Mr.Deflok's Blogs

A Dark Knight Review

Let's get it out of the way. The Dark Knight isn't as good as the general media is making out. However, that doesn't mean it's anything close to bad, unless you want to count "bad-ass".

Batman Begins is a much stronger film and handles the impact Batman has on Bruce Wayne much better. Here, I wish the toll showed a bit more, especially when you have an antogonist so intense and anarchist as the Joker trying to break Batman's mind.

And there is where the film is the strongest, with Heath Ledger's performance as the most evil villain I've seen on screen in god knows how long. It's the first time I've ever felt uneasy watching a bad guy, and to be completely honest, I felt rather disturbed and intimidated. I've never thought much of Nicholson's Joker, but Ledger blew him right out of the water.

I've talked about it many times before with friends and family - how Joker is Batman opposite, and his purpose isn't to cause mayhem, but to destroy Batman's sanity. So it brought me great pleasure to see this addressed as it is meant to be.

There's a line in Unbreakable which I can't remember word for word right now but it says that the villain that uses his mind is the more worthy adversary (compared to the one who uses his strength). The Joker fits this mould perfectly.

Thematically the movie is probably a greater success than Batman Begins. The whole film leads up to the fall of the White Knight; with Harvey Dent becoming the Two-Face Joker becomes a victor. Though he isn't able to corrupt Batman he still gets him where it hurts. He is still able to shake his hope in the goodness of the people in Gotham City. I just wish we got to see more explicitly just how much the Joker's madness was taking a toll on Bruce/Batman.

The Dark Knight is an intense and disturbing film which though can't quite live up to the hype still delivers an epic experience which'll be regarded as a classic for much time to come.

9.5/10

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ReplyPosted by Donutta on 27 July 2008, 06:07PM

"The Dark Knight isn't as good as the general media is making out."

I'm glad I'm not alone on that. It was good, but there were some noticeable flaws. For example, why was Bruce/Batman not destroyed over Rachel's death? I realise that he couldn't reveal it to Two-Face/Gordon, but it just never seemed like he gave it much thought at all. That really bugged me, because if he's that conflicted about being Batman, surely losing someone he cared about the most would have caused some emotional trauma. After all, if he wasn't Batman, Rachel wouldn't have been with Harvey and wouldn't have been kidnapped.

Great action movie, but better than The Godfather? No way.

 

ReplyPosted by stupidlikeafox on 27 July 2008, 06:44PM

"I've talked about it many times before with friends and family"

...i pictured you trying to discuss batman to your aunty and uncle who dont care at the dinner table lol. and nice avoidance of spoilers!

 

ReplyPosted by tkd_matt on 27 July 2008, 07:36PM

I pretty much agree with everything here. I wish the movie was a little shorter with the fat cut out to make a tighter experience that could hold up to repeated viewings.

 

ReplyPosted by Grunt of God on 27 July 2008, 07:38PM

Personally I'm going to watch it for the Joker, best villian aside from Agent Smith :D

 

ReplyPosted by Ubercuber on 28 July 2008, 10:25AM

9.5/10? Do you do reviews for NZG?

 

ReplyPosted by ChatterboxZombie on 28 July 2008, 09:04PM

Dude, it was good. Not Epicly-good but pretty good. Heath Ledger was friggin awesome as the joker! Hey, hey, did anyone see the pencil trick?
Ohhhhh, gawdamnit, that was B-R-U-T-A-L!!!

 

ReplyPosted by Booker_T_SUCKAAA on 28 July 2008, 09:29PM

I was shocked at how many parents took their kids to this movie in the weekend! Definitely not a kids movie! Do some research STUPID parents!

 

ReplyPosted by Wozza on 29 July 2008, 12:18AM

Yeah, don;t you know nobody is allowed to really enjoy anything when scruge Ubercuber is about? :P

 

ReplyPosted by JTO on 30 July 2008, 10:41PM

Nice review, I totally agree.

Watching Heath Ledger's Joker in action was pretty intense. My only real gripe was Bale's Batman voice.

 

ReplyPosted by howzit on 3 August 2008, 09:18PM

Good movie

 

ReplyPosted by Ruptunex on 24 August 2008, 10:14PM

This was rather good imo