BATMAN: THE DARK KNIGHT
I haven’t really been a big fan of “Batman” (or the super heros, for that matter) before. I did see the first one with Michael Keaton but it was a bit too cartoony and left me wanting something more. Then three years ago came “Batman Begins” and I was sold.
Christian Bale made Batman more human rather than just a comic-book super hero and that was what appealed to me. In my opinion he is by far the best Batman. His portrayal of the superhero is what takes it from a comic-book to a great movie with depth and emotion running high, along many excellent special effects.
While Jack Nicholson was a great Joker (no one can deny that!), Heath Ledger brings a new element to the character and makes him more of a real person (however disturbed) rather than a comic-book character. His performance is absolutely extraordinary but then again he was an amazing talent. The part caused a lot of buzz even before the untimely death of the actor. And I can only hope that the Academy will appreciate the quality of his performance and award it accordingly.
“The Dark Knight” is three dimensional and has elements of drama, action and comedy, which makes it a great film to watch. It crosses the line between the super-hero movie and the drama and, simply speaking, becomes a portrait of human tragedy, nearly on the scale of the ancient Greek tragedies where the protagonist is doomed no matter what his decision will be.
The characters are not simply black and white anymore; they become far more complex than that. The Joker is obviously bad but there are many levels to the evil in him that make you feel a variety of emotions, among which are sadness, disturbance and an apprehension at the reality of it. And while Batman is obviously good, he also faces dilemmas that give him a new dimension as a tragic hero. Suddenly the viewer realizes that Bruce Wayne is a deeply troubled man; one that is capable of doing both good and bad.
The “Dark Knight” takes the whole genre to a new level where the stories are not based only on a fight between good and evil but touch on deep human emotions, such as fears, traumas or hope, which make it all the more worth seeing.