Batman: The Dark Knight is so far the best film I’ve seen this year. It was even better than Batman Begins and I loved that.
Rather than just being a very good superhero film, Batman: The Dark Knight feels like a crime thriller, like The Departed or Heat. It’s deep, dark, gritty, complicated and sophisticated.
Heath Ledger’s portrayal of The Joker should win him an Oscar; there is no question of that in my mind. He made that part come alive, the Joker’s madness is evident in his brilliance.
Rather than the Joker just being an eccentric nutter, like in Jack Nicholson’s Joker (Batman, 1989), Heath Ledger’s Joker truly thrives in chaos and destruction, completely lacking any moral compass or concern even for his own life. Heath Ledger’s Joker is a true Anti-hero.
Heath Ledger cited A Clockwork Orange and Sid Vicious as early influences for his portrayal of the Joker. I thought the Joker’s tag line was beautifully sinister and simplistic:
Why so serious?!
The plot of Batman: The Dark Knight is a roller coaster ride, I thought it was going to end three times before it actually did, the Joker’s foresight was just pure genius.
Batman: The Dark Knight really got inside the characters of District Attorney Harvey Dent and Police Lieutenant Gordon; the characterisation was fantastic.
Christian Bale reprised the roles of Bruce Wayne/Batman, playing both parts well; excellent duality. Except for that bloody stupid voice Batman was constantly putting on. His voice sounded like he’s smoked 40 fags a day for the last decade and gargles with whiskey and vinegar every morning. Give it a break Batman, we know you’re hard, you don’t have to growl!
At times Batman’s voice was so gruff it was unintelligible. How’s anyone meant to understand him with a voice like that? Apparently Batman’s voice was made gruffer in post-production; in filming Christian Bale did Batman’s voice exactly as he did before, normally.
I enjoyed the fact that there is still no BatCave, no Wayne Mansion, no Robin and best of all, that the BatMobile looks like it really was built for the military. Also, Batman going to Hong Kong to apprehend a criminal wanted in Gotham was great. Extradition is obviously just another legal process Batman has no respect for, nor should he.
I have yet to see Batman - Gotham Knight however.
Batman - Gotham Knight is an anthology of six animated short films set between Batman Begins and Batman: The Dark Knight.
A lot of the animators are Japanese so I think Batman - Gotham Knight is going to have a slightly Manga feel to it, like some of the stories in The Animatrix, which I also really enjoyed.
Batman - Gotham Knight is a 15 certificate, so I imagine it could be pretty brutal.
Batman Resources:
- Batman: The Dark Knight | Official Website
- Batman: The Dark Knight | Wikipedia
- Batman Begins | Wikipedia
- Batman: Gotham Knight | Wikipedia
- Joker - Why So Serious | Wallpaper
- Why So Serious | Joker Viral Site
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August 4th, 2008 at 11:43 am
Well…. I could pick holes in Batman: The Dark Knight because they are there! But most including myself choose not to due to it being such an enjoyable film and nicely put together. Ledger did the part of Joker justice, especially in a dress (magic moment) however, (and ledger fans are gonna hate this) for some reason he reeked of Johnny Depp. Not the way he looked but they way he acted, i would imagine Depp to pull off the same sort of pazazz to the Joker but justice served all the same.
Now I’m a fan of Christian Bale and he made a fab Bruce Wayne, but as Batman … hmmmm :S a little undecided he was good but I do agree that the whole, ‘grrrrrrrrr im scary i can talk like Danni Filth, be afraid grrrrrrrrrrrrr’ voice didn’t work to well!
If the people of Gotham havent worked out Bruce Wayne is Batman after all these years putting on a gruff voice is hardly going to conceal him self further. Towards the end they began to get a little carried away with SFX, not mad but i think maybe just a fraction excited!
But i recommend going to see Batman: The Dark Knight ….really! Even i enjoyed it and personally, Batman totally sucks balls as a ’superhero’ but the film …. Kudos to all. Well worth the money.
Google Out.
August 4th, 2008 at 11:49 am
Batman has to put on a fake voice to conceal his identity.
Leave batman alone!
lol
I really loved Batman: The Dark Knight, not a single bad thing to say about it. It was amazing.
August 4th, 2008 at 12:47 pm
I did not like Bale’s Batman voice… I thought it was ridiculous more than anything - I couldn’t hear a word he was saying as Batman… part of me thinks he forgot his lines and tried to cover it up! Yeah he has to cover up his identity but jeeze that was baaad.
Overall I thought Bale’s performance was so so…. I feel like anyone could have done the same performance (maybe even better) - he really didn’t make the character his own - unlike Ledger with the Joker.
Also, I felt there where too many ‘ohh my God I did not expect that!‘ ; because I started to expect everything. We all love a good twist, but c’mon!
As for Heath Ledger’s Joker, he deserves an Oscar, he is as good as they all say! I thought he was brilliant, insane, funny, scary… the list goes on!
August 5th, 2008 at 6:30 am
I was actually expecting the people on the ferries to blow each other up, but in reality the detonator was for their own boat and the Joker double-double crossed them into destroying themselves.
But instead they all did the good thing and did nothing; that was actually a suprise to me.
August 5th, 2008 at 4:35 pm
I thought The Dark Knight was an entertainment masterpiece managing to tip-toe the line between realism and fantasy perfectly. The characterisation was brilliant, the plot was unpredictable and gripping. Every second the Joker was on screen, I couldn`t take my eyes off of him.
Ledger’s final performance was his most versatile and hinted at greatness. I dunno who Jess Greenacres is but she’s wrong about Christian Bale, he made his role his own by making Bruce Wayne the most smarmy prick anyones ever portrayed him as, whilst keeping him moral.
Batman’s voice was too much.
August 7th, 2008 at 5:03 pm
Thanks for commenting on my post on my blog about Batman’s voice. I guess perhaps the voice was over the top, but I’ll still say that I don’t mind it. I am sure that if a third movie is indeed on the way that somebody will take all of the comments about the voice into the thought process.
Nice blog you have here by the way. I’m adding it to my RSS feeds.
August 8th, 2008 at 9:24 am
Right, ok Steven Spielberg.