Batman - The Dark Knight

Having just watched this movie, I can only describe it as EPIC.
This is not a movie for kids. It is a grown ups story, a parable about the modern world and it's very long, two and half hours long. There is a lot of dialogue, a lot of plot to digest and a fair share of action, violence and death.

I can't recall the last time a movie designed primarily for action/entertainment paid so much attention to plot. Action movies usually try to get away with special effects and "damn the story, it will take care of itself". Not the Dark Knight.

Nothing less than the struggle for good versus evil is the theme of this story.
But not a comic book style good versus evil (apologies to comic book aficionados).
This is a deep dark and horrifying look at good versus evil where it just not enough to beat the bad guys by being stronger than them.

The Joker is more than a match for Batman's skills. In fact the Joker has the advantage in that the Joker isn't restricted by any rules. Further, the Joker, unlike all the other criminals in Gotham city, doesn't care about money. In one scene, a huge mountain of cash is set alight by the Joker to show that money isn't important to him.
How do you fight a Joker who isn't motivated by greed but purely by an insane desire to create chaos?

If I had to choose my favorite scene, it would be when the Joker walks out of an evacuated hospital, pushes his remote switch to blow the hospital up and the remote doesn't work. Tap tap tap, and then the explosion which causes the Joker to surprise himself. Sublime humor in a very horrific scene.

If Heath Ledger excels in his role as the Joker, it must be acknowledged that the script is just brilliant. One wonders how Jack Nicholson would have played it given such a script.

Blogged with the Flock Browser