Friday 19 July 2013

Review : The Dark Knight



The Dark Knight :  When Batman, L.T Gordon and new D.A Harvey Dent launch an assault on the mob, they let the clown out of the box, so to speak. The Joker is back, bent on turning Gotham on itself and bringing any heroes down to his level.

Hello Film Lovers

Welcome to the latest of Dr Film film reviews. Today I will be continuing my pursuit into the Christopher Nolan Batman trilogy. Today I am going to be talking about The Dark Knight, the second instalment of the trilogy and probably the most important part of the Bruce Wayne story. Though Batman Begins was more a starting off point Dark Knight really excels and explores the character of Bruce Wayne, and how he deals with being a billionaire by day, and crime fighter Batman at night.

This time, Batman is up against a new opponent - The Joker. Which is a no brainer really, he is the most iconic and dangerous villain in the world of Batman. If your doing a Batman film, sooner or later the writer of the director realises, The Joker's going to have to turn up some time.

The Continuation or this sector of the story, explores Batman and how he raises the stakes in his war on crime. With the help of Lieutenant Jim Gordon and New District Attorney Harvey Dent, Batman sets out to dismantle the remaining criminal organisations that plague the city streets.

This partnership proves to be effective to start of with. But they soon find themselves, prey to a reign of chaos unleashed by a rising criminal mastermind known to the terrified citizens of Gotham as The Joker.

The issues raised in Dark Knight, are fairly straight forward, like Batman Begins it delivers a little message of it's own, that message being the Joker's message of 'One ordinary man can fall' and the Joker is a great antagonist. He's very much his own boss, he is a man who just wants to watch the world burn, and takes pleasure of doing horrible things for his own gain, and Nolan really plays with that, he doesn't see the Joker as a laughy physcopath, he sees him a calculating and domineering character, that is one step ahead of Batman all the time.




I think what makes the Dark Knight, a disconcerting story is the fact of the matter of there being quite gritty and cold violence in it. not that I object to that, I would expect no less, but at the same time this is not a children's film. The 12 rating is something, which needs to be taken seriously. I do think that though the story is very meaningful and good, It is a very on edge, high tense thriller with very gritty and gory moments in there. It's the sort of thing which needs to be taken seriously. Not to any extreme  extent cause it's a fiction, but still the awareness issues, and political messages, I would suggest taking them into account. Other wise, what's the point of watching the film.

The story explores new depths to Bruce, as Bruce and Bruce as Batman, you can tell he finds it difficult to tackle the two roles, hand in hand. I think that really comes through especially in the scene, where the audience witness the death of Rachael, and the demise of Harvey Dent when he becomes Two Face. That's a great example of the importance of a decisison. Especially for Bruce, because at the time he's not Bruce - he's Batman, he's just doing a job. The point is explored further in a different scene where Alfred reads the letter that Rachael writes to Bruce, of how she is sure he knows that he will always be Batman. It's true, but very much a kick in the head.



In a nutshell, The story is better developed, and explores the aspects of Bruce Wayne tackling between him and his alter-ego very well. very much a more darker and mellow story than Batman begins, which is a good and bad thing.

The main problem, is that this film really concentrates on selling itself on being one thing, that slows the story right down.

Overall, I think The Dark Knight is just an amazing film, but has it's faults here and there. 8/10

Thank You for reading this review

TOMORROW: I review the conclusion - 'The Dark Knight Rises'

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