The Dark Knight: A Film Review
You heard the Hype, is
The Dark Knight the Greatest “Comic Book” movie of all time ?
If you want to put it in that category then yes. Heath Ledgers performance as the Joker?, There will be no other from this point forward. His characterization captures the essence of comic book’s most popular villain. Ledger’s performance blurred the lines of reality and fiction giving us a glimpse of the demons that may have been conjured up during the intense acting process. I’m convinced this role challenged him emotionally during filming and made it hard for to adjust to the normal routine after production.
He carried the film along with costars Micheal Kane, Aaron Eckhart, Morgan Freeman,Christian Bale and Gary Oldman, In THIS particular order. Maggie Gyllenhaal whose been a favorite actress of mine did nothing to captivate my attention.
The chemistry between her and Christain Bale wasn’t convincing and her body language at times was often awkward. It wasn’t indicative of the character she protrayed, the no nonsense Asst. DA Rachel Dawes. In earlier roles both her and Gwewntyh Paltrow( whose chemistry with Robert Downey in Iron Man was excellent) they brought a quirkiness to their characters that was often sexy and refreshing. Christian (can do no wrong) Bale I sensed was over-powered by Heaths Presence. I think his voice acting as Batman was a bit too much. Yes he’s disguising his identity but damn son be easy on the guttural projection of your voice. There were a few inconsistencies that can be overlooked and I’m cool with. Like the death of commissioner Gordon… I think the hype inflated my expectations and I can see why some of my peeps were adamant about not hearing anything related to film until opening day. These two films have taken the place of the Batman Films of the 90’s and restored the franchise and thankfully it’s in the right hands.
On a Scale of 1 to 5
Overall:
Kudos to the Art Direction Team and Soundtrack by Hans Zimmer.
The Bat Bike: Off the Chain
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This entry was posted on Monday, July 21st, 2008 at 5:20 pm. It is filed under ENTERTAINMENT and tagged with Film and Television News.
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The Dark Knight is not the best comic book movie of all time. We haven’t seen it yet (Watchmen might be that one!) Actually, I think “V for Vendetta” might be the best comic book movie of all time for now!
The Dark Knight is a vast improvement from the Batman Begins. I’ll give it that. The world it created was cohesive and it was near perfect. Nevertheless, Heath’s unfortunate death definitely gives the film a much darker undertone. This fact takes away from his performance. As I’m watching him, I’m thinking “Damn, what a fucked up way to die!” Besides that, his joker was gangsta. I still think Jack Nick is the best joker for me. I was more terrified by his irrational performance.
I noticed that the problem with most comic book movies is the delineation between fantasy and fiction. Its hard for me to believe that a superhero can really exist. And this is what bothered me about THE DARK KNIGHT. They tried to make it more real or make it mirror our reality. It doesnt work. That is why I am such a huge fan of Tim Burton’s Batman. He created a batman that was real within its own wacky and absurd environment. We know we where watching a comic book movie. With THE DARK KNIGHT, its like were watching a serious dramatic action movie. Uh-huh. That doesn’t work. You want to see a realistic movie and real superhereos, watch UNBREAKABLE!
Their are basic laws that all stories need to have. And one of them is that we must have a character we can relate to. A character with flaws. Personally, I think Bruce Wayne/Batman is an obnoxious trust fund baby who thinks that he is the cities only savior. Now, let me remind you, I’m not a huge Batman comic book fan so I cant lecture you about about the comic book storylines and what have you. But, Im a huge fan of great drama, a cinephile, and a creative storyteller as well. That should count for something, shouldn’t it?
I agree with you, Maggie Gyllenhaal was definitely akward in the film. I was actually quite happy when she died! Mean, I know! I should be the BLAC JOKER. HAHAHA1
Im not conviced that playing the role as the joker really was emotionally straining. A family man played a homosexual, knowing damn well that he might lost street cred, now thats emotionally straining. This was more like fun. Actors love to play the bad guy cause its fun.
Your dead on with the Christian Bale voice thing. This is plainly clear especially in his final scene with The Joker. The way Chris Nolan shoot the scene definitely took me out of the movie.
No, the movie well not replace The Batman Films of the 90’s. Its an important films because it truly shows how escapist entertainment has gotten really dark and dreary. It is still the era of “The Anti-Hero” and conceit that only matters to the Gen X’rs. Millenial’s dont really care but they’ll watch the movie anyway to see Heath Ledger’s last movie.
The Art Direction Team and Hans Zimmer’s soundtrack is truly phenomenal.
I give it 2 1/2 glasses, maybe 3.
Sin City’s still the best comic book movie ever made, but ledger’s joker alone puts this movie up there. Most parts without the Joker (notable exception being the Hong Kong scene) were pretty dull. The Joker on the other hand, pure genius…give the boy an oscar!