Welcome to a world without rules! (The Dark Knight (2 DVDs))

Member Name: DixieChick101

Product:	The Dark Knight (2 DVDs)
Date:	15/08/08 (45 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Exceptional cast, script, CGI. Just a brilliant film

Disadvantages: Too long and the rating is poorly chosen.

In January of this year we were all shocked when actor and heartthrob to a lot of people in the world Heath Ledger died of an accidental OD. However he did manage to act in two films before his death, one he never completed and the other was probably one of his best pieces of work, ever.

His role in the Dark Knight is nothing like you would expect, he doesn't make you swoon ladies like he does in his other films, he doesn't just seem to be there for eye candy. He was always a good actor, I agree, but it's a shame his life ended just when he found his niche, his role as the Joker was truly his best performance ever.

The Dark Knight
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The Dark Knight co-written and directed by the amazing Christopher Nolan, who also created it's prequel Batman Begins, got the idea for The Dark Knight by the jokers first two appearances in the comics Batman: The Long Halloween.

Christian Bale reprises his role as Bruce Wayne whose alter ego is a crime fighting superhero called Batman. He faces a new villain however in this film, The Joker who is a different type of villain to all of the other's he's faced. Everyone else was just after two things, money and power; however The Joker doesn't care about these things. He kills just for the fun of it, seeing people hurt is what he likes to do. Can Batman and his fellow heroes stop The Joker before it's too late?

The Cast
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Christian Bale plays the hero of the film Batman. He is a fantastic actor; he manages to play the role that many have played before so well. I do believe in my opinion, due to the fact maybe that the his role of Bruce Wayne is written much darker than the previous ones, his portrayal of the caped crusader is the best by far.

However Christian Bale's tremendous acting was outshone in this film, and I do truly believe that Ledger's acting role in this film, is most definitely Oscar worthy. Forget his role in Brokeback Mountain, this is the real deal. This is the film he truly got his hands dirty with, he put 100% into it and it was definitely the peak of his career, it's a damn shame his life was ended so early.

Step aside Jack Nicholson, who in my opinion was THE perfect role to play the joker and I can't really stand Nicholson, however Ledger's performance outshone his that his role is not even on the same scale. Nicholson's performance was very light, not like Ledger's. He was downright evil, insane, and psychotic and pretty much terrifying. I do believe The Dark Knight will also shatter another record along with the Box Office one, the real star of the film will receive the first ever Oscar for a comic book adaptation.

Not forgetting the other cast of course, Aaron Eckhart is tremendous as Harvey Dent/Two Face, he's was defiantly the right man to cast. Credit to the CGI department for his two face part, as that was truly just tremdous, it made me feel quite ill in places.

Maggie Gyllenhaal takes over from the role of Katie Holmes as Wayne's love interest Rachel. Holmes I have to say doesn't hold a candle to Gyllenhaal, she truly was magnificent alongside both Bale & Eckhart.

Michael Caine I always find is always overlooked in the films where he plays a supporting cast member, he doesn't always get the credit he deserves, but he is a truly tremendous actor, especially in these films. He plays Alfred, Wayne's butler and confidant. He brings a bit of light humour to the film to stop it getting too dark.

Morgan Freeman is probably one of my favourite actors ever, and his role in this film despite being memorable, is under played a bit, however he is seriously an amazing actor in all films he's been in. I was amazed he didn't voice over for this film. Freeman plays Lucius Fox who is the man behind Batman's gadgets.

The Cinematography
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Amazing, just amazing, the city of Gotham as well as the scenes in Hong Kong are just filmed in such a way it's quite frightening in places. Tremendous cinematography all the way throughout, the way the whole thing is filmed is just pure brilliance.

The Screenplay
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Brilliant, complicated but at the same time easy to understand. Credit has to go to both Christopher Nolan and his brother Jonathan who wrote the screenplay. There are so many stories going on at once, the characters are not bland in the slightest, the story is entertaining, frightening and just truly amazing at the same time.

There are some flaws however, there are some scenes where they're wondering where the Joker's going to be, or some guy just gets into the back of a truck and you can just tell is the bad guy. The script is slightly flawed and in some places it's not the most believable of scripts.

Christopher Nolan
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Genius. I truly think this man is just a genius, before The Dark Knight & Batman Begins he created the likes of Memento and The Prestige which are just amazing films. He manages to make the film engaging but full of action at the same time. The film could be called over animated as a lot of it is easily CGI however it's done in such a way it is believable and I think this is not down to just the CGI creators and the editors, it's down to Christopher Nolan, whose idea it was.

Comparison
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You can't help to compare the film to the previous Batman films. The one is comes in comparison with most is it's prequel Batman Begins which I thought was truly the worst Batman film I've ever seen. It was boring, the action sequences didn't make you go wow, it was nothing in comparison to the previous ones at all.

Another one that The Dark Knight is sometimes compared to is Batman where Jack Nicholson stared as the Joker alongside Michael Keaton as Batman. He was always the perfect choice for that role; however Ledger's performance knocked everyone's socks off.

Box Office
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The film managed to smash lots of records all throughout the box office; it was the highest grossing film ever in the three day weekend beating Spiderman 3 and holds the record for hitting the $300 million mark the fastest after only 10 days. The previous holder of this was Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest.

Comic Book Adaptations
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There are some great ones I agree, but 90% of them fall on there bums and fail, they are usually on a very high budget and manage to get a profit back from it earning millions at the box office, however they never manage to do what the comic book has done for years.

A few of the original Batman movies were just about having a laugh really, they didn't really take themselves too seriously as we could tell by the actors they hired. I did enjoy them however, Val Kilmer's adaptation was a particular favourite of mine, and however George Clooney in the nipple suit wasn't fun whatsoever to watch.

Comic book adaptations usually earn big, but fall at the next hurdle, usually when the creators go on to make a sequel. Fantastic Four being one, the first one, despite being stupid, was enjoyable however the second one, the rise of the silver surfer was almost impossible to watch. I myself have never watched The Incredible Hulk but have heard that it is truly terrible, it's quite amazing how fantastic actors take upon these roles and don't seem to realise what an awful movie they are acting in.

Spiderman 2 was the latest film to crack my opinion though as it was so much better than the first, however the hype that surrounded the third film, it grossing a lot of money at the box office, may have ruined it. I found it boring, disappointing, and it really didn't live up to the other ones.

My opinion came to force again when I watched Batman Begins, it was quite hard to watch as my attention span is typical of a teenager, it takes a lot for me to get interested, I have to interact with the characters, understand the script and most importantly not fall asleep during the film, however Batman begins failed to do the first two but managed to do the latter, so the idea of the sequel being any good, not a chance in my opinion. If it wasn't for Heath Ledger I probably would have never have seen it at the cinema and maybe not on DVD, however it surpassed mine and I think a lot of other people's expectations.

My Opinion
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I have to say if the film hadn't had the hype leading up to it, and the fact that Heath Ledger was in it, not just because of his death, but because he was a amazing actor, who everyone knew could deliver so much more than his other films, I probably would have waited to see in on DVD. However I decided to go, with a blinding headache I might add, and I'm glad I did.

It was faced paced, full of action, full of tremendous acting and most importantly I think it was the best Batman film by far. It was just amazing.

I have always watched Batman but have always found him a fake superhero really, he doesn't have any superhuman abilities known and relies on gadgets to help him fight crime and that's always peeved me off that he's called a superhero. However this film I can truly see why, he really is one of the best superhero's there is and I think that's all down to both Christian Bale's portrayal of the Batman and Christopher Nolan's idea of Batman. It's a masterpiece to watch and I don't think any other superhero film will be able to come out with a film so dark and to be able to capture the heart of what a superhero truly is.

There have been only a few good blockbusters this summer in my opinion, with only Mamma Mia coming to mind, I wasn't really prepared for how good and exciting the Batman film is. If there's one film you should see at the cinema in the next couple of weeks, this is it.

A little warning however, we went to watch it today and sitting next to us was a family with a little boy around 4. This was obviously his first time at the cinema. The reason I am mentioning this is because it is a 12A but in my opinion the rating should be changed to a 12 or even a 15 as it is quite violent, the portrayal of the joker that Ledger delivers is quite psychotic and ultimately frightening, and I would in no way recommend for a young child to go and see it. The scene with Aaron Eckhart later in the film when he becomes Two Faced, make me feel quite ill and I really do think the rating was wrongly decided. Just a caution.

Another warning would be this film is a very long film, nearly 2 and a half hours and it does feel like that, so if you struggle to sit through long films, maybe this isn't for you.

Hoped this review helped.

© Kirsty

Summary: Really good film if you can sit through it, but not a film for kids really.