The Knight Is Darkest Before The Dawn
By DBoy 34 Comments
Although his performance in Brokeback Mountain was something to behold, Heath Ledger's disturbingly stellar portrayal of The Joker, which sadly turned out to be his final curtain call, will no doubt go down as his best. Without Ledger, The Dark Knight would have been just a regular superhero movie. He brings new life to this twisted anarchist character, as he wrecks havoc on the people of Gotham and proves that everybody has a dark side when pushed to the extreme, even the heroic Batman. Without a shadow of a doubt, Heath's disturbing rendition of The Joker will forever be remembered as one of the best acting performances in motion picture history.
The story in The Dark Knight is quite good, as it holds many twists and turns which will have you guessing until the very end. After instilling fear into the corrupt criminals of Gotham with his own brand of vigilante justice, Batman (Christian Bale) gets some unexpected help from up-and-coming district attorney Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart) and Lt. James Gordon (Gary Oldman) as they struggle to stop an anarchist madman known only as The Joker (Ledger). Aside from Heath's stellar acting, the rest of this stand-out cast does deliver. The exquisite Michael Caine reprises his role as Alfred Pennyworth with brilliance. Also returning for this sequel is the superb Morgan Freeman, who does a great job as Lucious Fox. Although I still think Michael Keaton was the best Batman ever, Christian Bale does a decent job as the Caped Crusader. The only thing that annoys me is his voice when he's doning the cape and mask. I don't know if his suit is too tight or if he's always out of breath but, even when he's talking to Lucious or Alfred, he uses that voice. Don't they know who he is? Another thing is New York... err, I mean Gotham City. I preferred Tim Burton's Gotham to Christopher Nolan's.
The Dark Knight blends action, comedy and suspense seamlessly to provide two and a half (!!) hours of magic. Many people will agree that Heath Ledger turned this movie from good to amazing, and I couldn't agree more. On the other hand, you have those who will say that Jack Nicholson's portrayal of The Purple One was better. Although Nicholson is one of my favorite actors, and that I agree his performance was Oscar worthy, I just have to tip my hat to Ledger. He represents a vile Joker of comic book folklore, the anarchist, the crazed lunatic, the psychopath, and he does it so well that it just sends chills down your spine. No matter if you're into comic book superheroes or not, you just need to see this movie to witness one of the best acting performances in recent memory.
Oh, and you'll never look at a pencil the same way again either.
Rating: 10/10