BIG MOVIE FREAK - The Dark Knight reviewed by Will2k

This Batman has everything I want
The Dark Knight ain’t a movie for kids. It’s not that type of movie where the Joker and Ronald McDonald could collaborate on a charity event. It’s not a movie where kids could enjoy their burgers and French fries while dancing with some guy in a clown suit. The title says it all.

The Joker
This Joker ain’t the same as the previous ones. He is still an instant maniac mad man but now also a mastermind of chaos. The reason why Batman couldn’t get him was because his motives are very hard to read. He has things to prove like human behaviour, etc., instead of the normal stuff like money and drugs. He’s toying around with human psychology from what I know.

The movie started off with a bunch of crooks with clown masks carrying out their mission to rob the bank. I really admire the encounter where the banker, armed with a shotgun, was blasting some of the baddies to hell. He was like Scarface in A Dog Day Afternoon, but the Joker managed to make a John Woo’s A Better Tomorrow death scene by blasting him into a Godfather movie death pose.

The crooks killed one another in the movie, due to the selfish human nature to obtain all the wealth for themselves. This must be one of the theories that Joker is trying to prove, not really because he needed the money, but he wanted to teach ‘em a lesson. Great beginning!

Scenes not to be missed:- (spoilers!)
1) Most awesome scene:-
The scene I loved most was the part where he extracted Lau from Hong Kong and brought him back to Gotham. What a remarkable scene! I love the coordination, the planning and the gadgets… they made it so well, it’s quite realistic and this is great stuff. It’s like watching a ‘Splinter Cell’ version of the caped crusader in action.

2) Brief encounter with The Scarecrow
There was a brief encounter with Scarecrow in the earlier scenes. Not much, but it was just a gesture of courtesy to bring back one of the old villains before they fade away for good.

3) Hunt for Harvey Dent
This is probably the most adrenalin packed sequence which involved a great car chase scene between Batman, the Joker and his gang, and Cops who were directly under heavy artillery attack. And at this point everybody was waiting for the introduction of The Bat Bike. Actually, I was shocked to see it coming off the front part of his damaged Bat Mobile. This was surprising and interesting because I thought they would show Lucius Fox (Morgan Freeman) introducing the machine to Bale sometime soon, but instead they decided to give us a surprise which caught me well off guard.

4) Joker vs. Group of drug warlords in a meeting
There was a scene where Joker abruptly interrupted the meeting between a few drug warlords holding a web-conference with Lau. This is quite similar to the Michael Keaton’s Batman except less comical and more realistic. He then made his escape by threatening to blow them up with bombs attached to his vest – similar to the classic Jackie Chan’s Armour of God escape scene.

5) Joker with his Gang in Wayne’s Building – the search for Harvey Dent
Instead of the art gallery like in Michael Keaton’s Batman, the Joker and his Gang caused chaos in Bruce Wayne’s building, in search of Harvey Dent. Joker shows his great acting skill when taunting Rachel before Batman appeared and saved her from the psychotic villain.

6) Famous Godfather Murder scene
Joker carried out the famous Godfather murder scene where 2 or more people are assassinated in different locations at the same time. They managed to kill two people, one by blowing up her car (similar to the murder of Michael Corleone’s Sicilian wife in The Godfather) and another by drinking acid.

7) The Return of Gordon
Gordon finally made his return (after faking his death) and became a hero when he saved Batman from being killed by Joker.

8) Ferry scene – blow up!
The ferry scene also was great because I thought they were going to blow each other up, but they didn’t. This proved that Joker was wrong, because humans do indeed have compassion regardless of whether they’re murderers, crooks or civilians. Best part is that the civilians are actually more selfish than the crooks!

9) S.W.A.T. vs. Batman vs. Joker
But the best thing about this movie is that Batman has to play cheat in order to get the Joker! Remember the last part where he asked Fox to locate the Joker using a sophisticated, hi-tech tracking device?
It’s that tough man. He never could have gotten to him on time if he hadn’t used the cheat mode. Batman always has the toughest task, having to save people’s lives while compromising his moral values and also risk his own life in the process while being targeted by his enemies.

10) Joker in Cell – Rachel and Harvey
Joker gets well beaten up by Batman in a cell in order that he gives up the two locations where Rachel and Harvey were being held. Barrels of explosives were seen around ‘em (R and H, not B and J). Batman has two choices, either to save Rachel or Harvey himself, while Gordon goes for the other. Rachel’s his young childhood friend, and he also has great feelings for her. Harvey’s is the hope of Gotham. Batman made his choice out of selfish reasons but ended up saving Harvey instead, thanks to the Joker’s lie. Harvey’s face got burnt like hell on one side, and became two-faced. He was pissed that Batman saved him instead of Rachel. While Batman was gone, Joker made his getaway.

There might have been more scenes which I’ve missed, but those are the scenes that I really enjoyed.

Other unexpected scenes:-
The most unexpected part is of course the fact that the Joker didn’t die. I thought he was going to fall down 50 stories like the original classic Batman, but he didn’t. Good though! Instead, it was Harvey that got the fall of death.

I also didn’t expect Two-Face to appear in this movie. Thought he might appear in episode 3 or something. Moreover, I didn’t expect him to die in this movie too.

Also, the main character in the show seems to be the Joker. Heath Ledger’s acting has stolen the limelight, for sure. He has put in a lot of effort and emotions to bring out the best in that character. I suspected that he must have taken some medication for the stress in playing that role but unfortunately got overdosed in the end.

Apart from that, I loved almost everything… the action, acting, story and all. This movie is considered perfect, except that Batman (Bale) didn’t make too much of an appearance. It’s like much focus was placed on Harvey and Joker, but I ain’t complaining, because Batman has gotten enough exposure in Batman Begins, from his half naked body to his full body suit.

I also wanted to mention again the Joker’s great getaway from the Gotham police station. He blew up the station by hiding explosives inside the belly of a fat man and triggering it with a hand phone. Sad case for the man, though!

Furthermore, I’ve said enough already! What else could I want in this movie? I would be too demanding to ask for more.

I can’t blame anyone for laughing at the Joker, though. He was quite funny at times, but then he could also become psycho all of a sudden. Therefore, people must be confused about when it’s appropriate to laugh and when it’s not.

Two thumbs up for The Dark Knight! Badass!

Directed by Christopher Nolan (The Prestige, Batman Begins) and screenplay by Jonathan (The Prestige, Memento) and Christopher Nolan, based on a story by Christopher Nolan and David S. Goyer. Starring Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Aaron Eckhart, Michael Caine, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Gary Oldman, Morgan Freeman, Cillian Murphy and Eric Roberts. Based on the characters created by Bob Kane.

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