The Dark Knight

Going into a film with no expectations is obviously the way forward. Last night after seeing rather unspectacular trailers, I saw the new Batman film, The Dark Knight. I knew the basic storyline of the movie, Batman vs The Joker, but it was so much more than that. True to its name, the film really is DARK. It has both a sense of hope and yet hopelessness, and makes you question the never ending struggle of good over evil. Batman, played by Christian Bale (who inexplicably decided to portray Batman with a voice akin to a 60 a day smoker), has finally mopped up the bad guys of Gotham, leaving the money laundering mobsters as his final target. Threatened and panicking, they turn reluctantly to The Joker (the late Heath Ledger) who is a paranoid schizophrenic with no rhyme or reason behind his crimes other than to cause chaos and anarchy.

This film is a true example of light and dark, yin and yang. Batman, the 'dark knight' and hero of the shadows is off set by the 'white knight' Harvey Dent, District Attorney and face of Gotham's law and order. Without giving the plot away, those of you who know the comics will recognise yet another Batman villian emerge as the film progresses, resulting in a true sense of loss and defeat. The social and psychologiocal themes that run through the film will undoubtedly be subjects in many classrooms in the future. For example, when two ferries (one containing the innocent public and one containing inmates from Gotham's jailhouse) rigged with explosives and given each other's triggers, are told to choose whether to blow up the other ship or both explode at midnight. With 15 minutes to decide, the Joker watches on as both ships debate whether they can kill the other to save themselves... the results were surprising.

I have to say, the film was very long (152 minutes) with several points that could have been a plausible endings. Two or three times I thought it had finished only to be drawn back into the film for another twist and turn with action and explosions. But having said that, not once did I get distracted or think about the time. The film pulled you in from the beginning and kept you intently watching the entire duration. The actors were excellent and well cast, although I felt a certain uneasiness in watching a film starring someone so recently deceased, especially one particular moment where the Joker's face is freeze framed on Batman's monitor, a lingering leer reminding you of someone who was so talented and yet possibly so troubled. To keep the British Born Chinese crowd happy, there was a Chinese actor as the mobsters 'accountant' played by Chin Han (interviewed for Squat magazine here if you're interested) as well as a literally SPLIT second walk on part by the recently disgraced Edison Chen... blink and you miss him, no joke!

As always, there were some fantastic one liners... a few choice ones would have to be:

Harvey Dent: You either die a hero or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain.

***   ***   ***  

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.

More can be found here.

I also have to say that the movie posters promoting the film were extremely clever. The creative team did an excellent job with some original ideas. My favourite has to be the one at the bottom of this post, showing all 3 main characters with half their faces covered with various objects. It really reflects the theme of the movie in more ways than one.

The special effects were fantastic, including some of the horrific injuries suffered by Harvey Dent which had me unable to tear my eyes away from his face. All in all the film was totally above my expectations and left me with goosebumps. Without a doubt it's a watch-at-the-cinema film... don't wait until it's out on DVD or you'll miss out on so much that makes this film great.