The Dark Knight by Christopher Nolan

** WARNING: Spoilers galore! **

I’ve been out of the loop for sooooo long here in my review section when in fact I’ve watched tons and tons of movies since Live Free or Die Hard (which was last year’s, dang). It’s just that since there are gazillions of great movies out there, I have not enough time to review each one of them. Yeah, right wuthie. Excuses, excuses.

But this particular latest film that I was able to catch with my hubby – is simply phenomenal that I just have to write something about it.

Yep, you got that right – The Dark Knight by Christopher Nolan starring Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Aaron Eckhart, Morgan Freeman, Gary Oldman and of course, our beloved Heath Ledger (may he rest in peace).

This film is a piece of art. Something amazing, something boombastic, something phenomenal, something that would keep you at the edge of your seat, something that would make your eyes pop, something that would drop your jaw. Have I exaggerated enough? 🙂 But seriously, it’s something that you shouldn’t miss.

Christian Bale outdid himself as Bruce Wayne in this film. The way he portrayed our hero with a flawed perception of justice showed how precariously he was balancing himself between righteousness and simply insanity. Whether he was a billionaire tycoon with an eccentric view of life or a man in a bat suit beating criminals to a pulp at night, Bale was simply astounding. His interactions with everybody in the film was well thought out. His dialogues were for real like someone of his stature would really speak out loud.

The rest of the characters were all magnificent as well. Aaron Eckhart’s character as Harvey Dent, the hero of Gotham City with a face – simply the best. Especially when he had a change of heart towards the end of the movie as Two Face. The betrayal, the twistedness of it all especially when The Joker was cajolling him into doing what was really in the deep recesses of his heart.

Maggie Gyllenhaal replacing Katie Holmes’ character as Rachel Dawes was a brilliant decision if just for a fact that Gyllenhaal delivered Dawes’ character with more emotion and clarity. She was perfect as Rachel Dawes. Michael Caine as the ever loyal butler of Bruce, Alfred – never ceased to amaze me with his – well, loyalty to his Master Bruce. How he stood up with him all the way, how he understood every single thing his master was going through and how emotional his character was as well in the film. Another outstanding performance.

Gary Oldman as Lt. James Gordon was exquisite. He was great during Batman Begins and of course, we all loved him as Sirius in the Harry Potter films, but his character deliverance in this movie, I could say, was one that gave him 6 out of 5 stars. Morgan Freeman as Lucius Fox, the CEO of Wayne Enterprises – as always, delivered his character like magic. He acts so natural that characters like these are always so perfect for him. The same is true when we saw him as a detective as early as the movie Seven or in the recent Wanted with Angelina Jolie. He weaves his magic and captivates his audience.

Lastly, and of course – I saved him for the last – was Heath Ledger. He was the man of the hour in that film. The Joker. If people didn’t tell you that that was what Heath Ledger was playing – The Joker – you wouldn’t recognize him at all. He delivered his part with such grace and valor that you are almost mesmerized, enthralled with the way he acted. At the beginning of the film, when you see him remove his mask and show everybody that he still has another mask on (his face full of clown-like make-up), you knew right away, that this was going to be his best performance as of yet. Knowing he did great already at Brokeback Mountain, yet this surpassed that – surely tells people what a great actor he was. His voice took on a new quality in this film, his insane laugh and psychotic antics as well, his eccentricities and the way he thought of things, his little tics and mannerisms, that was just really accustomed to his character as The Joker – well, nothing more can ever described it except that he was the best Joker we’ve ever seen so far in the Batman world. Not even Kevin Spacey’s Lex Luthor’s eccentric performance at Superman Returns can outdo Ledger’s performance here.

The rest of the cast did well of course. Kudos to everybody who played a part in this masterpiece. What can I say – everybody just did great and just by being a part of this great film means something. They should be proud by just being in this film alone.

Not let’s move on to the crew. Director Nolan with his brother Jonathan did well in writing the script for this movie. The dialogue was so real, it gave me a sense of creepiness since they knew exactly how to go about the characters – it was dark, magnetic, psychotic, there was chaos, anarchy, justice, and insanity all rolled into one. It was not comic-like like most of the films that are adapted from comicbooks but there is a sense of reality from it. There was some hint of humor though injected every now and then which made the film not at all dark all the way. Intellectual humor at its best. 🙂

Cinematography by Wally Pfister is something to applaud. Again, Gotham City looked like how we all envisioned it while reading the comicbook. Dark and shadowy. High contrast and the color was maintained all throughout the film. It totally achieved what the other Batman movies didn’t have (excluding Begins, of course).

Music and score goes to James Newton Howard and Hans Zimmer. Kudos to them. Every single aspect of the movie were all co-related and all worked magnanimously and in harmony. Everybody did great. Everything was a masterpiece.

I think I’ve said quite a lot regarding this movie. And if you’re still not convinced – then I suggest you take a trip to the moviehouse and see how long the Dark Knight line is still is. Watch it. I assure you, you’re not going to regret it.

FAVE LINES:

THE JOKER (to Batman): You just couldn’t let me go could you? This is what happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object. You truly are incorruptible aren’t you? You won’t kill me out of some misplaced sense of self-righteousness, and I won’t kill you, because you’re just too much fun. I think you and I are destined to do this forever.

HARVEY DENT: You either die a hero or you live long enough to see yourself become a villain.

LUCIUS FOX: Let me get this straight. You think that your employer, one of the richest men in the world, is spending his nights running around the city beating criminals to a pulp with his bare hands? And your plan is to blackmail him? Good luck.

BATMAN: Why do you want to kill me?
THE JOKER: [laughs] Kill you? I don’t want to kill you! What would I do without you? Go back to ripping off mob dealers? No, no, you… you complete me.

ALFRED: I suppose they’ll take me in as well, as your accomplice.
BRUCE WAYNE: Accomplice? I’m going to say the whole thing was your idea.

BRUCE WAYNE: More copycats today, Alfred, with guns.
ALFRED: Why don’t you hire them and take the weekend off?