Movie #10 – The Dark Knight (2008) - 152 min, cert 12A.
This is the latest of many Batman adaptations to make it to the big screen. I hadn’t seen it before, and nor have I seen Batman Begins, it’s prequel, so it’s hard to tell whether I lost out on anything by watching this one first. Batman tends to be a pretty dark superhero at the best of times, but this movie paints a darker picture than usual.
Up-and-coming District Attorney Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart) has declared war against organized crime and the gangland bosses aren’t too happy about it. Between him and Batman (Christian Bale) their criminal activities are being completely stifled. In their desperation they turn to the maniacal Joker (Heath Ledger) who claims to be able to solve all their problems. The Joker turns the public against Batman by killing prominent figures at the rate of one a day, and threatening to continue until Batman reveals his true identity.
I found it a fairly run-of-the-mill action movie. Lots of explosions and outrageous technology. But nothing that hasn’t been seen before. The one thing that makes the movie stand out, however, is the performance of Ledger for which he deservedly won a posthumous Oscar. He steals every scene that he’s in with the way he revels gloriously in the anarchy that he creates. He has no real goal, he just wants to create chaos wherever he sees order.
Is Ledger’s performance enough to make this a great movie? Not in my opinion, but it does make it very watchable. I give it 7/10.
1. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966)
2. Pulp Fiction (1994)
3. The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
4. Schindler’s List (1993)
5. Inception (2010)
6. 12 Angry Men (1957)
7. The Godfather (1972)
8. The Dark Knight (2008)
9. The Godfather: Part II (1974)
10. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975)
Next up is Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back. It goes without saying that I’ve seen this movie numerous times. I’ll watch it again as per my own rules, but I’m not expecting any new insights.
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