Never since the diabolical Pennywise the Clown and Nicholson’s Joker have I been so afraid of clowns. (Ronald MacDonalds too at times actually) That macabre makeup, unkempt hair and creepy stare that leaves a shiver down your neck. I loved it.
The storyline is simple but effective. Joker is teasing and playing tricks on the mafia. He terrorizes the city. Joker kicks the ass out of Batman. Batman kicks up a big fuss and in turn kicks the ass out of Joker. The new District Attorney of Gotham, Dent, is caught up between their fight. Many lives are lost. Batman saves the day (duh). I was blown away for the entire length of the movie (153 minutes mind you). It has been a while since I could maintain my attention-span for a two and half hour film. Dark and morbid is the way I like my films to be.
Without giving too much of the plotline away, Ledger was, in my opinion, the star of the show. When the two of them appeared together, Ledger’s looming screen presence made Bale shrink in stature in the same way as a cow grazing next to a berserk tiger. Frankly, I could not take my eyes off Ledger’s sterling performance. The only thing I felt inadequate was how Joker’s origins were not explored to how I would like it to be. But upon returning home and google-ing on the production of the film, I realize that it was how Chris Nolan wanted it to be. The Joker was just there, representing chaos and anarchy as something that was unexplained.
Nicholson's Joker was more comical and he did make me laugh, but Ledger's version was pure super-villain material. He was dark and scary (while trying to be funny) and shocked the hell out of me. And that, is pure magic. Even though I wish I could see more of his rendition, I am afraid that is no longer possible (unless he is sighted at
A quick comparison with the other Batmans: Keaton, Kilmer, Clooney (in order of merit J ) Bale has gained a strong following with his rendition of Batman and Bruce Wayne. I have to admit he is the best of them all. Keaton was dark but not dark enough, Kilmer was great looking (especially with Nicole Kidman draped by his side) but just 木纳and Clooney was umm, well, the nipples screwed it up (and the story, and Joel Schumacher, and Robin and EVERYTHING). Bale impressed me in the first part and he did enough to do the same for the second.
With a great supporting cast of Freeman, Caine, Oldman, Gyllenhaal, Edison Chen (in a 3 second cameo) and our very own Chin Han from the acclaimed Channel 5 drama/comedy Masters of the Seas (cue Margaret Chan: “Crush them like a cockroach!”); the ever great Chris and Jon Nolan (think Memento) and a bored father sitting next to me snoring for the last forty-five minutes while his son desperately tries to wake him up, The Dark Knight left me gasping for air and wanting more. The sooner the next episode comes the better.
Get out of the way X-Men, Fantastic Four, Hulk (both versions are bad), Iron Man and VR Man, Batman is definitely the trend setter for all the comic adaptations around. Notice Spidey is missing in the list because of my infatuation with Mary Jane, ah but that’s for another day.
5 upon 5 stars (sorry, but im biased)
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