Dark Knight, The'

Fanboy Prelude:
So, as with the weekly episodes of TV programs a little recap. Previously on Rebooted Batman Franchise: (Episode #1 - Batman Begins) as the title suggested we saw the rise of Batman, a symbol of order within the criminally dominated world that was Gotham City. Ra's Al Ghul tried to destroy the city by putting them into a state of panic by drugging them through their water supply, but Batman saved the city in the nick of time by ensuring the drug wasn't unleashed. Lt. Gordon explained to our caped crusaders that the criminal world is now unsettled & retaliation is to be expected ... and now 3 years on in our timeline, 1 year in theirs, the most anticipated blockbuster of the year begins .. (Episode #2 - The Dark Knight)

The Dark Knight in some ways parallels Batman Begins in that it also shows the rise of a symbol. If Batman Begins told us to spread the word where the word was 'Panic', the word now has duly been replaced with 'Chaos'. Welcome to a world without rules.

Fan Review:
Let's be honest, the film comes 2nd, the question that comes first is what's the Joker like? Well, the Joker is spell-binding, it's by far the best portrayal we've seen to date on film. It wouldn't be a push to say he is the highlight of the film, no pity or respect for Heath Ledger influences me to say hands down, the Joker was tremendous to watch, you'll remember his lines, his actions above all of the remaining cast.

No disrespect to any of the prior actors who played him, it's not their fault that the setting has never been right to do something like this. I guess what I'm saying is Heath Ledger has done a damned good job here, but it'd be wrong to think it's 'all' his doing. The stage had been set for him. I recall the chill down my spine when we saw the Joker card at the end of Batman Begins, it said to me, "that's right kiddo, this is just the beginning" and when Heath Ledger was chosen for the role, I recall having reservations. I was wrong & should have just trusted in Nolan, but this is precisely my point I suppose. It's Nolans' vision & it's great.

The Joker has a number of moments that are brutal & disturbing, yet the film manages to get a 12a rating, which is pretty smart, because the brutality is all implied. You're let to piece it together in your own head & that is precisely what works for it.

Moving onto the film itself, all the remaining performances are spot on too. I feared that 'the Batman' would be over-shadowed by all the other additions to the on-goings. I mean we got Harvey Dent & the Joker, the two-face story element, all new additions to the previous cast, but thankfully, the over-shadowing is minimal. Bruce Wayne & Batman still have plenty of cool moments. (I still want a memory cloth black cape that goes rigid when you run a current through it). The gadgetry was a concern of mine, particularly the Batpod, seeing it on the poster I had reservations, but seeing how we get there & just seeing it in action, I was sold.

The pacing is perfect, it's a constant stream of building tension & spectacular action scenes, right through to the very last scene which ran the same chill down my spine (in both viewings) as I felt when I saw the Joker card in the climax of Batman Begins.

Did this film live up to the over-drive of hype that's been in the atmosphere for a good year, maybe longer? Too damned right it did!!! This is by far the best film ever. EVER. (read, this month, possibly this year).

A More Critical Prelude:
Even before I went in. I was listening to one of the Row Three podcasts a few weeks back where they talked about The Dark Knight & how they weren't all that excited to see it, partly because they almost felt obliged to see it. Now I wouldn't go to that extent. In fact anyone that was in contact with me a week or 2 before the release knows I was practically orgasmic about seeing it, but some part of me does agree with them. The excitement is no way as much as it was to see Batman Begins.

It didn't help that the UK got the film 1 week later than majority of the world, I was quite bitter about that. Adding to this the fact that within the opening weekend, the film had earned over 60,000 voted on imdb that averaged it at 9.4 out of 10, putting at at the #1 spot almost made me want to hate it. I mean I know that the imdb system is flawed, but this was just plain mocking me. "Yep. Batman's out. It's the best film of all time & you can't see it".

So, I'm there Thursday night in the IMAX, part of me so excited I could have wet myself, part of me ready & wanting to pick away at each & every little flaw of the film as revenge to my late delivery & to prove it's NOT the best film of all time within a week of it's release. This film made a two-face out of me, even before I saw it. I mean how can 1 film make such history in 1 fucking week? I mean it's not like everyone's even seen it yet, it's a preposterous leap to make. Best Fucking film of all time. That's ridiculous. So here goes..

The flaws of this film (which I totally would forgive them for at my second viewing):
It's long. Too long? Well .. the content allows you to forgive the duration, but the worst part is that they had that perfect cut-off point. Once you see the last scene, you'll probably think, okay, this ending is better than the cut-off point (at around 2 hours), but the 30 minutes of lead-up to it isn't quite enough. Sound like I'm conflicted? Well yea', sort of.

There is part of me that says they should have stopped it at the 2 hour point. The other part thinks the ending they went with is perfect, but to achieve the effect of this fully another 15-20 minutes were probably needed. As it stands the pre-climax, the reason for the very last lines in the film seems a little contrived, forced even.

Another flaw? Two-Face. He was almost too perfect. How is that a flaw? Well, let's take a look at The Joker. If a scarred man was to go a bit nuts & paint his face to cover up the scars & look like a clown, this is pretty much how he would look. Likewise, if a guy had half his face burnt off, what are the odds of a perfect vertical line down the middle of your face? It just seems far-fetched. (I know, I know, & a billionaire vigilante bat doesn't?!) It took me out of the film once he's revealed, reminding me I was at a film & that's always bad.

There were some other minor nuisances, such as the sonar device, the moral dilemma with the ships & how it was handled, the act they didn't being back the falafel man (Flass), but I think these are minor & simply bugged me a little, rather than being actual flaws.

Overall, being critical or not, this is still the film to see at the moment. I'd certainly say it's the best film in the past month. Quite probably the best of the year (so far, anyway). If you even remotely liked Batman Begins, you should see this. I wouldn't go so far as to call it the best film ever, but then again I can't see myself giving any film that title, so what would I know?