I have been reading how the new Batman movie - a sequel to Batman Begins by director Chirstopher Nolan - has been breaking box office records by the day. My interest in this whole venture was piqued after I chanced upon a group of Dark Knight fans and their keen interest in the movie, its characters and of course Heath Ledger, who plays the role of Joker almost to perfection.
I saw the movie yesterday with a smattering of college going adults and a few oldies for the 152 minute adventure. The movie, per se, is well made and all actors - from Micheal Caine to Gary Oldman to Morgan Freeman - play their parts well. The important actors do their job well too.
What I liked most about the flick (apart from the absence of Robin!) was the transformation of Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart) to Two-face. It was a great move showing his wicked side after trying to be the saviour of the fictional Gotham City - in this case a NYC clone full of highrises and Gotham Police Dept cars and a jetty for the climax. The two sides of good and evil signifies how easy it is to manipulate even the best of minds into taking up the wrong road. It somehow enhances the human tug-of-war Bruce Wayne faces each time he tries to stop crime.
Another cool character was Joker. Although he didnt hold my attention towards the climax (which I found a bit convulated) he was thoroughly menacing and a delight to watch. I wonder what really Jack Nicholson must have told him before Ledger took up the role of Joker. Either way, I'll be highly disappointed if he doesnt at least get an Oscar nomination for this role.
This is the first movie in recent years to have got a 4-star rating from most reviews and so the anticipation of a great flick was so highly built up that I can forgive Nolan if I didnt find the movie to live up to that much hype. The flick is good yes, but not great. Batman has returned as a formidable superhero once again, but the film dragged in some parts and the climax, as I've said, could have been better. Great SFX work, but please get Bale to act a little more next time around.
I am not a big fan of comics. I was one of those who wanted to grow up too soon too quickly and abandoning comics for the mystery world of Hardy Boys in school before finally beginning a journey into the worlds of Sidney Sheldon, Jeffrey Archer, Ayn Rand, and others. Comics thus have sustained in me only through movies and the occasional write-ups. The group I met were fanatical about Batman which was a great thing for me since I can never match any of my readings with a fanbase except for Potter and maybe LOTR. I wonder if our connect to books is only because of our own experiences or because we like to escape into a fictional world to leave our worries behind.
Comics certainly suggest that we like to give wings to our imaginations and dreams and so will always be popular. And going by the hordes of people I've seen flocking to the theatres for the Dark Knight, I'm sure there'll be no one who will disagree with me.
If you've seen the movie, drop me a line on how you felt about it.
