The coding blog of Alastair Smith, a software developer based in Cambridge, UK. Interested in DevOps, Azure, Kubernetes, .NET Core, and VueJS.
[5/5] Simply put, this is the best film that I have seen in a long time, and I’ve seen a lot of excellent films over the last nine months or so. Gone Baby Gone, Charlie Wilson’s War and There Will Be Blood all spring to mind. The Happening does not. These are all truly excellent films in their own way (with the exception of the The Happening), whether it be challenging your morals and ethics, the sharply written script, or the sheer force of the delivery.
None of them scratch The Dark Knight.
| [img_assist | nid=29 | title= | desc= | link=none | align=right | width=300 | height=410]Here is a film which is so dark in theme and plot (something that is reflected in the cinematography of a lot of the crucial scenes) that you’re desperately searching for a faint glimmer of hope. Halfway through, you find yourself wishing — begging, demanding — that that particular plot twist hadn’t happened. Heath Ledger’s Joker brims with insanity, infecting even the seemingly incorruptible; the portrayal of the character is a long, long way from Jack Nicholson’s 1989 outing in Batman. As always, the devil is in the detail, and Ledger has it nailed right down to the lascivious licking of his lips. Whoever thought that Tim Burton’s legendarily dark interpretations could be made to look like a Disney film? The Joker’s plots are inconceivably twisted and devious, and executed with just the right mix of intellect and psychosis. For a while, it seems like the anarchy The Joker seeks to unleash will reign. This is the most accurate and faithful rendition of The Joker yet, and personally I would argue that it is the best we are ever likely to see. |
That plot twist is the culmination of a terrible choice, and the consequences are unbelievably grave. Nolan fairly assaults his audience, leaving them questioning Batman’s decision and putting a similar choice in the hands of ordinary people towards the end of the film. Two boats — one full of civilians, one full of prisoners — have been wired with explosives, and the detonator is on the other boat. Which one will blow? The result is surprising and one of the glimmers of light in the onslaught of the final half hour.
The Dark Knight has been hailed as this series’ The Empire Strikes Back, hailed by some to be the best sequel of all time. There is now a strong contender to that title. Breaking box office records, the race is on to see whether The Dark Knight will take more than Titanic.
Superhero movies are finally growing up and taking themselves seriously, arguably following on from Batman Begins, and as a result are becoming even more mainstream than previously; they’re no longer just entertaining action films, but good cinema in their own right. Iron Man wouldn’t have been the film it was (and, for me, wouldn’t have been as good) had Batman Begins not come before to show everyone what superhero movies can be. The Dark Knight is the most grown-up and serious of all of them, and I can’t wait to see where Nolan takes it next.