The Dark Knight (2008).
He is a Dark Knight!
Written by: Christopher Nolan and Jonathan Nolan.
Directed by: Christopher Nolan.
Starring: Heath Ledger, Christian Bale and Aron Eckhart.
As Gordon (Gary Oldman) says, “He is not a superhero. He is a guard. A dark knight” and credits roll it shouldn’t be hard to realise that this is the best explanation there is to this great saga called as ‘The Dark Knight’. Just like the last line in The Prestige (2006), ‘You just want to be fooled’, or Memento (2000), ’so where am I?’ this movie does say the ultimate saying and leave you thinking for your drive home.
At a private meeting of Gotham city’s thugs and mafias where they talk about a common solution to the problem, which to them is money laundering, Joker (Heath Ledger) interrupts pointing to the right direction. ‘Kill the Batman’. If not this eye opener for mafias to kill the batman then atleast for the audience its the ‘disappearing pencil’ trick that convinces at the very first communication that he is serious. Well not ’so…’ serious. After his proposal falls through he begins a game that not only realises the city of Gotham of his freedom of action but also keeps them on their toes as they miserably run for their lives. Now the newly appointed commissioner Gordon, district attorney Harvey Dent (Aron Eckhart) and Gotham’s guard Batman (Christian Bale) start planning to capture Joker only to find him a step ahead at every point. The plans involve not just a high octane action but also a great storyline that dives deep into the character’s mind sets. Almots all of them.
It has to be Christopher Nolan to grab all of the primary awards of story telling, writing and directing. Without his screenplay and direction this picture cannot handle the facets, open and hidden, this meticulously. His character studies are extremely rare to be invented. It is the idea to emphasize very strongly on the very core, like ‘Embrace your worst fear’ in Batman Begins (2005), that makes Mr Nolan stand out. This movie isn’t an exception to an emphasys as the screenplay and Joker insist on calling Batman a dark knight and it has to be 2 hrs 30 minutes of the story that makes that point. The applied makeup of Joker is his identity just like the Batman who wears a mask. But its the Joker that understands the human psyche best among given. Mr Nolan knew it and did it all the way. The screenplay is well written, especially for Joker. His thoughts, DA’s fight and Batman’s struggle to keep us are all very clear. Bravo! It is hard to get dragged, almost.
Perhaps this paragraph is written by almost everyone who liked the movie. Heath Ledger. It is said that he locked himself for a month in a room to prepare for his role. I guess it was the time best spent. His makeup hides his traumatic childhood and forms an identity for his actions. Its the pauses at uncommon places in sentences, the screamig laughs, the lower lip-lick, the unkempt hair, the ability to look straight into eyes and a strong statement to know people he has killed with knives (Thanks to Mr Nolan again for creating this hidden facet). Its Mr Ledger’s ability not just to get under the skin but let himself drown in it. It had to be Heath to play this role. He had proved his potential before he chose Joker when he did not recieve the Oscar nod for Brokeback Mountain (2005). Seems like he might get only a nomination this time because as the Oscar legacy grows only once has Academy bestowed the prize posthumously (Peter Finch in Network, 1977). May he win it or not you cannoit forget the image of him leaning against the wind from a car window. In summary just like Shyamalan’s Unbreakable (2000) in which its the villain who makes the hero realise his true identity, likewise does this movie. But couldn’t have been without Heath Ledger.
As the cape crusader has necessary gadgets, its the Aron Eckhart’s DA that stands next to Joker. The coin flips and the unwanted accidental choices which act as ‘gravity, all it needs is a small push’. He is memorable as well. He might also get a nomination. Short but noteworthy are Gary Oldman, Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman. Then there are absolutely unforgettable and unique battle sequences. You have to watch them to realise the second most important facet of this movie. There are some distractions to the pace, a very few, but I wouldn’t blame the writer-director.
Mr Nolan’s first installment made Bruce Wayne fearless and now this movie dares to drop the quotes of ‘hero’ for a superhero franchise and dig deeper. It is Mr Nolan’s stortelling abilities that keep us glued to the seats untill the grand finale. This is a must-see.
My rating: 9/10.
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Verma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
Suparn Verma
Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
Pavan Kaul
Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
They copied the khota sikka from Sholay! And they even took a leaf out of Abbas-Mastan book!!
One thing I could not digest in the movie was Two Face’s act after he was badly burnt by the fire … how could he gathered the energy to stand and do all the villainery …
i mean its just impossible for a man so heavily burnt to do all the things that Two face did ..
Otherwise the movie was AUSSUM ..
And Hats Off to the JOKER !!!
I wish Heath wouldn’t have died so we could see some more histrionics of him …
Applaudible … Really great performance …
Movie of all the movies.
Btw here’s a nice article exploring themes from Dark Knight
http://www.slashfilm.com/2008/07/20/assessing-the-themes-of-the-dark-knight/
Saw movie last night at Universal Studio. What better place than this to watch a movie like this? Was with my wife who has not seen the first part but 20 minutes into the movie she was asking all sorts of question regarding the characters. Its little annoying when someone distracts you during the movie which you are liking immensely but its even more encouraging to notice that someone who is not a fan and was reluctant to come in first place is liking the movie so much.
I loved every bit of the movie and would recommend it to one and to all. I think I am the greatest fan of Christopher Nolan, have seen all his work more than couple of times and this I am going to watch this one even more.
One thing that I have noticed about CN movies is that you CAN watch it more than once because every time you do that you discover something new, same like The Prestige and Memento.
No.1 at all time greatest at IMDB
Paidaishi Buddha A K Hangal (no offense, this is just Johnny Lever terminology) said in Lagaan, and I quote – Kabhi socha nahi tha mere jeete-ji yeh din dekh paoonga..[that a movie released in our time will shoot to #1 spot on IMDB]
@Prasun,
Sholay: 1975
First Appearance of Two-Face/Harvey Dent (and the coin bit): Batman #66 – 1942
saw it thrice already..
i am at hyderabad so IMAX only :D
See it in Imax to really enjoy this one. It’s not a movie, it’s an experience…
We see Batman Dissapearing 4 times in the film. Few times from the Offices of the cops in front ofGordon’s(Oldman). Which established a reality in the film that Batsman has the power to either run so fast that no one can see him or he dissapears. Or something to that effect. And in the end we see him running from the cops to get to his bike. His speed was as good as all the cops who were chasing him.
What happened to his powers?
First decent, truly praiseworthy film made by Christopher Nolan taht lives upto the hype…and yes i have watched memento, prestige and batman begins..
Best film of all time, hahaha.
Please guys, you have me in splits. People are saying things like DK is best movie ever with
respect to every department – Elaborate bank robbery, Cinematography, Action sequences, Acting,
Dark themes, Complex film and that it will haul Oscars. Guys be serious!!
I could barely keep myself awake after the interval..:D.
Elaborate bank robbery – Anyone seen the heist in Heat or the CIA robbery in Mission Impossible.
I dont think DK robbery even comes close to the elaborate scheme in MI or the sequence in Heat.
Some more I found far more interesting than the repetitive DK robbery
Vatican Heist in MI3 – Far more engrossing than the dull boring DK fare.
Entire vault robbery in Die Hard – Very well scripted and planned than DK.
Art gallery sequence in Thomas Crown affair
Power plant shutdown in Matrix
Bank heists in Point Break – Very raw action far exceeds the very dramatic DK one.
There are many more.
Cinematograpgy – Heard someone saying the vast canvas of DK, huh. Ever seen the details in
Road to Perdition, beautiful canvas in Minority report, AI, War of the worlds, LOTR etc.
Even Matrix series had beautiful visuals.
Action sequences – Action sequences in DK were choppy, incoherent, and undecipherable.
Some I would recommend
Matrix series – The war with sentinels, ultimate war of Neo and Mr Smith, Highway sequence.
Die Hard series – Car chase in DH3, various parts of DH1 and DH3
Terminator2 – Need i say more.
Predator –
Black Hawk Down – Smooth.
MI series – Some good ones there.
Acting –
Complex – Dont tell me it is more complex than Matrix series – Matrix was so complex that it took
them 3 films to tell the tale. I had to read stuff on websites to understand what it was all
about. Is it more layered than Michael Clayton, Silence of lambs, Hannibal.
I will continue this review next week.
i agree with you deepak…certainly cant call it the best film of all time…its now way better than LOTR return of the king and some of the other movies u mentioned.
Deepak, you forgot to add Dhoom 2 in your list of great movies. :P The diamond robbery was amazing in that now, wasn’t it!! :D
hahahaha tejas ur right and thank steven soderberg for that……..