Friday 18 July 2008

Movie review of The Dark Knight

The Dark Knight: 9/10
Directed by Christopher Nolan
Cast- Christian Bale, Michael Cane, Heath Leger, Gary Oldman, Aaron Eckhart,
Maggie Gyllenhaal, Morgan Freeman and Chin Han

Plot Summary
Batman and James Gordon join forces with Gotham's new District Attorney, Harvey Dent, to take on a psychotic bank robber known as The Joker, whilst other forces plot against them, and Joker's crimes grow more and more deadly.

Review
What a fantastic movie!Despite a few flaws,it was brilliantly done and so much excitement! It's been a long time since i was so psyched up to watch a movie(my last was 300).For the whole week,I was listening to the soundtrack and also watching the trailers and the prologue numerous times.I watched this wonderful sequel with my friends and we thoroughly enjoyed every bit of it.
And here...I go.
For cinematography,Almost all the scenes were done really very well especially the IMAX scenes.The IMAX shots were the action sequences and the scenic shots,which were all done very well.there were a few errors in certain scenes but not really noticeable.Camerawork was great.The crane shots and the zoom ins were just awesome. You got to give it to the DP for this.
TDK was written by David Goyer and the Nolan brothers and they did a great job.Chris Nolan said during an interview ,that he cited that the movie Heat(Al Pacino and De Niro,directed by Michael Mann) as a major influence for The Dark Knight.and you can clearly see that the flow of the story is just the same as Heat(which is also a great movie by the way).
Thank god the costume department threw away the nipple suit worn previously by Clooney and Kilmer,cause it really looked fucking ridiculous.The new bat suit this time is way much more sleeker and apparently more comfortable(for Christian Bale) than the one in Batman Begins,even the costumes for Harvey Dent and The Joker were really cool.The only thing I didn't quite like was Batman's mask.Somehow it looked like he had a long nose and that reminded me of the Penguin.
I really loved the make up done for the Joker,which has a dark,sinister look and the scars on his cheeks really made him look evil which was fucking awesome)the scarifications on the cheeks also reminded me of Iitchi the Killer.
The special effects on this movie were pretty good as well especially batman's scenes when he is flying around and all the landing parts.

The soundtrack done by Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard is fucking awesome! There are a couple of scenes which the soundtrack made it even more thrilling.It's really worth buying the soundtrack.
The casting for this movie is good if not better than Batman Begins.Michael Caine is the perfect actor to portray Alfred the butler and he does it well.Morgan Freeman was alittle under utilized but still all in all,he never fails to deliver no matter how small the role is.Gary Oldman on the other hand has a bigger role this time and pulls it off brilliantly.Maggie Gyllenhaal was good as always,and it' a good thing Maggie replaced the retarded looking Katie Holmes as Rachel Dawes, cause Katie Holmes was horrible in Batman Begins.I liked Aaron Eckhart's acting in Thank you for smoking,and I was pretty sure he could pull off Harvey Dent's Character easily and furthermore under Chris Nolan's guidance.Another good thing I like about Chris Nolan is he can always bring the best out of any actor regardless if he is good or bad.For example,he did a great job in making Hugh Jackman act in The Prestige,cause that fucknut can't act for shit.One actor I'm really proud of is our very own homeboy,Chin Han.He did a really cool job and I sincerely hope he gets his big break from this.Unlike that honkong cunt(Edison Chen) who had about 5 secs of screentime,our home boy got at least 15mins of screentime.Way to go...Chin Han! Christian Bale on the other hand is the Perfect Bruce Wayne.A really brilliant actor,from young(Empire of the Sun) till now.I will always watch Bale's movies no matter who the director will be.The scene stealer is definitely the Late Heath Ledger.His portrayal of The Joker is the best ever! As much as I love Jack Nicholson,I will dare to say...Fuck Jack Nicholson's Joker cause Heath Ledger's joker will forever be remembered as the One! hahaha.Every time the joker is on scene,you will forget everyone else and that was how good this fella was.Sinister,Dark,Evil,Manipulative and Funny is what the very least you can sum up on Heath Ledger's Joker.He is of right now in my top 5 list of most evil and greatest screen villains.It is a real treat watching actors of this calibre in one movie.
A pretty good job on the editing department as well except for a few cut scenes and the flow of the first half was rather rushed.
Chris Nolan does a great job in direction.i really liked his way of story telling and he has been rather consistent.Besides bringing out the best in an actor,another thing I like about him is he likes to get involved in everything,from production,to direction and to editing which is a trait you seldom see in a director.What I didn't like about TDK was the first half an hour was rather rushed.I felt like too much info was crammed in that little amount of time.And the last 15mins could have been shortened.Still I will look forward to watch his next movie which I'm pretty sure that it will be as good as his other works.

Definitely worth watching on a weekend,worth watching it TWICE!! and worth watching it on gold class as well!
Batman and Nolan fans will thoroughly enjoy the Dark Knight.


Best Quote
The Joker: [to Batman] You've changed things... forever. There's no going back. See, to them, you're just a freak... like me!

Harvey Dent: You either die a hero or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain.

The Joker: Introduce a little anarchy... Upset the established order... Well then everyone loses their minds!


Recommended movies done by the director
Batman Begins
The Prestige
Memento




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