19.7.08

Dark Knight-Kid Fiction

This time around,the film's main arch comprises two villains-Joker & Two-Face,and it does a pretty good job with holding my interest for a film that runs in excess of 2 hours.I guess the first thing on everyone's mind is Heath Ledger's performance,considering it was the talented lad's last.Ledger communicates all the menace of the Joker-here is a character whose hunger for destruction is virtually limitless,or as Alfred says "someone who just wants to see the world burn".The problem is that the Joker is written as such a generic villain,for all his rich psychotic tendencies there is nothing exceptionally dangerous or complex about him that makes his presence felt.Simply said,Ledger wasn't given much as his character was unchanging from start to end and though he did a terrific job I didn't think it was anything Oscar-worthy.

The script wobbles on a series of contrived events,and though the action scenes were pleasing and sufficiently believable for a Batman movie there were two instances in which the story borders on the unrealistic-and in keeping this review spoiler-free,I'll offer instead two keywords:plane & cellphone.For a substantial amount of time,Dark Knight runs on a game of gotcha,the audience constantly having the carpet underneath them pulled as the story unfortunately offers no emotional weight but only a mixed bag of tricks.The biggest comparison to Batman Begins,is that the sequel has none of the psychological affluence of its predecessor.A brittle love triangle between Bruce Wayne,Rachel Dawes & Harvie Dent removes the chance for any real character development,but when the characters do undergo a change of heart or come to an important new realization it is quick and meaningless.The only one given such opportunity to channel some form of complexity is Harvey Dent (played excellently by Aaron Eckhart) whose dubious self makes him a really captivating character.Everyone else is written as too straight,comic-book types.

The biggest conundrum for me was the heaviness of the good vs bad discussion,the entire film dense with quotes and ideals that by the time the movie closes with a dreadful analogy on Batman as "the dark knight" everything said can be summed up as tedious and old-fashioned.Every line of dialogue dispenses some sort of protracted message that I personally feel that the characters were barely communicating but were more so engaged in a parliamentary debate.Yes,I'm definitely aware its a comic book adaptation and I should be expecting it to be,well,comic-like on some level.But after Batman Begins (a movie I especially loved despite never being much of a Batman fan),a film that was very mature and chose to avoid being too black n' white-this feels like one big step down.
I'm not saying the hype surrounding the movie (before and after its release) is entirely undeserved,because there are still some things worth all the praise.If I haven't stressed it enough,Aaron Eckhart gives a brilliant performance and director Christopher Nolan has obviously grown more ambitious since the success of the first film,as the action scenes are much more epic and satisfying this time around.There's a prolonged shot of the Joker hung upside down towards the end that I particularly like.Concluding,I honestly expected Dark Knight to be a heroic success-after the first 30 minutes,I could imagine standing to clap and cheer as the credits rolled (the only time this feeling has ever struck me was after last year's Death Proof) but sadly I walked out not quite fulfilled,somehow waiting for the sequel that never came.
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