We saw the film today at the San Miguel-Coca Cola IMAX theater in SM Mall of Asia, the film is in 2D. Oh man, I have been a Batman fan ever since I read the DC comic book when I was in grade school in the late 1960s. The Adam West TV series Batman became one of my favorite TV shows during my childhood years courtesy of Uncle Bob's Channel 7 of the 1960s. Having outgrown the TV series my adoration shifted to Tim Burton's Batman and its 2nd sequel but I found the Joel Schumacher sequels too cartoony just like the TV series (Jim Carrey's Riddler looks stupider than Frank Gorshin's). Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins was several notches higher and made the Batman franchise more than just a kid's film.
Lo and behold! The Dark Knight made the Marvel movie franchise (Spider-man, X-men, Ironman, Hulk) too cartoony ! The complex intricacies of the human morals are made into play in the Dark Knight. The Joker (Heath Ledger) is not your ordinary villain here, he doesn't care for money which is the main goal of other villains in moviedom and he doesn't care for his life either. He's a meshed-up schizophrenic with a convoluted personality disorder made courtesy of his sadistic father, he is a fine study to undertake by psychiatrists and can be the subject of numerous debates inside a psychology or psychiatry classroom. The Joker stood on par with Hannibal Lecter in Movie morphology. Heath Ledger's performance shines to greater heights and made the so-called 'method acting' into a new level. He made me laugh when he sarcastically applauded Lt. James Gordon as the new Comissioner. I felt pity for the Joker on what he has become. I won't be surprise if Heath Ledger gets nominated next year for a posthumous Oscar. The more I admire Heath Ledger's superb performance the sadder I become because we won't be seeing his performance again (*sniff*).
The performance of Aaron Eckhart as Harvey Dent aka Two-Face is also outstanding. Harvey Dent's dilemma crosses the boundary between heroic and evil deeds and to decide for those by means of flipping the coin, a case of a complex study in emotional instability courtesy of the Joker's power of persuasion. Morgan Freeman as Lucious Fox (like James Bond's Gadget man Q), maker of Batman's hi-tech gadgets also crosses a moral dilemma in the film of which I won't elaborate. Shades of James Bond antics borrowed by Bruce when he presses a button on a gadget without reading the instructions first. Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne/Batman also crosses the moral sea of dilemmas.
Hong Kong locale specifically Hong Kong island is one of the majestic backdrops in the film made more majestic by the size of an 8 storey building which is the IMAX screen located at the SM Mall of Asia. The Dark Knight is meant to be seen in IMAX format not in some minuscule size cinema you're used to or on your high definition big screen TV with a pirated DVD of a bootlegged The Dark Knight playing on your awesome Blu-Ray player, and that my friend also crosses the boundary of morality hehehe.
What's really sad about the film is the part when Joker uttered the lines, something like 'We are meant to be mortal nemesis for life that's why I can't kill you and you can't kill me', sad because a different actor will play the Joker if ever the Joker will appear again in future sequels. Batman completes the Joker but a Joker without Heath Ledger won't be completed even with the Batman around. Heath Ledger, you are sorely missed
My Ratings : 5/5 BISCUITS !
No comments:
Post a Comment