Honour, courage, choice, sacrifice, conviction, loyalty…
All traits that we should live up to every day. It’s what makes an every day person a hero, makes a person stand out in a crowd. Traits that everyone should, no, has to live by.
These are all traits that are touched upon in The Dark Knight.
Without a doubt, the BEST movie I’ve seen in 2008.
Hands down, no doubt in my mind at all.
There wasn’t a single aspect of the movie that I didn’t enjoy. But, one thing stands out above the rest, one facet that shone like no other.
Heath Ledger’s portrayal of the Clown Prince of Crime – The Joker, I’ll be honest; I was pretty much ignoring all the hype that was surrounding his last performance. I figured that it would be good, but not THAT good.
Well, my friend let me tell you how wrong I was about that. Heath Ledger’s performance was, without a doubt, deliciously evil. He wasn’t just a character in the movie; he was a primal force of nature – an agent of Chaos. You know the same kind of chaos that you find in tornados, in hurricanes, windstorms – they wreak havoc with glee.
It is this reviewer’s personal opinion that Heath Ledger will win the 2008 best actor Oscar post humanously… and believe me, he deserves it.
But, on top of that, the acting in general through the movie was top notch, with accolades deserved for Christian Bale, Gary Oldman, Aaron Eckhart, Michael Cane, Morgan Freeman and Maggie Gyllenhaal.
Each and every actor delivered a top notch performance and really brought the characters they portrayed to life.
Oh, and as usual, I will not give away any spoilers what so ever, other than what you will be able to see from trailers in the theatre, online, or on television. You know my usual disclaimer.
Gotham City is under attack – a new criminal has shown up in the underworld, one who is a force to be reckoned with – The Joker.
The police, however, are determined to take down as many of the organized crime lords as possible, as for the past year, they’ve had help from a mysterious vigilante, The Batman. A figure who’s struck fear into the hearts of criminals all over the city.
However, he’s not the only weapon they have in the fight against crime; there is the D.A., the highly intelligent, incorruptible and charismatic Harvey Dent. He’s Gotham City’s best, brightest hope in putting an end to organized crime.
The Joker, however, has other plans.
There you go, the bare bones basic plot, without giving away any spoilers. You can easily review a movie on its strength and weaknesses without resorting to ruining it for those who wish to see it.
Without a doubt, the movie is dark. I don’t mean just the lighting, but the whole mood. Not only does it deal with the traits I mentioned earlier, but it has to deal with the opposites of those very traits… dishonour, disloyalty, cowardice, corruption, you name it.
All these negative traits are necessary for the heroes to shine. And yes, I do mean heroes, as in plural. No, I don’t mean that we’re going to see Robin or Batgirl or any of those characters, and frankly I hope we never do see them in future movies.
Eh, you’ll understand what I mean when you see the movie yourself.
Oh, and it’s violent. There is an impressive body count, believe you me. I wouldn’t say it’s gory, but the makeup for one of the characters is very disturbing. If you know anything about the Batman canon, you’ll know EXACTLY who I’m referring to.
Thankfully, despite this, there are numerous moments of clever and well thought out humour, and I’m not talking about just one liners or the like… some of the best laughs involve, coincidently enough, the Joker.
It’s a shame that Heath Ledger passed on, a real tragedy. He was a good actor and his role as the Joker proved that beyond any doubt.
I doubt anyone would be able to fill his shoes in any future instalments of this particular franchise… as long as they keep making the movies as they have this one, and don’t allow them to go down the road of camp and schlock the way the previous attempt at the Batman franchise did.
See it… even if you’re not a fan of the comics, see it. You won’t be disappointed.
5 out of 5