Dark Knight - Dark, Brooding, Brilliant.
Written: Jul 31 '08 (Updated Dec 04 '08)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Intense, atmospheric, Eckhart, Caine, Freeman, Bale, Oldman, music, cinematography (mostly)...
Cons: ... Maggie Gyllenhall, some bad editing, too dark / violent for some...
The Bottom Line: If you like comics, superhero movies, or action thrillers, you will likely enjoy The Dark Knight very much.
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| captaind's Full Review: The Dark Knight |
The Dark Knight is one of the biggest movie releases of 2008 and has had an overall enthusiastic (though slightly mixed) reviews. Don’t think that because I’ve given it 5 stars that this will be fanboy review or comic book fan review though – I’ve never seen the comics – but rather, despite its flaws, overall The Dark Knight is an excellent film that had me gripped from beginning to end. (Also I wasn’t as impressed with Batman Begins as most people seemed to be – but this is better in every way.)
I don’t want to delve into the plot too much, but basically it involves The Joker wreaking havoc in Gotham City. Considering how many times this particular enemy of batman has appeared, the fact that this feels fresh and interesting is great testimony to the strong writing of Director Christopher Nolan (Story and Screenplay), Jonathon Nolan (Screenplay), David S. Glover (Story) and Bob Kane (Characters). The Joker (Heath Ledger in his last film role) is a strange, almost childish character with a psychotic nature and a desire to break the rules just to see if they can be broken. What’s most interesting about the way his character develops, however, is that despite his seemingly being an opposite and perhaps nemesis to Batman, the two are in fact inescapably similar in many ways. The plot expertly intertwines several themes in a way that keeps you wondering (there were several plot twists that I really hadn’t seen coming) and the tension is kept on a knife edge the whole way through. Rarely does a film keep my on the edge of my seat from beginning to end, and this is the main reason why I’m giving it 5 stars.
There are many things to like, and some not to like, in the acting. Heath Ledger as The Joker will probably be most talked about, and perhaps he will get a posthumous Oscar for his performance. Whether this would be deserved or not is difficult to say (especially as right now we are only a bit more than halfway through the year), but he definitely does give a very convincing performance, quite different to Jack Nicholson’s take on the character in Tim Burton’s Batman, and quite memorable in its own right. Quite, quite mad, and yet worryingly sane. Christopher Bale is good as Bruce Wayne and better as Batman – I hate the Batman voice but it does make sense that a superhero wouldn’t want to speak in his normal voice – and the character development was fantastic. The whole dark brooding nature of Batman has of course been explored before, most notably in the two Tim Burton movies, but Dark Knight takes it to a whole new level – in order to combat crime and the darkness that engulfs Gotham City, he must become some of that darkness himself. I was honestly shocked by the final twist in this movie, but it made perfect sense as well.
Aaron Eckhart was superb as Harvey Dent, the new Great White Hope of Gotham City – determined to clean up the streets and without a blemish on his impressive career. When he becomes Two Face, his acting is equally impressive – though his appearance might well make more squeamish members of the audience feel a bit nauseous. Harvey Dent is going out with Bruce Wayne’s old squeeze Rachel Dawes, who is played by Maggie Gyllenhal. She is most definitely the weak link in the cast – I found her very annoying in almost every scene, she seemed incapable of not smiling however inappropriate it was for the emotion she was supposed to be portraying at the time, and although supposed to be an Assistant Attorney (or something like that) she came across in the work scenes as about the most unprofessional person in the history of the world. So... not impressed.
Mostly everyone else was great though – Gary Oldman, back as Lieutenant Gordon, one of Batman’s few public supporters and willing to go to any length to put criminals behind bars, is in excellent form here. With the tension racking up to almost unbearable levels at various times during the film, it’s a relief that the humour necessary to lift it is mostly left in the experienced hands of Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman. Caine is just perfect as Alfred, Wayne’s long-serving, long-suffering butler. His withering looks and comments provide some much needed light relief from the intense action. Morgan Freeman’s character, Lucius Fox, is an employee of Wayne Enterprises who works on the design and manufacture of Batman’s incredible gadgets – he too has some good moments of humour, and both show a strength of character that contrasts with the physical strength shown by Batman and others.
Much has been said about the violence, and there is quite a lot of it - though I felt that there was nothing particularly graphic or gratuitous – everything contributes to the plot. However I can understand why people would be upset about the amount of violence, and I certainly wouldn’t criticise them for that. Thinking back to the 1989 Batman film starring Michael Keaton, though it’s a long time since I’ve seen it so I could be wrong, I felt that the earlier movie had nastier scenes in it. Then again that had a 15 rating (UK) R (USA). Therefore I think the problem with this is more in terms of a possibly incorrect rating – 12A (UK) / PG-13 (USA). Perhaps I’m more forgiving of the violence because I hate bad language, and there isn’t any of that in this film. The rating probably has something to do with the film’s target audience (teenage and pre-teenage boys more than anyone else, I would have thought – though the cinema was absolutely packed with a wide variety of people when we saw it last night). I personally thought that the make-up / effects for The Joker and Twoface (particularly the latter) were actually more disturbing than the violence itself – Batman is up against hardened criminals, so you would expect some violence. Perhaps also since I had been forewarned about the violence in other’s reviews, I’d assumed it would be worse than it was. Some parts would definitely upset young / sensitive children (and probably some adults), so even though I thought it was an excellent film, I would only recommend it with some caution.
Right from the opening scene – a bank raid – the cinematography and music (James Newton Howard and Hans Zimmer) are atmospheric and impressive, though the editing clips off scenes a couple of times and the “spin the camera around the action” technique (so beloved of ER) is a bit overused. Mostly the action sequences look spectacular and there are some very good special effects in there, backing up the action without taking centre stage.
The darkness of this movie has also been commented on, as both a positive and negative thing. Movies that are dark in nature can be superb, but when movies seek to be dark as an end in itself they often end up being depressing drivel. Dark Knight is dark in tone because it’s examining two characters that don’t fit in the world – The Joker’s real origins are never explained here (he comes up with at least two different explanations for how he got his scars, but the impression is that neither are actually the true reason), but his purpose (or lack of purpose) in the world is fully explored. Batman on the other hand wants to be good and noble, but his position as an outcast and vigilante, and the no rules, no limits attitude of his adversary, make him become something terrible in order to accomplish good. Combined with tight storytelling that contains frequent surprises and an atmosphere so intense that watching the film’s two and a half hours of mayhem and remorse will leave you feeling quite exhausted, the darkness works in this case. (I also love the Adam West Batman movie, in case you were wondering – they’re diametric opposites in terms of filmmaking and mood, but they both work very well in their own way!)
As mentioned earlier I've not read the comics, but everyone who has that I've heard from says this film is very close to the style and spirit of the original DC comics.
Overall The Dark Knight is a very intense film that’s strong on action and has a great storyline. If you found something like Revenge of the Sith too dark / violent though, you probably won’t enjoy this.
Related Links
This review was an entry to ElvisDo’s Funny Pages Write Off
Batman Begins
The Animated Series - The Legend Begins
Top Ten Superhero Movies
Other recent superhero movies
Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk
Cast Connections
Heath Ledger in happier days – A Knight’s Tale
Michael Cane as a conman – Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
Morgan Freeman as a boxing coach - Million Dollar Baby
Aaron Eckhart as a Chef – No Reservations
Gary Oldman as a Khazakstani – Air Force One
Recommended:
Yes
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