Saturday, July 19, 2008

The Dark Knight


My love for Batman began when I was a kid watching a cartoon called 'Superfriends'. I even remember that episode(s) of Scooby Doo when Batman and Robin showed up to help solve a mystery. I am still a fan of the very campy 60's Batman T.V show.
Sometime around the mid eighties at the mall, the North Town Mall, the family was doing some shopping after dinner at Heritage Cafeteria. I was walking around with my Grandpa when I saw my first comic book store. A store devoted to comic books, strange but yet super cool. It was like going to a toy store but with comic books.
I remember the clerk asking if we were looking for anything, and I told him 'what's that’, pointing behind him at a big poster of Batman holding what appeared to be a dying Robin in his arms. 'That’s an ad for the 'Batman: A Death in the Family' trade paperback, which I still have some first prints for $10.00, if you would like one'.
Long story short, I became a Batman fan for life.
Fast forward to the late eighties and early nineties when the Batman movies came out, the first two were good, but have lost my appeal over the years. The last two, 'Batman Forever' and 'Batman and Robin' are abominations of Hollywood celluloid.

'Spider-Man' brought back the superhero genre, so Warner Bros. decided that it might be time to make another Batman movie, and redo the franchise. 'Batman Begins' became the Batman movie to end all Batman movies. Never before had a movie got the essence of whom the Batman really is. This review is not for this film; it's for the sequel.

'The Dark Knight' is a masterpiece dark Batman film. The movie really transcends the label of superhero movie. This is a Batman for adults; it's deep and dark. Not too dark for kids, but they may enjoy 'Iron Man' better.

Like I said before this movie is a note perfect Batman film. The end of the last film really sets the pace for this second installment. When you have a vigilante like Batman protecting Gotham, the worst of the worst is bound to show up. Escalation of crime and justice is happening in Gotham City. Batman raises the stakes in his war on crime. With the help of Lieutenant Jim Gordon and District Attorney Harvey Dent, Batman sets out to dismantle the remaining criminal organizations that plague the city streets.
The hype is correct, the late Heath Ledger is awesome as the Joker, really awesome. Heath becomes invisible in the role, his eyes containing madness, genius, sadism and childlike glee. The stories he tells are brilliant little mind games. The Joker seems so spontaneous, filled with a gleeful inspiration from chaos itself. It is a performance of a lifetime. Ledger will be missed.
Heath Ledger as the Joker and of course Batman is only two pieces of the puzzle that make up 'The Dark Knight'.

The movie may belong to Joker but the story is really about Harvey Dent, the movie's second greatest surprise. The heroes of Gotham City make some awful compromises in 'The Dark Knight', and all of them pay for it. You either die a hero, or live long enough to become the villain.
You should know most of the plot from the trailers and from what I have told you. What you don't know is how perfect, relentless, and how tragic 'The Dark Knight' is.
Go see this film! A+ Enjoy!!!!!!