The Dark Knight (2008)

Disclaimer: This review is undoubtedly, understandably biased. Those who look for a fair-and-square review might want to head elsewhere instead. That being said, The Dark Knight is definitely on top of my list of 2008, heck, it's the Best film of all time if you asked me, Heath Ledger deserves an Oscar or I'm going to steal it for him, and.. oh yeah, Christopher Nolan is God!

Years ago, as I returned from the theater after the premiere of Batman Begins, I told my room-mate that its sequel is going to be a blast for we see Batman flips a Joker card hinting his next opponent in the sequel. I said to him excitedly, "Dude, we've never seen a Joker in any Batman films before!" Puzzled, he said, "Really?! I thought we've seen him already" Confident and cocky, I assured him that no, we've never seen a Joker before and of course, being a proud and a self-proclaimed Batman's no.1 fan I had refused to admit that I was wrong but the truth is loud and clear and there's no escaping it. We did saw a Joker back then in the 80's when Michael Keaton donned the masked vigilante for the first time.

I've seen the film of course, but somehow the Joker's presence in that film really slips from my mind. I totally forgot about him. In fact, the only other thing than Batman himself, I only remembered Vicky Vale from that particular film. Now, after I've seen The Dark Knight, I think I know why Jack Nicholson's portrayal of Joker slips from my mind.

Jack Nicholson is a great actor, no doubt about it but there's always a certain line that shouldn't be crossed even if you're a great actor. Ripping Joker, one of the most distinguishable villain in the comic history, out of his root is one such line and really, had you asked me, what Jack did to Joker is what i'd like to call a murder of a character. His portrayal of Joker is literally begged and screamed to be forgotten. Heath Ledger (and Nolan) despite the fan's initial reluctance to accept him as the Joker (a reluctance that slowly turns into an eager anticipation, if i may add) has more than manages to brought Joker back to its root, a sickening super smart villain with a cold ice running in his veins. This is, after all, the Batman's ultimate, numero uno, nemesis we're talking about here.

In a sense, the Dark Knight is actually more about Joker and Harvey Dent than it is about Batman. Nolan introduces us to two of the most important character in Batman. Harvey Dent, superbly played by Aaron Eckhard whom also deserves some award - aw, who am I kidding? Give every single person in this film an award and I won't even uttered a single breadth of complaint - is, was Batman's closest ally next to Jim Gordon (the venerable Gary Oldman) in the effort of cleaning the street of Gotham from injustice and crime. Enter Joker whose needs of crime and terror leverages into more of a passion than a mere money or fame. It takes little from him to prove that he is indeed the only villain of Gotham that could stand up against Batman. Arguably, he even stands taller as in the end, in my opinion, he had won the fight against Batman and that's why the Joker is Batman's nemesis. Jerry Robinson would be proud of his creation.

Arguably the most sophisticated and adult superhero film ever to come out of the pages of a comic book, The Dark Knight won't appeal to children. Parents who thought that Batman is the same Batman as they used to know, expecting their children to had a good time would in for a surprise. I could almost put the almost three-hours of The Dark Knight into a drama and in my opinion, you had to love drama before you could appreciate what The Dark Knight has to offer.

Acting wise, surprisingly, Christian Bale was outshone by almost everybody (except Maggie Gyllenhaal perhaps). His persona as Bruce Wayne, the millionaire, still the best that this franchise had to offer and I think, he is better as Bruce than he is as Batman. Gary Oldman is as good as ever. He is a spitting image of Jim Gordon from the comic anyway. Hence, no complaint from the comic fan, no complaint from general viewer, everybody wins. Aaron Eckhart, Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine had their share of shining moment. But really, the star of this film is of course, Heath Ledger who hardly recognizable under that Joker make-up. He was lingering like a memorable dream (pleasant or un-pleasant, your call) during the first half and when he was more palpable during the second half, it's like to see that dream had come to life and more than ready to bite you or embrace you, your call. He steals every single scene he's in right after his first banter with Batman. My favorite Joker moment: (Mouthed the word) "Six" Everyone who has doubtful that Heath would pull the ultimate Joker should dig themselves a hole and buried themselves in shame. Unfortunately, we won't ever going to see Heath returns as Joker anymore and whoever succeeded him had a gargantuan mountain to climb.

With The Dark Knight undeniable success (already taking the spot of biggest box-office opening of all time from Spider-Man 3), it is easy to see that a comic book adaptation film is not how it's used to be decades ago. Just like its paper and inks counterpart, the comic book adaptation is laden with deep and complex characters. No more silly and five-year-old comic-stuffs galore (point finger to Joel Schumacher who painted the supposedly dark and gloomy Gotham City with bright purplish colors). The comic books nowadays are filled with philosophical thoughts and subtle messages. No doubt this trend has been transferred to the silver screen as well. Plus, more and more world-class actors and actresses willing to play superheroes only after their unending passion and deep research on the hero themselves. I think it is safe to say that after Robert Downey Jr. and Christian Bale, the power-that-be, the men and women behind the decision to green light another hundreds-of-million dollars budget of a superhero film would think twice and maybe more when they put a name to shoulder the leading role and this at least half-way guaranteed that another superhero film, be it from Marvel or DC line of superheroes, would worth the wait. Oh, how I love comic.

My rating: ***** / **** - Don't expect me to give a fair judgement, if fairness was accounted for, I would give it a four star rating, anyway.