Thursday, February 11, 2010

Dark Knight- Movie Review

I know ... its 2010 and too late to post a movie review on Dark Knight. But this is an old review I wrote long ago in a newsletter. I didn't want to lose it so I am posting it here.

Feel free to 'review' the review and post comments.
So hopefully you have already seen the movie Dark Knight. If not, it is highly recommended. So what this movie is all about? Well, the Joker announced it on the PA system ‘tonight you are going to be a part of a social experiment’. If not already, you now start realizing that you are seeing a vulgar display of an anarchist at his best (or worst!).

Last movie I saw with such a social experiment was a German movie ‘Das Experiment’ which intended to bring out the “prisoner’s dilemma” by simulating prison condition on perfectly normal people. As a matter of fact, I personally have a problem with choosing a comic character to develop a line of script which flirts with human mind, because kids will tend to watch this movie and the theme is quite adult. Which also raises a question why did the movie get a rating of PG-13?

The movie starts with a superb introduction of the Joker and very quickly establishes the magnitude of his personality and control over the underworld of the city of Gotham. He proposes the final solution to the Batman problem and initiates a series of bloody and violent events to prove his seriousness and so the story goes..

What he really is doing is trying to prove that secretly everyone is as evil as he is. That is why he subjects people to situations where they must reveal their core character, wants to rip off Batman’s mask, executes events that change ‘White Knights’ like Harvey Dent into villains of highest order.

In other words, he believes that everyone is same as he is. Just that everyone is either pretentious or still getting there. He claims ‘‘See.. I am not a monster; I am just ahead of the curve’.

The movie can be disturbing to some, especially if you knowingly or unknowingly identified that the Joker is trying to prove the fickleness of human nature in the back drop of anarchy. The screenplay is excellent. Each and every dialogue of Joker is spine chilling and in some weird way you start getting impressed with the twisted logic he throws in for everything evil he stands for.

The movie is quite dark (literally). The overall canvas is gloomy and has a nerve chilling coldness. Thanks to the outstanding background score by James Newton Howard and Hans Zimmer, which clubbed with superb performances by the lead actors leaves nothing to pin point in terms of technical flaw.

Performance wise, Heath Ledger clearly steals the show. His dark, villainous and poetic style supercedes standards set by Jack Nickolson as Joker. Trivia- Heath Ledger shared screen time Gyllenhaal siblings (Maggie and Jake). Christian Bale is just OK. Doesn’t come any close to the caliber he has demonstrated in movies like ‘The Prestige’. Aaron Eckhart gave an excellent performance as Harvey Dent aka ‘Two Face’. Special mention to Gary Oldman as Jim Gordon! I am sure quite a few Oscar nominations are on the cards for this movie. Definitely worth your money!

Rating: 4.5/5
Directed by: Christopher Nolan
Cast: Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Aaron Eckhart, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Morgan Freeman

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