Every now and then, there will come films that redefine cinematic experience. The reason movies are what they are now compared to movies in the past are because of these films. The Dark Knight is possibly the first since a long time. Sorry if I sound so serious cause it's just...OMG I seriously can't believe this film!
Storytelling brilliance doesn't get any better than this. First let me talk about the film quality. 6 scenes were shot in IMAX. If you don't know what that is, IMAX is the highest resolution of video any movie can achieve at this present time. So just imagine that much adrenaline rush jumping out in giant images from the screen.
Second is the story. The movie does run a bit long (2 hrs 30mins) and in that time, every possible lead character (even the small leads) gets broken down and stripped to bare wood in the movie. That's the difference between Dark Knight and Spider-Man 3. Spiddey had just as much characters as The Dark Knight. But they looked like they were there just for the sake of being there.
In The Dark Knight, every character's sub-story was utilized to create the master story and it all flowed so smoothly towards the end when all the character's stories combine into one heartbreaking finale. Seriously, how does Christopher Nolan even think up something so genius. But of course we have to remember that this is the guy who directed Momento, Insomnia, and The Prestige. This guy is just incapable of making a bad movie (you hear that Freidberg and Seltzer? Learn from this guy)
The Joker. I think we all have already heard how great Heath was in the movie and let me just say I really really want him to get an Oscar. Not because he's dead but because it's deserving. At times you just forget that that was Heath Ledger even after all that buzz and hype that surrounded him and The Joker. You don't even remember how he looks like anymore when you watch The Joker. He simply disappeared in the role. Heath almost makes Jack Nicholson's Joker look pathetic. He plays The Joker so devilishly and twisted. This guy isn't that flamboyant clown we see in the cartoon Batmans. This guy is sick.
He doesn't exactly kill people. He simply puts them in psychological situations where they have to kill each other to survive......and just sits back and enjoy himself. Testing people's morality and sanity. Most of the time in the movie, you really worry for the safety of the main characters. That's how crazy Heath Ledger's performance was.
Sometime for people like me, we see good performances and say" Hmm thats good acting" and start analyzing their overall character and shit. I know..I have no life. But when I watched Dark Knight..GAWD I didn't even have time to do all that because Heath Ledger just hooks you in and puts you through psychological hell. At times you'll say "Oh My God Heath Ledger I love you but please....Batman just kill him, I can't take it anymore."
Harvey Dent is second best performance in the movie. You really like this guy. And it's hard to like him because we all know he's gonna become Two Face and he's the guy f*cking Batman's girlfriend. Harvey Dent is suppose to be a bitch. But Aaron Eckhart plays him so innocently and so upright that you just can't help but love this character. At one point, I didn't want Harvey to become Two Face, which makes it even more heartbreaking when he does. It hits you on a more emotional level because you become attached to him. It's like witnessing a loved one's death on screen. Seriously Chris Nolan puts you through psycho hell in the movie.
Christian Bale was okay. You don't really care much about him. You just wanna see more of The Joker and Harvey Dent. I didn't feel like I was watching a Batman movie in there. I felt like I was watching some very twisted shit Criminal Minds episode that happens to have Batman as the main character.
Best of all what, I like most of this movie was that from the success of the first Batman, they could have done what Disney keeps doing and make a junk sequel because they know people will still watch it. The people behind this film really took the time, respected the expectations of the fans, respected the franchise and went out and made art. The Dark Knight was art. No question. Saying that this was the best 2008 summer blockbuster is really an understatement at this point. It's Best Picture of the year. My new favorite movie of all time.
RATING: 10/10
Batman is kicking some serious ass right now. First the box office, then Christian Bale's mom and sis and now the IMDB Top 250 films.
A lot of speculation about Daniel Day-Lewis or Johnny Depp replacing Heath Ledger as The Joker. Now I like both these guys but I really hope they honor Heath's last completed performance and just leave it as it is and move on to something else.
There's also speculations about The Riddler being in the third one because of the appearance of Mister Reese (the accountant who tried to expose Batman on TV and cost Bruce Wayne a Lamborghini) in The Dark Knight. Get it? Mister Reese/Mysteries. But I don't think it's true cause The Riddler's real name is Edward Nigma.
Of course there's the rumor about Philip Seymour Hoffman being The Penguin. But I don't think he'll do it cause he's just too damn cool to do a comic book movie.
