Image Gallery of film The Dark Knight (2008) :
The Dark Knight (2008) Film Rating and Review :
Rating :
Acting – 9/10
Direction – 9/10
Screenplay – 9/10
Music – 9/10
Technique – 9/10
Review :
The hero we deserve
The Dark Knight could be the best superhero movie of all time. Except it isn’t a superhero movie at all. Yes, it stars Batman — though only just. Yes, it has familiar villains — though only just. Yes, it is about good versus evil — though only just.
Christopher Nolan’s film is a genre bender if there ever was one. The Dark Knight is to the Batman series what the graphic novel is to the comic book — it might use the same tools, the same language, but scratch the surface and what you get is something far more intense.
The darkest Batman movie by far is also the darkest superhero movie ever: you’ll have to search hard for a flash of any other colour but black on the screen. Just as hard as you’ll have to search for the surety that usually accompanies such films so glibly that the good guys will prevail, that the good guys are in fact the good guys.
Good doesn’t take on evil in The Dark Knight; evil takes on good — testing it till it threatens to break. The man in the black cape is Christian Bale — the gritty, unsmiling star of Batman Begins who breathed new life into the character. The villain is the Joker, and Heath Ledger’s version is so different from Jack Nicholson’s as to be utterly unrecognisable. He taunts and torments, but there is nothing funny about it. This Joker doesn’t crack jokes — at least not any that will make you laugh. His joke is on humanity, his punch-line when he turns honest people into killers, thieves and villains.
Underneath that distorted make-up, where the black, white and red bleed into each other and you can see bits of skin, is a man, not a cartoon. And that is what makes him so frightening. He knows no logic, no reason. He gets millions of dollars only to torch it all — he doesn’t want anything so pedestrian as money; Gotham, he believes, deserves a “better class of criminal”. He kills when he doesn’t need to, he spares a life when he can take it, he is every inch the king of chaos he says he is.
And where does that leave our Caped Crusader? More alone and more desperate than ever. He is torn: with the Joker going after lawmakers, judges and officers, does he have what it takes to bring him down? Can he be ruthless and murdering and still live with himself? And whatever he does, he can’t be the Hero. In this world, Batman is still reviled as an outlaw vigilante who should be brought to book. How can he relieve the desolation of innocent civilians who have lost all to mob violence and a crazed criminal when they consider him a villain, too?
Either Batman can unmask himself and surrender as the Joker wants, or he can find a White Knight to shine the light of hope as he does the dirty work in the shadows.
So Bruce Wayne, the man behind Batman, makes it his business to promote Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart), a young district attorney, a star who has locked away many a criminal, as the hero of Gotham. To add to the drama, Harvey is in a relationship with Rachel Dawes (Maggie Gyllenhaal), who you may remember from Batman Begins as Bruce’s true love.
The Joker retaliates by making Dent his target. The plot thickens considerably, and is often even obscured. There are twists and turns enough to keep the most seasoned viewer of thrillers on his toes, too many in fact to explain here without confusion. Suffice it to say that there is gunfire, explosions, theft, murder, bomb threats and abductions aplenty. The special effects thankfully never play a starring role, they are beautifully blended into the larger canvas.
At the foreground of The Dark Knight is always character. This is no mean achievement for a film of this sort, especially since Nolan in no way compromises on action to do so. Instead, in every act of supposed villainy or heroism, his characters are tested. And not just the stars of the film — the people of Gotham as well.
The ultimate question is a weighty one: can one man’s perverse game corrupt all that is good and true? We won’t tell you the answer. For once, the outcome is not a foregone conclusion. In the abyss of The Dark Knight, anything can happen.
Christopher Nolan’s vision is remarkable. Having co-scripted with brother Jonathan, he must be given credit for creating the depth of character that ties in integrally with the action and raises the film to a higher level. The script is fresh, witty and even wise. There are brief flashes of humour, but Batman’s corny lines and sidekicks are a distant memory.
Nolan must also be given credit for orchestrating a stellar ensemble performance. Heath Ledger’s tragic death makes his brilliant turn as the Joker all the more stirring, but just about everyone — Bale, Eckhart, Gyllenhaal, as well as Gary Oldman (Inspector Gordon), Michael Caine (Alfred), Morgan Freeman (Lucius Fox) — brings a humanity and a pathos to the screen seldom seen in blockbusters of this scale.
So push aside your superhero fatigue and watch The Dark Knight. Don’t expect a feel-good adventure. And don’t take young children with you: the questions raised about human nature — and the nature of true heroes — are so far removed from the comic-book caricatures that inspired them as to be almost disturbing.
Acting – 9/10
Direction – 9/10
Screenplay – 9/10
Music – 9/10
Technique – 9/10
Review :
The hero we deserve
The Dark Knight could be the best superhero movie of all time. Except it isn’t a superhero movie at all. Yes, it stars Batman — though only just. Yes, it has familiar villains — though only just. Yes, it is about good versus evil — though only just.
Christopher Nolan’s film is a genre bender if there ever was one. The Dark Knight is to the Batman series what the graphic novel is to the comic book — it might use the same tools, the same language, but scratch the surface and what you get is something far more intense.
The darkest Batman movie by far is also the darkest superhero movie ever: you’ll have to search hard for a flash of any other colour but black on the screen. Just as hard as you’ll have to search for the surety that usually accompanies such films so glibly that the good guys will prevail, that the good guys are in fact the good guys.
Good doesn’t take on evil in The Dark Knight; evil takes on good — testing it till it threatens to break. The man in the black cape is Christian Bale — the gritty, unsmiling star of Batman Begins who breathed new life into the character. The villain is the Joker, and Heath Ledger’s version is so different from Jack Nicholson’s as to be utterly unrecognisable. He taunts and torments, but there is nothing funny about it. This Joker doesn’t crack jokes — at least not any that will make you laugh. His joke is on humanity, his punch-line when he turns honest people into killers, thieves and villains.
Underneath that distorted make-up, where the black, white and red bleed into each other and you can see bits of skin, is a man, not a cartoon. And that is what makes him so frightening. He knows no logic, no reason. He gets millions of dollars only to torch it all — he doesn’t want anything so pedestrian as money; Gotham, he believes, deserves a “better class of criminal”. He kills when he doesn’t need to, he spares a life when he can take it, he is every inch the king of chaos he says he is.
And where does that leave our Caped Crusader? More alone and more desperate than ever. He is torn: with the Joker going after lawmakers, judges and officers, does he have what it takes to bring him down? Can he be ruthless and murdering and still live with himself? And whatever he does, he can’t be the Hero. In this world, Batman is still reviled as an outlaw vigilante who should be brought to book. How can he relieve the desolation of innocent civilians who have lost all to mob violence and a crazed criminal when they consider him a villain, too?
Either Batman can unmask himself and surrender as the Joker wants, or he can find a White Knight to shine the light of hope as he does the dirty work in the shadows.
So Bruce Wayne, the man behind Batman, makes it his business to promote Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart), a young district attorney, a star who has locked away many a criminal, as the hero of Gotham. To add to the drama, Harvey is in a relationship with Rachel Dawes (Maggie Gyllenhaal), who you may remember from Batman Begins as Bruce’s true love.
The Joker retaliates by making Dent his target. The plot thickens considerably, and is often even obscured. There are twists and turns enough to keep the most seasoned viewer of thrillers on his toes, too many in fact to explain here without confusion. Suffice it to say that there is gunfire, explosions, theft, murder, bomb threats and abductions aplenty. The special effects thankfully never play a starring role, they are beautifully blended into the larger canvas.
At the foreground of The Dark Knight is always character. This is no mean achievement for a film of this sort, especially since Nolan in no way compromises on action to do so. Instead, in every act of supposed villainy or heroism, his characters are tested. And not just the stars of the film — the people of Gotham as well.
The ultimate question is a weighty one: can one man’s perverse game corrupt all that is good and true? We won’t tell you the answer. For once, the outcome is not a foregone conclusion. In the abyss of The Dark Knight, anything can happen.
Christopher Nolan’s vision is remarkable. Having co-scripted with brother Jonathan, he must be given credit for creating the depth of character that ties in integrally with the action and raises the film to a higher level. The script is fresh, witty and even wise. There are brief flashes of humour, but Batman’s corny lines and sidekicks are a distant memory.
Nolan must also be given credit for orchestrating a stellar ensemble performance. Heath Ledger’s tragic death makes his brilliant turn as the Joker all the more stirring, but just about everyone — Bale, Eckhart, Gyllenhaal, as well as Gary Oldman (Inspector Gordon), Michael Caine (Alfred), Morgan Freeman (Lucius Fox) — brings a humanity and a pathos to the screen seldom seen in blockbusters of this scale.
So push aside your superhero fatigue and watch The Dark Knight. Don’t expect a feel-good adventure. And don’t take young children with you: the questions raised about human nature — and the nature of true heroes — are so far removed from the comic-book caricatures that inspired them as to be almost disturbing.
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