The recent arrival of the Joker (Heath Ledger) to Gotham’s underworld puts a hold on Batman’s (Christian Bale) Plan to hand over the streets of the prosperous city to the new District Attorney Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart). Nolan’s sequel to the Block-Buster, Batman Begins, brings a rein of terror as the Joker plays the city out of countless lives, for the shear fun of it.
Nolan returns with the traditionally modern vigilantly: Batman. He has kept the iconic image of the masked dark hero, but introduced an array of latest technology as we see a futuristic ‘Bat mobile’, the invention of the ‘Bat Bike’ and a classic return to the ‘Bat-erang’. This is in no doubt an excellent combination, it suits all audiences, from the Bat fans or to first-time viewers, everyone is thrilled with Christian Bales flamboyant, ritzy interpretation in the original DC comics in a neoteric era.
A similar story for the Joker, long-term archenemy to the Batman, Ledger’s incredible performance has left the public stunned in an aw-inspiring take on the goofy trickster. The now narcissistic psychopath, as with Bale, the Jokers roots are not forgotten in a twisted appearance to the clown faced villain, especially noticed in the menacing pencil trick.
The Joker first hit the screen in the 1960’s with Caesar Romeo behind the mask. His character really lived up to the foolish prankster attitude of the comic-book super villain, preferring an acid squirting flower to a gun. Next rolled up Jack Nicholson, appearing in the 1980’s, a sinister turn on once a humorous character. Then finally, the jaw-dropping performance of the late Heath Ledger filled the cinemas world wide in 2008, a huge step up in brilliance. Heath’s interpretation is pure ground-breaking entertainment.
Ledger brings a whole different idea to the Joker, as a deluded, multi-layered character who clearly has a troubled past, displayed by his attitude if not by his face. The agitating glare of The Joker comes from the bleached skin, crinkled black eyes and the menacing gash ironically making him smile. The face from hell, and his green tangled hair, along with the custom made purple suit present the Joker we know, albeit an aura of chilling fear amongst the complex character. The disturbance of the psychopath does not only run skin deep but through to the bone, his speech and uncanny lisp but more so his actions depict a character truly deranged to the heart. It is a wonder that Heath Ledger alone was nominated for 42 international awards, incredibly 37 of which, he rightfully won.
A beautifully crafted film is supported by the incredible array of music and artwork. It just adds to the untimely classic Warner Bros. have created. A Key to the success of the film is the intoxicating performance of all actors, Heath Ledger, Christian Bale and Gary Oldman to name a few, Only falling short in Bales Batman voice, a gravelly mess difficult to understand… but due to the lack of words leaving Batman’s mouth, we can accept this as a small room for improvement.
For all the fans of the action, horror, black humour and thrillers, The Dark Knight will not be disappointed. Ground breaking real life explosions, the eerie malevolent joker, the essence of the whole film and also the clever puns; ‘Let her go,’ ‘a poor choice of words’ replies the joker as he lets Rachael fall to her death. It puts a guilty smile on the viewer’s face, one hard to wipe away.
The intuitive film is one to see. It’s jaw dropping action, in depth story line and fantastic character portrayal leave no reason not to watch the return of the famous DC vigilantly superhero. A gripping cinematic experience and a superb homage to the late Heath Ledger, a five star film, fully deserving its 102 international awards.
10/10.
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