Batman (Christian Bale) confront with Joker (Heath Ledger) in "The Dark Knight".
The Dark Knight, directed by Christopher Nolan who brought you his masterpieces, a psychological film "Memento" in 2000, "Prestige" in 2006 and a great reboot of batman franchise "Batman Begins" in 2005. Now in 2008, he as a director and writer collaborated with his brother Jonathan Nolan came out with one of the year's best film "The Dark Knight". The film begins with a psychophatic clown who known as Joker (Heath Ledger), he rob a bank with a bunch of accomplice. After that, he kill all his accomplices just to have all the money and some fun then he escaped from the bank without people noticing. In the other side, there is a bunch of mobster having a meeting with Scarecrow (Villain from "Batman Begins"). Then batman (Christian Bale) cames and interrupt their meeting. To defeat crime, Batman, James Gordon and a new character from the movie Harvey Dent also known as Two-Face (Aaron Eckhart) are collaborating together. As a district attorney (D.A), he almost become a new hero in Gotham City and now he's in love with Rachael Dawes (Maggie Gyllenhaal), an assistant in D.A and childhood friend of Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale). In the other side, all the mob bosses are having a meeting with a Chinese accountant, Lau (Chin Han). When they're meeting, Joker came in with a lot of grenades attach on his body. He proposes to kill batman for them and he want the mob bosses to collaborate with him. Lau go back to Hong Kong for some reason. To catch him, batman went to Hong Kong and retrieve him then deliver to Gotham City Police. Joker is growing inpatient, he told the Gotham if the batman didn't show up and turn himself in to the police, he will started to kill all the police officer. (I won't giving out too much of the plot) So batman, Gordon, and Harvey Dent planning together to catch the Joker. Although the movie didn't show us the flash back of how He (Joker) become Joker, but it shows us that how Joker influences the people around him and make Harvey Dent become Two-Face. First of all, this movie is more darker and more funnier than "Batman Begins". It has a lot of dark humor. This movie is 2 hour and 30 minutes long, you won't feel boring or draggy. Every minutes of the movie is very entertaining and sometimes disturbing. There is one thing I like this director is in every movie he make, there will be something about psychology. In this movie, there will be a lot of psychology thinking. For example the part where all the citizens are trapped in the ferry full of explosives. And they have to decide whether they want to kill others to save themselves or not. It tells us that killing someone is not easy and much more. From this scene, it also tells us that after saving the city in "Batman Begins", batman really change the mindset of the citizens toward him and each others. Other than that, the story of this movie flows very smooth and is very easy to catch up. From the beginning, we might not know why they do this why they do that, but the story will explain for you everything. Besides that, the character development in this movie is great. The director done a great job in it. It tells us everything about the characteristic and their mindset of the character. Yes, this movie is all about making choices, and mindset. Although Joker just tells us the story why he becomes Joker, but maybe one of it is right. And there is a quotes from Harvey Dent which is very inspiring that is "You either die a hero or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain." This movie has a lot of Academy Award winning actor and actress. So, the acting in this movie is very top-notch and very inspiring especially Heath Ledger. I'm quite sad that he passed away so fast. I can tell you that his acting in this movie is really unforgettable. He is the perfect fit for this character. His character is more scarier than the previous Joker in "Batman" in 1989. In this movie, he no need to fight some one or killing someone. He just need to talk, using his philosophy to influence or brain wash the person to work with him. This is the most disturbing and the most frightening character I ever seen within this few years. Heath Ledger really put a lot of effort to prepare this character as well as the others. That's the reason why I like this character and also hope that he will nominate in Academy Awards for his character. For action sequences, Yes there will be a lot of action sequences. I like the car chasing scene where the Joker using a lot of weapon trying to stop an armored transport car. The action is beautifully made. Other than that, this movie introduces Batpod which is a batcycle. It is the ejection from the tumbler he used in both batman film. It looks very cool and well designed. For music, Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard done a great job in composing the theme. Through the themes they composed, it really defines the characteristic of the character and the corruption of the city. That's one of the reason this movie is darker than the first. Here comes an overall. This movie is really absorbing, disturbing, thrilling and it is a biggest achievement this year. Does this movie better than Tim Burton's version of "Batman"? Yes, a lot better in a way of performance, story, dialogs and others. And both of "Batman Begins" and "The Dark Knight" is more realistic than previous batman movie. This is also one of the best comic book adaptation within this few years. Because this movie is too great until I really don't know what to write about it. It is worth to watch a few times in cinema and this is one of the year's best film.
