy curley hair, the walk and the cunning smile all complemented the character though he was not well..laugh a lot.The plot has been done quite well.The action sequences hardly look lame except may be a couple of them but still believable.
    Dunno why they had to cast the ugly pig-faced Maggie Gyllenhaal to play Rachel.Agreed that it was a short role and the role wasn’t supposed to take away any of the limelight from Batman or Joker(couldn’t even if the lady wanted to unless she was Jessica Alba or Jessica Biel 🙂 ), but they could have cast a better looking and younger chic.

  5. Ledger is superb but Bale is quite good himself. He’s got a voice synthesiser in his batsuit to protect his identity, thats why he sounds like this. And Jim Carrey played the Riddler in the earlier movie, Jack Nicholson played Joker. From what I read, Heath Ledger based his Joker on a recent comic book/graphic novel series, so his portrayal was different from earlier ones.

  6. ok i liked Christian Bale a lot. Ever since I saw Prestige, i’ve become his fan and i thot his acting in this movie too will be good.

    Its a pity we won’t be seeing Heath Ledger in the next batman movie. Anyways, its very tragic that such a talent young man died.

    I agree with your comment on Maggie, Raptor

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