The Dark Knight
Jul 21st, 2008 by Chris
Let’s be honest here, you don’t need me to review this movie. You’ve probably heard from various sources about the awesomeness contained in the 2 hours and 30 minutes of this film. You’ve probably heard that this film shattered so many records during it’s opening weekend that other Hollywood films pale in comparison. And then maybe you heard that TDK is currently sitting in the #1 spot on the IMDB top 250 movies of all time bumping down other great films such as The Godfather, Shawshank Redemption, and Schindler’s List. If that doesn’t give you enough reason to see this movie then I suggest you settle for seeing it on DVD and then realizing what EVERYONE was talking about.
But let me highlight something about the film that called out to me particularly:
Aside from the acing being phenomenal and brilliant, the moral questions brought up to Batman throughout the film are incredible. They present this idea about the life and death (literally) decisions that Batman faces and envelope you in a way where you may question your own morality. Questions such as: can you decide who lives and who dies when you can only chose one person and does the end really justify the means?
There’s even a scene where the unsuspecting citizens of Gotham are placed in a situation where they have to make a life-altering moral choice. And through all of this we have The Joker portrayed brilliantly by Heath Ledger.
Lets forget for a moment all the rumors about his death being caused by his role as the Joker and the fact that he passed away all together. I hear a lot of people saying that he’s only getting such praise because he died. I call bullshit. His performance is incredible. He is the Joker. One minute the audience is laughing at him and his crazy personality and the next everyone is dead silent and focused entirely on him. It’s scary how convincing he is as this psychopathic terrorist that knows no limit. There’s a quote from Alfred in the movie the described him best: “Some men aren’t after a goal… some men just like to watch things burn”.
The movie itself is non-stop plot-driven storytelling from beginning to end. It’s composed of some extremely tense and powerful moments where the music (which was amazing) is building up to a climax and never lets up and never gives the audience a chance to breathe. I caught myself at the edge of my seat more than a few times. It’s also very dark and somewhat unsettling, but it only adds to the depth of the characters and story. The ending was a perfect fit for the theme explored. And plot twists! oh the plot twists!
Listen, you need to see this movie in theaters. No excuses.
4 Responses to “The Dark Knight”
/agree
were you really sitting at the edge of your seat? Cause people say they do that, but I’ve never seen them do it. It would look pretty funny if they did
Well I just use that expression, but I didn’t mean it literally. If I were to describe my exact actions it would b something along the lines of:
“certain scenes had me so tense that my left leg started to spasm slightly to the point where I began to push myself back into the seat and contact my muscles to restrict my movements until the end of the scene where I could finally breathe easy and sit in amazement of all the awesomeness I just witnessed.
i concur…this movie was phenomenal!