The Dark Knight

if you've been online in the last couple of weeks, you would have already noticed that not only is the Internets now flooded with talk on The Dark Knight, but also every single person you know in real life is hearing about this film and wanting to see it. a good thing?

sure.

it at least guarantees the film will enjoy a huge, if not record-breaking, worldwide box-office take, almost ensuring a third film in the future. but if you're just the casual fan of the franchise, and of the Batman character and all those associated in its universe, your main motivation for seeing the film has no doubt been the much talked about film-stealing performance of Heath Ledger as The Joker.

and it's not a motivation i scoff at. i'm a huge fan of the Batman mythos, and of the character itself. but without a doubt, Batman's ultimate adversary has been and always will be The Joker. he's the villain that never dies, always pushed Batman's buttons, and always eggs him on to break his one rule: the rule being that Batman does not kill. in the film, it's something The Joker takes delight in punishing Bats for. he knows he can do pretty much whatever the hell he wants, and the caped crusader will only go so far in stopping him. he'd never step over the line, a weakness that Joker uses to his full advantage.

it has to be said, with all the hype surrounding the film and of Ledger's performance in particular, especially after his sudden and unfortunate death, the film really does deliver on every single bit of that hype. sure you may be able to discern some plot holes, Christian Bale's bat-growl may sound dumb and some of the dialogue can be overly-corny, but the overall package results in a completely satisfying experience. personally, i have been anxiously awaiting this film for over a year, even before Heath's death made it into an inevitable juggernaut, keeping up-to-date with set photos and insider info. y'know, the usual fanboy shit.

i got my first taste of The Dark Knight last Tuesday at an afternoon session @ IMAX, which in my humble opinion is unequivocally THE BEST WAY of watching this film. it will blow your mind and leave you, quite literally, breathless. we sat only 4 or 5 rows from the front, and when the opening shot of Gotham City was unleashed onto the 8-story tall screen, everyone in the sold-out theatre gasped: it FELT like we were floating over the top of the buildings.

at a running time of 2.5hrs, a lot of people have had the requisite, cliched complaint that "had it been 30mins shorter, it would've been better". i call bullshit on this criticism. this is a film so rich in content, so visually striking, with one massive standout performance and a bevy of major and minor characters to work with, that 2.5hrs didn't even do it justice. the film felt more like an epic crime drama than a "comic book movie", and deserves to be 3.5hrs.

if i could make one complaint (and in a review, one must always make at least one), for a film titled The Dark Knight, Batman didn't get as much shine. he played second-fiddle to the real star of the film: The Joker. but, on further reflection of this, i think back to the animated series. anytime Joker was involved, the focus was squarely on him. he stole the show. that's who he is and what he does as a villainous character. in this regard, it makes sense that Batman took a backseat this time around.

this film is going to be absolutely massive, if it isn't already. go see it. the end.

V.