{"id":10126,"date":"2008-07-20T16:07:08","date_gmt":"2008-07-20T20:07:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/?p=10126"},"modified":"2008-07-20T16:07:08","modified_gmt":"2008-07-20T20:07:08","slug":"the-dark-knight-2008","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/2008\/07\/20\/the-dark-knight-2008\/","title":{"rendered":"The Dark Knight (2008)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"darkknight\"<\/a>When I tell you that \u201cThe Dark Knight\u201d is an incredible sequel, read the words carefully. \u201cThe Dark Knight\u201d is Christopher Nolan\u2019s ace film taking the throne as quite possibly one of the best superhero movies ever made. Is it a masterpiece of modern filmmaking? Not really. Is it an incredible example of comic book adaptation that transforms in to a genuinely epic story? Why certainly. Bringing about shades of \u201cLA Confidential\u201d with a dash of the classic mobster movies, Christopher Nolan\u2019s follow up to \u201cBatman Begins\u201d is a brutal and exhausting gangster epic that brings to the forefront a slew of complex and intricate sub-plots that question how far we\u2019re willing to go to maintain law and order, how much violence changes us, and if the peace keepers are really any different from the law breakers and murderers.<\/p>\n

The all star cast provide immaculate performances from Morgan Freeman as Lucius Fox the weapons specialist confronting Bruce Wayne\u2019s growing need for power to fight crime, Michael Caine as Alfred fights to keep Bruce\u2019s sanity in check, and Christian Bale who is yet again a perfect fit as Batman who questions his own purpose in Gotham as he confronts the reality that Batman may not always be a necessary element to the city as Wayne\u2019s own fight for good is only an inch away from transforming him in to another Joker, hiding behind a fa\u00e7ade and delusions of grandeur and struggling with a fight for justice he simply doesn\u2019t want to take part in anymore. Maggie Gyllenhaal is a great replacement for Katie Holmes providing a\u2026 purpose for Rachel Dawes beyond a simple love interest. In one fell swoop, \u201cThe Dark Knight\u201d destroys all the flaws of the previous film while also improving on the characters who felt slightly under-developed when we last met them.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s also Nolan\u2019s version of Batman\u2019s eternal foe the Joker who, on screen, is the most horrific and shocking depiction ever created. There can be no doubt about Heath Ledger\u2019s acting ability after watching his variation of the Joker, a horrifying, nightmarish serial killer whose own brilliance becomes the downfall of every single person around him. A combination of Charles Manson, Hannibal Lecter and Jigsaw, Heath Ledger is the epitome of what the Joker should always aspire to be in future mediums. Forget Jack Nicholson\u2019s hammy performance, forget Mark Hamil, forget Cesar Romero, Ledger is simply the greatest Joker of all time, and Nolan implements the man\u2019s mad talents in this spooky madman who simply had no reason for his utter anarchy in Gotham. And Nolan never really ventures to explore the Joker\u2019s purpose, because the sheer packs of lies, endless games, and relentless violence turned the clown in to a ghoul as he always should have been. And Nolan never opts for comedy or that Adam West camp that even Tim Burton fancied with his \u201cserious\u201d Batman films.<\/p>\n

Though Ledger is quite excellent I often found myself enamored with the origin of Two Face, as Aaron Eckhart is brilliant as the conflicted District Attorney realizes his own violent tendencies while constantly attempting to avoid bringing himself to the throes of violence and murder that the Joker is seeking to inflict on the populace of Gotham City. All the while his ego and alter ego lie in his dependence on his coin which he uses as a means of unbiased decision making and a thin line between hero and pure maniac. \u201cThe Dark Knight\u201d aspires to go beyond the comic books and provide some truly interesting character study with a second look at the man behind the cape and cowl dissecting vigilantism and Wayne\u2019s own god complex he lords over the criminals in Gotham\u2019s underbelly. Nolan\u2019s traditional means of filmmaking bring a sincerity and gritty realism to the Dark Knight that we\u2019ve never seen before, and it\u2019s one of the best films of the year, period. One of the biggest fears for the first half was that there was going to be this inevitable turn in to a pure \u201cMagnum Force\u201d rip off, and we almost did.<\/p>\n

As Batman finds himself stopping crime all over Gotham, he\u2019s faced with a slew of copycat vigilantes who dress as him and cause him to question his own power as a law condoned vigilante, which instantly brought to mind \u201cMagnum Force\u201d where Dirty Harry essentially faces the same question of morality. As for the big reveal, the emergence of Two Face is rather great, it\u2019s just a shame he\u2019s not as emphasized here as I would have liked. I hoped he\u2019d have been ushered in to the third film as the next gut wrenching villain, but alas, Nolan doesn\u2019t seem to be intent on further exploring the duality of the man known as Two Face, and it\u2019s a shame. I was frankly disappointed. The developments in the second half didn’t quite sell the likelihood of a better sequel up ahead, but “The Dark Knight” is still a near flawless example of superhero cinema with marvelous performances, a top notch script, and direction that aims for a more adult audience. It simply doesn’t fail to hit its mark.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When I tell you that \u201cThe Dark Knight\u201d is an incredible sequel, read the words carefully. \u201cThe Dark Knight\u201d is Christopher Nolan\u2019s ace film taking the throne as quite possibly one of the best superhero movies ever made. Is it a masterpiece of modern filmmaking? Not really. Is it an incredible example of comic book […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[58,71,125,201,240,249,268,391,840,906,1013,1087],"class_list":["post-10126","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-movie-reviews","tag-action","tag-adventure","tag-batman","tag-christopher-nolan","tag-crime","tag-d","tag-dc-comics","tag-gangster","tag-revenge","tag-science-fiction","tag-suspense","tag-thriller"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10126","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10126"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10126\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10126"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10126"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10126"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}