The most talked about movie of the year. The most reviewed movie of the year. The most written about movie of the year. But i'm still going to write about The Dark Knight because its the best movie to come out in years and because i feel there's a need to defend its No. 3 spot on IMDB.
The Dark Knight starts off from where Batman Begins left off, only its a whole new level of movie making and characterisation altogether. If BB explored the origins and beginning of Batman, TDK explores Batman's flaws, limitations and still yet the symbology of what Batman stands for.
Let me do away with the conventional praise of effects, technical brilliance and acting. The movie truly hinges and revolves around the manic and brilliant performance of Heath Ledger as The Joker. There are some actors who understand their roles like seasoned performers and come up with great performances. And then again, there are some who just possess the character, make it their own. The Joker as a performance and as a character is truly complete in itself. The Joker begins of as somewhat of a loony, with fuzzy intentions. But as the story progresses we realise what he's doing; playing with the psychology of Gotham and its heroes, turning good into bad, order into chaos, rules into anarchy and hope into despair. While his origins are very cleverly hidden (multiple stories on his scar) to make the character complete; an agent of chaos, we come to realise that here's a villian who's not motivated by money, greed or revenge but simply by a desire to see the world burn and turn into madness. Joker is the true story teller here, conjuring up a master psychological play.
However, the essence of the story lies in the symbology of Batman. As a physical entity we come to realise that he's vulnerable, not limitless. But as a symbol; of hope or despair he can be anything. And he understands this precisely by saving Dent's image in the end. Batman is what Gotham needs him to be. A flawed hero for a flawed world.
What Nolan has delivered here is an Empire Strikes Back of a Batman movie; a masterpiece depicting a superhero as he would be in a true world and a morality which is real, not out of a comic book. And we're likely to see a Batman redeeming himself in the next; The Return of Batman perhaps?
