The Dark Knight

Here it is! The movie I was anticipating for so long now. And I'm so happy to say that it lived up to the expectations!!! It actually surpassed all the hype! And yes, Heath Ledger's Joker is a new milestone for on screen villains!

But that's jumping ahead. Let me do this review the usual way, in the tradition of this blog! ;p

Starring: Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Aaron Eckhart, Gary Oldman, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Michael Caine, and Morgan Freeman.
Directed by: Christopher Nolan

The movie starts where the first one left off. There's a new menace in town, a criminal who's only known by his alias, The Joker. Obviously, Batman is tasked to capture him. With Batman's reputation, the crime rate in Gotham City has lowered with criminals thinking twice before doing a crime out of fear that they might face the dark knight. Along with it comes a brave, honorable, and charismatic Harvey Dent, Gotham City's new district attorney who is not afraid to cross the powerful crime bosses. In fact, he has already convicted hundreds of Gotham's criminals. To complete the triumvirate of good is Jim Gordon, one of the few uncorrupted officials in the city. Together, the three banded together to bring down a large crime organization. Frustrated, the crime bosses plots together, and out of desperation, reluctantly hires a deranged criminal mastermind masquerading as a clown, The Joker. What follows is The Joker's elaborate plan of breaking the trio of Batman, Dent, and Gordon.

I must say that this is THE BEST MOVIE SO FAR THIS YEAR (hey.. I already said that on my last post, right?). This movie is not just a superhero movie. It's more like a crime movie, coupled with suspense inspired by Seven and Silence of the Lambs. It also reminded me of the crime drama, The Untouchables.

One thing is for sure, this is not your typical superhero movie. This is something much more. Much, much more.

To be honest, I was actually worried for this sequel. I mean, the first one was really good. Great acting, great plot, and had great character development (Wayne's transformation to Batman). I thought to myself, can Christopher Nolan at least make the sequel as good as the first one?

Imagine my surprise when I finally watched The Dark Knight! It is TEN TIMES BETTER THAN THE FIRST ONE! Nolan has done it again! And he's probably my favorite director for this generation (aside from Batman films, he also did Memento and The Prestige which I absolutely love!). The pacing was great! The action scenes, superb. Simply put, Christopher Nolan is a genius.

The acting is probably the best part of the whole movie. This time, the late Heath Ledger steals the spotlight! Ever since he was announced to play the part of The Joker, people were skeptical whether he could fill in the shoes of Jack Nicholson's iconic portrayal of the the character.

Well, he did more than that! He made it his own! Heath Ledger managed to create a different Joker, altogether. Something more sinister, more sadistic. Gone is the campy Joker portrayal that George Romero and Jack Nicholson portrayed. Ledger's Joker is grim! The only time you will laugh at him is when he does something funny created by his own psychotic behavior.

And all through out the movie, I was trying to "find" Heath Ledger whom I've watched in A Knight's Tale and 10 Things I Hate About You (I love this movie, by the way! ;p). I couldn't find any sign of Heath Ledger. He has simply disappeared in his role as The Joker! In my opinion, no one will recognize Heath Ledger if nobody said he was gonna play the part! And THAT is great acting!

As early as now, there are talks that Heath Ledger might actually get a posthumous nod from the Oscars Academy. Well, he do deserves to win in my opinion. This is not one of those, "Uy patay na si Heath Ledger, kawawa naman, bigyan natin ng award..." Nooo.. if you watch Ledger as The Joker, you'll see how great he was. Hindi ito awa-- ang galing niya talaga dito! :)

Aside from Ledger's Joker, my second favorite character would be Aaron Eckhart's Harvey Dent! He probably have the greatest character arc in the movie. I never knew Eckhart before but I became a fan after seeing him in this movie. Aargh, I want to watch it again! Hehehe!

Then there's Christian Bale reprising his role as Batman. Aside from Batman's own conflicts within himself, there's nothing much happening to Batman in this movie. The first movie was all about him-- on how he made the transition to Batman and all, and it showed how great Bale showed the conflict within Bruce Wayne. In the Dark Knight, Bale still delivers a great performance. It's just that the material isn't solely concentrated on Batman, but more so on Harvey Dent and The Joker. Still, its a great performance by Christian Bale.

The cast was so good. It's actually an all-star cast with Gary Oldman, Morgan Freeman, and Michael Caine... all Academy Award recognized actors-- and the weakest link from the first movie, Katie Holmes as Rachel Dawes, is replaced by Maggie Gyllenhaal which is a better actress altogether. Only thing is, I never find Gyllenhaal attractive! Kahit saang anggulo ko tignan! LOL!

The effects for the action scenes are spectacular, but that's already a given. This is, after all, a high-budget movie.

Overall, this film never felt like a superhero movie at least for me. It was more like a crime saga. Like a detective story, with the protagonists trying to track down the criminal who's always seem to be 2 steps ahead of them. Plus, the Joker's plots/crimes reminded me of Seven, where when each crime is placed together, it shows a bigger picture-- and that every moves he makes is made for a reason. The character development was also superb with Batman's self-doubts, to Dent's conversion. Great acting by a superb cast, highlighted by the late Heath Ledger. Simply put, everything in this movie is great!

Everybody, Batman fans or not, should watch this movie. With Nolan making this masterpiece, I don't think it's possible for him to be able to surpass this-- but then again, that's what I thought about the first Batman movie he made. Who knows, maybe he'll surprise us again. But one thing is for sure-- its gonna be hard. And I think they should kill the Joker character if they ever make a third movie-- the role that Heath Ledger filled is monumental that I don't think anybody can replicate or surpass. Score: 10/10