The Dark Knight

Synopsis

As crime goes down in Gotham City, so does the profits of its crimelords. Batman (Christian Bale, Batman Begins, The Prestige) is to blame, and the underworld is desperate to get rid of him. In desperation, they turn to a terroristic madman known as The Joker (Heath Ledger, R.I.P.), who wants nothing more than to descend Gotham into chaos with a new kind of criminal—one who does crime not for profits, but simply for fun. Using Batman as the reason for his sadistic crimes, The Joker drives Gotham against its only true hope, and thus Batman must wrestle with continuing his role as the city’s saviour, or saving it from more violence.

Review

Wooo hoo hooo... Give me a moment please to even write. I have so much I want to say...but my hands are shaking because...mmm...The Dark Knight surpassed my every expectation. Okay, I apologize. This movie is so good it's even hard to break it down into words. I'm going to try. Dark Knight is filled with multiple explosions, unceasing lunacy, non-stop action, crazy chase scenes, very bad guys, and the list goes on. The several months of anticipation after seeing the trailer, I don't know how many times, was worth that LONG wait. Action came busting in from the door. This film had so much juice in it... No one even said a word in the audience. I've never been in an audience that was so quiet. Don't get it twisted, Dark Knight is not all about action. It's a great story of substance, with lessons about goodness and evil that aren’t preachy. Ahhh the perfect marriage — story and action.

This thrilling movie is about crimes of murder and robbery, tests of morality, goodness, fears, heroism, and tragedy. Batman (Christian Bale, Batman Begins, The Prestige), our favorite super hero, is at it again to save his beloved Gotham City from some of the city's worst criminals. He also teams up with Lieutenant James Gordon (Gary Oldman, Harry Potter) and district attorney Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart, Thank You for Not Smoking) to continue the fight. They’re winning—crime is down and the criminals are feeling the heat.

Things change when the Joker (Heath Ledger, Brokeback Mountain) makes his sinister psychotic self known. He makes one of his missions to unveil Batman's identity at the expense of other's lives. The Joker and Batman square off in brawn and wits. Batman struggles to simplify this new enemy as a common thug, but the Joker is...um...no joke. He’s actually a genius at deception, terrorism and planning crimes. And he looks sick...I mean if this guy was real, and he was shown on the news, you’d be afraid to go outside. His methods for mayhem are as devious as they are clever—and it’s entertaining as part of the movie.

Dark Knight is a a mindbending story with multiple twists and turns. There's superb writing. I can see an Act I, II and III of it's own in every scene. The Nolan brothers — Christopher (director/writer) and Jonathan (writer) went beyond what I could imagine. They are a great team who encapsulate storytelling in their work. Every character has meaning and depth. They brought life back to the Batman Franchise. Oh, thank you! Because, back in the day, the Batman movies were so jive. Do you remember the fruity colors that were worn by the characters? Remember Jack Nicholson as the joker? He had a Purpler People Eater suit on. Looking like McDonald's Grimace. Oh hex no. What about Batman, Robin, and ohhh help me...Batgirl. MMM MMM MMM. Back then Batman was less about storyline and more about who was slated to play Bruce Wayne. These last two Batman films are more true to what the comic book was meant to be I guess—a dark, violent city under seige, and a guy running around in a bat suit is trying to fix it.

Christian Bale transformed the wealthy Bruce Wayne and his vigilante alter-ego Batman character. It took four different Batmans to get it RIGHT. Bale is an intense professional actor- great as Bruce Wayne and Batman. I felt Batman's personal trials, fears, want for a better city and the not knowing 100% if he is making a difference or not. I forgive you, Christian for hitting big ol' Chichlet teeth Mekhi Pfeiffer in the movie Shaft!

But, this time around the man of the movie is The Joker—and Heath Ledger's performance. He took the Joker's character and flipped it on it's head. The movie should have been called The Dark Joker. He’s evil to the core and Ledger just wraps his being around this character. His physical movements, facial expressions — twitches, nasty lip licking and verbals just makes you forget that it is Ledger. The smeared make-up and weird smile...Ohh my goodness..makes him look creepy. Ledger must have studied heavily for the role. This is an extraordinary performance. Best I've seen this year. You will not recognize Ledger at any time in the movie. If you read the backstory of the Joker, you’ll see that this time around, the Batman franchise did a superb job of toning down the cartoon, reading the character biography, and translating the evil personality of Joker into a live action film. If I sound too out there, let me simplify things—Heath is dark, scary, sadistic and evil hot mess. The following guy is a just a plain hot mess:

Nice tie. Anway, Morgan Freeman reprises his role as Lucius Fox, the undercover brother who is part CEO of Wayne Enterprises and part "build any freakin thing you need Batman" specialist. Knowing the identity of Batman is gonna keep you on the payroll for a lonnnng time. Batman needs a more flexible suit this time around, and his trusted friend Lucius is the man to make one for him. But Freeman is like 97, and he has no help, but somehow he's able to make suits and bang dents out of the Batmobile. I mean come on, we must not forget Morgan’s age! Again, see this scene.

This gripping film should definitely be viewed by no one under 13. This is just my recommendation because of the realistic evilness to some of the characters. People die regularly, which is actually important in this movie—it really helps you see just how sinister The Joker can be. This is a Hollywood blockbuster, period, and you need to see and own this film. What are you waiting for? Go see this movie.

My Rating ~ 5 Reels

Audience Rating (What's Yours?)