My early memory of a Batman movie had been pink-green-yellow lights, the Gothic comic book sequences and I remember Arnold playing Mr. Freeze in the 1997 movie called Batman & Robin (with George Clooney portraying the superhero – eek!). Since Christopher Nolan has taken over as the director of the new movies he’s moved away from the stereotypical depiction of Batman as just a comic book hero to a more stylised contemporary setting. The Dark Knight is the sequel to Nolan’s 2005 Batman Begins and is made in the mold of a complete action crime thriller. Christian Bale reprises the role of the fictional DC Comics character.
The movie begins with a bank heist in the typical Hollywood fast-paced genre. Batman’s nemesis the Joker played by the late Heath Ledger makes an entry brutally bludgeoning his associates to keep all the money for himself. The superhero is introduced in a garage action sequence later where he undergoes some injuries that prompt him to demand strengthening his body suit. The new design of the body suit would come as a pleasant surprise for everyone. It’s more chiseled and downplays the yellow-black batman insignia which was so prominently displayed on the chest (even the logo itself has been modified now). To say the least it’s awesome and another proof of the director’s ingenuity towards resurrecting the comic book franchise. Morgan Freeman returns as Lucious Fox the wily CEO of Wayne Enterprise and the creator/inventor of the advanced equipment necessary to fight crime in the city. Michael Caine comes back as Alfred the butler that can be trusted as a father figure and a guide in crisis.
It’s a movie with edge-of-the-seat action every few seconds. The most exhilarating one is when Batman extradites (rather abducts) a Chinese mobster called Lau all the way from Hong Kong. He overpowers a gang of shooters armed with automatic weapons, then grabs the Chinese boss and latches onto a C130 transport aircraft with the help of a chute back to Gotham city where he delivers the culprit to Lt. James Gordon (Gary Oldman). It’s a proof that Batman is committed to fight the city warlords and can go to any length to bring the criminals to justice from any corner of the world. Heath Ledger with his erratic make-up and restless stance plays the antogonist Joker and he’s incredible in the role. I doubt whether the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences presiding over the Oscars would recognize his talent in the film and grant him an award posthumously [Read More on CNN.com]. In my humble opinion, the film belongs to Ledger’s class act and the surrealistic execution of the character — and hence his picture at the end of the review. You could be excused for being completely impressed by his style and trying to be one like him from the movie. Here’s to a great actor Heath. R.I.P my friend. Katie Holmes who played Rachel Dawes in Batman Begins is replaced by Maggie Gyllenhaal who looks so much like her. I couldn’t make out the difference until I came home and read the character list (because I thought “Katie” was looking older?).
Of the few of his special carriages that Batman rides in his movies we have the “Tumbler” or the Batmobile in this one, a smart thinking vehicle that “intimidates” and even self destroys at the snap of the fingers. And the newly introduced “Batpod” or the motorcycle equipped with latest gizmos and weapons systems that zooms past the narrow lanes blasting obstructions of any kind in the path. The scintillating parts are when Batman crashes his Batmobile into an oncoming dumper truck making it to tumble around. And the portion where he drives his “Batpod” bike straight into a trailer and skids underneath it unscathed. All these portions are magnificently shot and need no recommendations of any sort. Just as the character has evolved into a coexistent 21st century vigilante with Kevlar suit and modern weaponry so has his vehicles that look sporty and vivacious and technologically more advanced than the previous versions. Even the batcave has been refurbished to accommodate modern communications systems like Sonar in this instance. It no longer looks the typical cave as portrayed earlier. Unlike in the past where the storyline stuck to the original artworks, in this movie it can be seen that the director has taken tremendous amount of creative independence by marrying realism with stunning digital effects that makes the story more believable and entertaining. Some of the sequences have been shot using an IMAX camera for the first time that make the scenes more brighter, wider and more immersive. It’s Nolan’s film all the way to say the least. Don’t miss this one in the theatres.
An Appeal to the Parents
Indian parents must realise it may not be a good idea to accompany their young ones to the theater for this movie assuming its a comic book adaptation. Bear in mind that there are scenes of intense violence and blood in the film which are distasteful and kids may not relish them. In the midst of the violent and gruesome action, I was not surprised at all to find kids howling in the dark maybe signifying that they were frustrated and wanted to leave the dark ‘dungeon’ immediately. The parents had a tough time consoling them and it was disgusting to see their attitude frankly. They must understand that it’s a different matter watching a movie then reading a Batman comic. Subjecting a child to an audio/visual medium of such gruesome nature assures a high degree of attention and memory retention that may have a damaging impact on the child’s mindset (sometimes permanently). In India The Dark Knight has been granted a U/A certification by the CBFC for exhibition. Please practice restraint while taking your child below the age of 12 years to the theater.
Interesting Links:
» Warner Bros. The Dark Knight website
» A List of Batman movie series on Wikipedia
» Dark Knight director shuns Digital Effects for the real thing
Heath Ledger reprising the role of Joker in The Dark Knight
Nice review Bhooshan. A few corrections though:
First of all Batman & Robin was the fourth film in the Batman franchise and an all together horrible one. To type cast that movie as a stereotypical Batman film would wrong. An typical batman film would be “Batman” or “Batman returns”, the only two films before Nolan’s era that stayed true to the comic book. If you haven’t seen the original Tim Burton “Batman” that starred Micheal Keaton as Batman and Jack Nicholson as “The Joker” do watch it.
You will find that the movie is every bit as realistic as the Nolan ones (the same hi-tech cars, kevlar body armor and gadgets).
Also if you have read enough of the comic books, you will find that Nolan has remained very true to the original artwork. In fact some scenes in Batman Begins are very reminiscent of panels from Frank Millers Batman: Year one and also part of the storyline in the dark knight loosely follows the comic book story that first introduced the Joker.
The mistake I guess most people make is taking the two Joel Schumacher Batman films as representative of the franchise.
Nice comments Elroy and coming from a true Batman fan I believe every word you said. Thanks for stopping by.
When Tim Burton’s ‘Batman’ released in 1989, I was grossly involved in my mischief and studies. I could only see the Schumacher editions which as you pointed out were pretty average. I am now looking forward to buying Frank Miller’s Dark Knight comic editions just for the sake of loving the character. That Nolan is a great director was proved as far back as when ‘Memento’ released. Frank Miller to some extent must also be acknowledged for his brilliant artwork and storyline that has inspired the moviemaker.
Ah, yes so was I…still found time to watch “Batman” almost 7 times then (on a NTSC video cassette). Lost count of the number of times I watched it after that.
As far as Miller’s Dark Knight goes, I’d recommend you sample the work online first before buying it (coz grpahic novels cost an arm and a leg in India) and see if it resonates as well with you.