"The Dark Knight" (2008) - Movie Review

I am sitting at my home waiting for a friend to pick me up and drop to the airport in Chicago. Yes, I am leaving to India for a month vacation and I booked ticket July 19th than a convenient Friday July 18th just to see “The Dark Knight”. Such has the personal attachment to this film’s predecessor “Batman Begins” that amongst the dubious looks and curses from fellow colleagues, I watched it in a busy Saturday morning. While I was already biased, the early reviews made it even more one sided praising the film far beyond than the hype it produced. Instead of going on a Friday, I went today morning easing down the expectations but still the fairness disturbed. And I would say it is more complex than I thought and definitely good but is it a great movie or does it surpasses its origin “Batman Begins”? As the film’s content, the stand on this is complex too. When I finish, I should have a fair answer.

This is as serious a batman or for that case a super hero film gets but that is the feeling I had for “Batman Begins” and hence who knows what would be the next installment get into. It has multilayered storylines with multifaceted characters running deeper than the darkness and as we are entering the sick minded personality of The Joker (Heath Ledger) and into the tired millionaire and a vigilante Bruce Wayne with his Batman (Christian Bale) seeking passion for his righteousness, we are in a state of stalemate to take sides. The mind game and the perspective of these two individuals clashes on many philosophical, ethical and moral levels of social existence that disturbs the realm of right and tips us to look the demons in us. It starts off a year after the first one finishes and begins with the machinations by this scarred face freak to loot a bank carried out with easy betrayals and pleasure killings. In the meanwhile people did get inspired by the iconic status of Batman through his goodness but it has only produced copycats than real do-gooders. Along with Lieutenant Gordon (Gary Oldman), Batman is fighting crime and their new figure of hope is Attorney Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart) who is dating the lady love of Wayne, Rachel Dawes (Maggie Gyllenhaal replaces Katie Holmes).

So what does Joker want? Does he want money or his zealous for chaos? Heath Ledger is a brilliant actor for which his “Brokeback Mountain” solely brought upon and while many speculate his posthumous Oscar award for the psychopathic Joker, I am indifferent to it. But it is a performance which has evidence of the character extracting a lot of emotional energy unlike the character itself void of any empathy. In Joker he gives a man suffered so much from a society through the formulation of family which has failed to act according igniting his mind in menace. His pleasure of violence is disturbing for its meticulous planning even though he claims he does as he goes by. It is the step by step approach in moving people as his puppet and booby traps in the most unexpected manner. He talks with the mob boss and in his creepy facial make up; he brings the scare of their life time in people doing business of crime as their back yard dart game. This is a performance to remember of this late actor.

In “Batman Begins” there were cartoonish elements in certain stunts and in philosophical front but this shows a year matured Bruce Wayne struggling to find what he stands for and how much he needs to endure to sustain that passion. He is crossed in the love for Rachel and his hope of Gotham City no more in need of Batman for him to return to his regular life seems dreamy and delusional. His denial becomes a false hope and that drives him mad. In this madness comes the pundit of chaos and anarchy. As Bruce thrives to stand for his principles which is to make Gotham a crime free city, Joker would torture his life for the principles too which are destructive anarchy and to be the reigning king of that society, strangely ironical.

“The Dark Knight” is no more about Batman alone but the characters which moulds him and get painted by the actions of him in a society mimicking a behaviour pattern predicted close to perfection. And in Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Aaron Eckhart, Gary Oldman, Michael Caine, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Morgan Freeman it has a cast which has not alone belief in this comic man but a dedication in absorbing the realism out of it. Christopher Nolan in bringing them together and putting them in places unpredictable yet immaculate with an approach only other super hero movies surfaced is a class of its own.

When I was watching, the affection I have created was in the air enjoying this sight of those nuances in the costume details, history, and complexity of the characters and the outlook of the life emerging out of this comic book hero. And the movie where it gives the illusion of the ending comes up further more not boring or for demanding action but a completion much more in sculpting this story.

I started writing the review at my home in Peoria and now finishing it in Airport waiting to board. When I came out of the movie hall, I was damn sure having seen a good movie but the cloud of doubts and bias mounted because I wanted to love this film. It sure was supposed to be good is how I entered the cinema hall. In the intensity of the film going webs and webs and layers and layers of story and character details, I was blasted with a seriousness surplus in abundance than expected. Hence the process of digesting began as I came out. In these past four to five hours, thinking and rethinking about Batman, Joker, Harvey Dent and Gordon, I have come to love it. As I would be in Bangalore, I am sure to revisit the film again and a lot in coming days. When I first watched “Batman Begins”, I liked it but I came to love it more in multiple viewings. “The Dark Knight” is truly a film which very much brings the comic hero to the society of people behaviour, social aberrance and this puzzled hive of sanity and insanity co-existing rubbing shoulders.

P.S: I am posting this from India and will continue to provide reviews based on my viewing out there which should be good enough with time to chew. But more regional might be in this time.