Thursday, July 17, 2008

MORE THAN A HERO, DEFINITELY MORE THAN A VILLAIN


There was a lot of hype prior to the screening of the latest Batman movie, The Dark Knight. Most of it, in my opinion, is because Heath Ledger who played the Joker in this movie died in the midst of filming it. I initially did not really planned to be a part of this hype. I did not even remember that the movie would hit the local cinemas this 17th July.

It just so happened that I watched it today. The very first day it is screened here in Malaysia. Quite an interesting story on how did I come to watch it on weekdays at 12.15 pm (and nope, it’s not public holiday, and yes, the school was on as usual.) To cut the story short, let’s just say that God must’ve really love me that He decided I should have a fun time today.

A colleague of mine suggested of going to the cinema in the middle of the noon. We initially agreed to only go for a shopping spree but she probably had a change of heart (or probably decided to save some money because she had splurged few days back on bag and clothes).

And it just so happened that The Dark Knight was the earliest show.

I was sceptical, because of the not-so-amusing experience I had of watching Batman Begins back in Auckland. Damn it was boring. Not even the hotness factor of Christian Bale could distract me from reeling in the boredom.

But this one is far from boring.

It begins excitingly with a robbery. One heck of a bank robbery by one heck of a villain.

And from that moment onwards, the movie keeps on making your heart pounds fast. The story develops beautifully and the actions that are packed in the movie do kick some serious arses. It’s relatively normal to have a well developed plot with awesome actions in a movie. But it’s quite hard to get several performances that is worthy of a standing ovation in ONE movie. And it’s a movie based on comic, mind you.

Christian Bale excels as Batman. He is probably my most favourite Batman, with Michael Keaton comes in second. The way he talks, he moves, (his body *gasps*) he epitomized an enigmatic hero. Also worth mentioning are the performances by Morgan Freeman, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Michael Cane as well as Aaron Eackhart who plays ‘two-faced Harvey’ rather brilliantly. He let himself being manipulated by The Joker and we could actually see that progression. Brilliant.

On top of all these superb performances, Heath Ledger’s surpasses theirs.

I really hate clowns, so so much. Ever since I watched the thriller ‘It’ (you watched it too? If you did, chances are, you’d hate clowns too), I have a strong dislike towards them. But Heath Ledger made them looks somewhat cool *shivers*. Cool because he does whatever he wants to do, regardless the impossibility and he’s the puppeteer that ensures everyone else around him plays their part the way HE wanted them to. And he did all these without others realising it. Now, that’s what I call a true puppeteer.

Ledger truly did become The Joker in Dark Knight. With his smeared red lipstick and whitey face, along with his I-could-care-less attitude, it is easy for you to fall in this imagination that The Joker really does exist. He is terrific. His voice and the way he talks could very well haunt you hours after you have left the cinema. Watching him in Dark Knight, you can’t help but feel his genuine intention to really want to see the world just burn, burn, burn. And somehow, my twisted mind repeatedly told me that “Wouldn’t it be awesome if I could be The Joker”. But this thought diminishes in a zap everytime I see THE Batmobile and also this one time when I see Wayne’s Lamborghini.

I am so tempted to type more about this movie but I know it would almost certainly have a lot of spoilers. And I know how some people hate spoilers. So I shall put my words into a rest here although good God how my fingers itch! All in all, it is an excellent action movie. Yes, the story is sad and gloomy. The setting and lighting also make you feel somewhat dark. The performances of the actors are brilliant and I, I walked out of the cinema with a hunger for a vendetta.

Kidding!

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