23 July 2008

The Dark Knight: a movie review


It was in the news: The Dark Knight broke box office records for first day ticket sales and weekend sales! Is it simply because of the late Heath Ledger that drove people to watch his performance? Well... I think that's one element. But the film is truly so much more.

The Dark Knight is not your comic-book BatMan; this film version is definitely not for the average kid. I would describe this film as intense. Disturbing even, to a point.

BatMan's "career" as a crimefighter was at its peak as organized crime finds its world getting cramped. As last ditch efforts are being made to salvage their fortune and lives, along comes the Joker whose solution to the problem was quite simple: kill the BatMan.

What follows is a bizarre twist of events orchestrated by the Joker. I am reminded of my comment for the movie Hancock, where every superhero has a supervillain. In the Dark Knight, the Joker personifies super villainy! His actions were deadly and precise, underlying his calm demeanor. I cannot personally believe that it was the late Heath Ledger under that makeup. I remember him best from A Knight's Tale. His persona as the Joker was a complete character altogether. Indeed, I can say that he even outshone BatMan in this movie.

The story of Harvey Dent was a delightful surprise. When we saw him flip a coin the first time, my friends and I gave knowing glances... that's Two-Face! Whoops... wait, is that a spoiler? Ummm... I actually didn't know Two-Face was going to be in this movie because he wasn't mentioned in the trailers at all, and the posters displayed in cinemas were just about BatMan and the Joker. It was really a surprise for me to see him played in the movie. His was a passion that overtook his sense of loss over his sense of justice.

For this second installment, the characters were complex and engaging. The Joker, most especially. And of course with a clown around, expect a few laughs. It was madness, that Joker. The audience laughs while he tries to bombard an armored truck to smithereens. Is that suppose to be funny? Maddening, isn't it?

Ok Ok... I really can't skip out the spoilers but I'll make a couple more in this paragraph. It was a surprise as well that the BatMan left Gotham City on a mission. Well, I have grown accustomed to having BatMan stay always in Gotham City that it was really a surprise that this fictional city received a "reality treatment". And the BatMan fan club! That was a riot. My only gripe is that BatMan's hoarse voice made me want to clear my throat, and we were actually speaking like him already when we left the cinema! Also I wonder if Two-Face always had Eye-Mo handy.


If you're going to watch the movie, take your wiwi break early on; it's about two and a half hours long and the story moves along quickly; you can get lost if you miss out on a couple of minutes. Engaging story with lots of human drama, lots of action, cool car and bike! This movie is well worth the wait.

10 comments:

  1. Whenever I heard Bats spoke, parang nahihirapan ako para kay Christian Bale, gusto ko siyang abutan ng Strepsils! :D

    I remember sa making ng Begins, Bale mentions that he wanted to make Bats scary-sounding (also, para maiba sa Bruce Wayne persona,) hence the voice. But I guess he didn't foresee that he was going to have this much speaking lines in the second installment. Hehe...

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sinusubukan nga rin namin gayahin ang hoarse voice epek na eh, pero after just a couple of lines, masakit sa lalamunan! hehe

    ReplyDelete
  3. I saw Zodiac last week in HBO, Nick. In some ways, the length of discourse and the way the film resolved are somewhat similar.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous3:07 am

    Great review, Nick. Submitted it on digg :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. uy sir nick!!!! kamusta kamusta kamusta?!!?!?!!?! kakapanuod ko lang nito kagabi tapos sobrang natuwa ako sa movie kasi mega batman fan ako tapos paglabas ko ng sinehan nakipagaway ako sa mga arabo! sabi ko hindi nila ako matatalo kasi ako nga si batman tapos....tapos...yun gulpi ako. anyway, lapit na ulit uwi namin ni tatin!!!! labas tayo ulit. ngayon bawi nako talaga. nung huli kasi once lang tayo umalis eh. smell you later!!! holler!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous8:36 pm

    hindi ko pa siya pinapanood kasi marami na rin akong nabasang review about the movie. siguro b4 na lang mawala sa sinehan para wala nang hype. hehehe

    ReplyDelete
  7. Doc: I haven't seen Zodiac yet. Hopefully I can catch it sometime.

    JMom: pwede na bang maging movie critic? hehe

    Chu: Bahala na si BatMan! hahaha

    Malaya: Ewan ko ba, na-e-excite ako pag first day showing at feel na feel ko pang pumila. hehe

    ReplyDelete
  8. IMHO, the best batman movie so far

    ReplyDelete
  9. Anonymous1:28 pm

    hands down akosa movie na to... galing ng scriptwriter at director... super awesome pa ang cast... every role was well played... puro "expect the unexpected" hehehe. the best batman for me...

    btw, camiguin was one of best palce i've ever been to, feeling ko nga bitin ako sa trip namin dun eh, hehehehe

    ReplyDelete
  10. Tutubi: I agree with you too.

    Lino: Intense talaga ang film na ito. And yes, I love our Camiguin trip too. Heto, na-blog ko na! hehe.

    ReplyDelete

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...