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Movie Notes: The Dark Knight

August 6th, 2008

The Dark Knight

starstarstarstarstar = 5 stars

Starring Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Aaron Eckhart
Directed by Christopher Nolan

Synopsis

Batman (Christian Bale) protects Gotham from the psychotic criminal, Joker (Heath Ledger) and begins to question the very definition of heroism.

The Good

  • The Joker (Heath Ledger) employs absolute chaos and through near-anarchy, performs a truly evil deed – turning a hero into a villain. Believing in nothing, he’s incapable of compromise and negotiation. Ledger finds the essence of psychosis, manipulation, and pure madness.
  • The origin of Two-Face mirrors Batman’s – Dent (Aaron Eckhart) has a psychotic break after a personal loss, leading to his own twisted brand of justice (evoking No Country For Old Men). Dent is almost too noble for the shadows of Gotham and is therefore headed for a bigger fall when engulfed by the Joker’s dark plans.
  • Nearly ceaseless action, featuring outstanding set pieces alternated with psychological probing. Most notable is the Bat cycle (with a nutty take down of a semi), several roof top dives, a fundraiser that goes all wrong, and a “prisoner’s dilema” situation involving Gotham’s citizens and criminals on two ferries.
  • Several twists come from nowhere, mostly because there was no room to breathe and ponder their arrival.
  • Largely eschews CGI and is all the better for it. There’s a gritty, chaotic crime thriller look with a few nut cases running about, rather than the cartoony, polished gleam of many comic book flicks – Spider-Man in particular.

The Bad

  • The dense plot and brisk pace made it hard to follow all the developments. However, this only made made me want to watch the film again to see what I had missed.

Conclusion

The Dark Knight is an increasingly rare movie that absolutely must be seen on the big screen. As with Iron Man, the final frames left me eager for the sequel.

IMDB: The Dark Knight
Wikipedia: The Dark Knight
Rotten Tomatoes: The Dark Knight

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  • Your mention of crime thriller mirrors my co-workers take on it. "The story was a gritty crime drama... with batman stuff in it." He enjoyed it immensely. So did I. A few of us will probably go and watch it again tonight. :)
  • Really, really enjoyed and I definitely want to see it again, too. I just hope I don't laugh as loud at the pencil trick the second time around ...
  • yeah - I laughed at that bit also. It happened so quickly and what do
    you know - the pencil really disappeared.
  • yes me too I'm really too much fun!
  • I saw this at the movie theater twice already - awesome movie!
  • I had the misfortune to watch this for the first time in a rather crappy and small screened independant cinema here in Belfast (Northern Ireland) where I live.

    I have since watched it again with my girlfriend in a 'proper' cinema and I have to say the difference is big. You really need to see this on a huge screen with proper sound to get the benefit of it. Enjoyed it both times but the 2nd was exponentially better
  • Really enjoyed and I definitely want to see it again, too. I just hope I don't laugh as loud at the pencil trick the second time around .
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