This is probably the best time to come out of my hiatus from blogging and talk about the greatest movie of the year, “The Dark Knight”.
TDK was probably the best orgasm any comic book fan who was devoted to the Batman series could ever have.
History Lesson: I have grown up watching the old Batman and Robin series that came on television with the special kung, pow, bam, whip, crack, starbursts on the screen every time either of the protagonist dished out a beating to the antagonist. With every thing having a bat prefix to it; right from the bat-phone, bat-mobile, bat-bike, bat-rope, bat-chopper, etc, etc. The old series were perhaps the most thrilling thing of its time with villains like the joker actually looking like he escaped from the circus.
Then came 1989, and there was Tim Burton’s “Batman” which finally put the metrosexual,daylightrunning over the street, holy smoke; batman to rest. ( Sorry Mr.Adam West, you weren’t exactly the best). This movie put the Batman against his nemesis of sorts the Joker, played by Jack Nicholson which until recently was perhaps the best villain ever. Then there was “Batman Returns” which had a fairly gory Danny De Vito as the Penguin and the sexy Michelle Pfeiffer as the cat woman (I still dream of her in the leather outfit……). which was a pretty decent effort on portraying Gotham city’s dark angel.
Along came Joel Schumacher who decided to screw everything up. First and foremost, he introduced Robin, who has never been a favourite of the true fans. He got Jim Carey to play the Riddler, who wore a neon infested suit, cracked bad jokes, and with Tommy Lee Jones’ Harvey Two-Face had really really bad plans of world domination. Then he decided to really mess up the franchise by introducing the Bat-girl (sorry Alicia…). Bad villains in Thurman’s, Poison Ivy and the forgettable California Governor as Mr.Freeze. The movie was a terrible let down. It made Batman more of a metro sexual glam boy rather than a dark, introspecting, self tormented hero.
Fast forward, 2005, Christopher Nolan re-invents the dark angel just as he was meant to be. “Batman Begins’ was a phenomenal portrayal of how Gotham’s Bruce Wayne morphed into the Batman. It showed the Batman as one who was traumatized on the inside, had made his fair share of mistakes before he realized that plainly avenging his parents death was not the end of problems. He had to protect all that they stood for.There was a city to clean up, it needed a hero; we, the audience needed a hero!!!! (Move over George Clooney…better off doing an Oceans 14) .
Christian Bale was the right choice to play this great character. Everyone loved the movie, I myself saw it thrice in the theater. It had all the elements of a true comic book style Batman, the dark hero, the super villains in Ra’s al Ghul and the Scarecrow. Their plans of chaos and anarchy were far more suited to the real world. The ending of this great movie left the audience wanting more, with Commissioner Gordan handing over a single Joker card over to the dark knight.
My initial response was,”Cool!!! Next movie the joker…but anyway….no one can come close to playing Nicholson!!!” How wrong I was.
2008,18th July…. “The Dark Knight”. (I still get goose bumps thinking about the movie…) and for once, poor Batman had to be content sticking to the shadows. There was a new hero, or should I say anti-hero in town, Heath Ledger as “The Joker”.
Heath’s performance surpasses some of the greatest villains of all times. For once, we had a villain who was so good that it actually made the hero look bad. Every scene Heath played, portrays awesomeness which we shall never ever get to see again. A long way from,’10 things I hate about you’. Heath Ledger took the Joker and re-vamped and re-invented the character to a far more sinister, far more gory rendition than ever before. Every line delivered sends chills down one’s spine. I for one could personally connect with the psychopathic joker more than I did with any of the other characters on screen. For once, a villain who didn’t want to dominate the world or get rich but was just out to have some fun. The performance by Heath Ledger raises the bar for all super-villains that would follow in his footsteps. This performance reminded of Anthony Hopkin’s, Dr.Hannibal Lector. Heath Ledger definitely deserves an Oscar for his performance. May his soul rest in peace!!!
A lot of credit goes to Nolan for grafting such a great storyline as well. With the inclusion of Aaron Eckhart’s Harvey Two-Face, the movie is the most thrilling, edge of your set 3 hours of film today. Fans of the franchise must remember to breathe now and then. With the bat-mobile and the bat-pod, the chases, hard hitting dialogues, great acting from all fronts, “The Dark Knight” has to be the sexiest movie of the year, and for years to come. You need a kick up your rear if you have not seen this movie yet. I for sure, am going at least another 2 times. You’d notice that Chritian Bale doesn’t get much mention. This does not mean his performance as the Batman was bad, It’s just that the entire movie was over-shadowed by the great performance of the Joker. Two-thumbs up to Bale as well.
In the grateful memory of Heath Ledger – for giving us such a great villain!!!!
God save the soul of the next man to play the Joker in the series. I cant believe they actually considered Steve Carell or Robin Williams to play this role initially.Ideally, we ought not to ruin the memory of this great portrait of Heath Ledger by re-introducing the Joker; however it is inevitable. The Joker is Batman’s greatest villain ever. Like he says at the end, “I see a great future with you and me Batman, because you have your principles and will never kill me, and I am just having too much fun!!!”
Comments