The Dark Knight (2008)

Disclaimer:

Before I get into it, this is a Spoiler review if you haven't seen it (because you should it's really good, just go watch it WHAT ARE YOU STANDING HERE FOR!) understand? Fantastic!

Before I have seen the movie I knows it's one of the greatest sequels ever made, like I've seen Toy Story 2 , Shrek 2 and even recently Spider-Man: Across the Spider-verse. Once I finally watch it, it was much better then I thought! In fact much GREATER then I thought, I'm not JOKER it makes me want to read the comics! I honestly think I'm a change man (I guess that movie give me a Batman kick since I was so used to the MCU movies)! Also on a side-note I did seen the rest of the trilogy and also what do I think of Batman as a franchise? I think it's one of the most fluence and dare I say one of the most underrated characters in fiction!(Hot Take but Superman is a underrated character in my opinion!)

As a kid I have a weird soft spot for the superhero genre, characters wearing in costume but also have supernatural advantages and even fighting off crime is both funny and kinda cool. I listening Something just like this all the time and watching the Marvel films. I play LEGO Marvel Avengers at my cousins house a lot. I also have read my brother's Captain America comic (even though I would never forget that I rip off the page with my bare foot for a very stupid reason). That's thanks to Captain Underpants (even MegaMind, The Incredibles and hell Despicable Me of all things for extension) what makes me fell in love for the genre. I also read a lot of the Captain Underpants book a lot as a kid and it inspired me to make my comics series which my company is called "Thinkable Comics" which I do make comics to this very day. I made up stories about a Street lamp named "Micheal" and so far right now I'm doing my 25th issue soon! Even today I was in my costume as a hero called... (honestly I keep on redesign every time) and fight off my brother in a trampoline. But any ways yeah on a personal level I love Batman and thanks to The Batman film and even The LEGO Batman film (don't worry I will review that movie eventfully). But without a JOKE-Ha-Ha let's get into the Bat Cave:

Action of justice!: Honestly I just retcon myself because in my Kung Fu Panda review I said that the superhero genre actions are kind of lame, okay I lied I Oscar Will Smith on you people I know now, JUST DON'T KILL ME PUT DOWN YOU PITCH FOLKS AND I STOP BEING A DRAMA QUEEN ALREADY! There is so many good killer action scenes like the chase scene where Batman is trying to stop the Joker from get to Harvey Dent, there's no music just the sounds, it's very unlike every action movie I've ever seen and it gives this eerie vibe to it!

Batman is a great written character: We already know the whole of Batman thing about Batman but thing why it's (mostly) beloved by everyone. It's because of his relatability and his weakness like everyday people and do we remembered and cared for the franchise. Minor nip-pick I think Christian Bale performance is kind of goofy at times and it's the voice that everyone knows and loves over the years.

IM BATMAN! I LIVE IN THE SHADOWS, (deep breath) JUSTICE! FOR GOTHAM! I NEED TO GO TO THE BATCAVE! BATMAN NEEDS HIS SUPPILES! FOR GOTHAM! SLIDE INTO BATTLE, FOR GOTHAMMMM! I like in the first scene where he stop his fans to join him for justice being a little selfish but it dose makes sense considering the city is very imperfect.

Joker is an amazing antagonist!: Honestly that's what you came here for, the Joker steal the show here and the opening scene is so Iconic. I love Heath Lender and he crushes the role as the Joker because he added things to make the character more intimidating like when he enter the party, what dose he do? He eat a prawn , he spill the wine and drink empty glass, it doesn't seem much but it adds on his unpredictability and mysterious nature, that's the whole point of the Joker's character he is an unpredictable, master planner and the jokes he make could be play on you!

The next script says:

(The Joker drops the Gentlemen. Turn to Rachel.)

"Hello, beautiful..."

But Heath adds this playful with his hair and licking his lips, ready to go after his next prey. Like I said it doesn't do anything to the plot but the little details that Heath give let the knows about he's scheme. There's is something magical about Heath Ledger's performance and in my opinion the best casting EVER in the 21st Century! But it's really a shame that he didn't show up in the Oscars because he sadly passed away after the production of the movie is finish, hell not even the movie got released is just already really upsetting. But any ways carry on the next one!

Why Harvey Dent is my favourite character in this film: The stupid critics with the movie is that people constantly say that the movie is boring every time the Joker is not on screen, like what?! Your are basically saying that you haven't paying attention to the movie! I need to do that rant because never say the movie is just boring unless you give a reason and not just you like one character. Hot Take: Harvey Dent should've been Batman's arch nemesis and I'm going to tell you why.

1, he is Batman's closes friend other then Mr. Fox and Alfred: You spend most of the time time with Bruce and Harvey together almost like a best friend and not to mention it's a fitting partnership because he is a lawyer and Bruce is you know a Detective so it's very interesting to me and that makes him turning into Two Face and turning against him makes it more tragic in my opinion. What I found his character compelling is that the relationship with the hero and the only other character I think on top of my head is Darth Vader from Star Wars and I found him compelling because he has his relationship with his son (Luke Skywalker) and it feels very genuine and I feel very invest with him (the Star Wars get it's own discussion some time soon). He literally sacrifice himself for being that he is Batman and this leads to Batman finally getting a fight to the Joker.

2, the coins and what they represent: You see Harvey Dent have this coins he flicks and he says this line:

Two Face: "It's not about what I want, it's about what's fair!"

"You thought we could be decent men, in an indecent time!"

"But you were wrong, the world is cruel, the only Morality in a cruel world is chance."

"Unbiased, unprejudiced, fair!"

Get my point? Not only it's a unique trait to a villain, it's also represent "Fairness" and his words could be right! What if humanity is unbiased with their opinions and actions! I think what is trying to say is that he wants to make Gotham City a better world but got rejected by society. The coin has two images, one is a lady and the other is another lady with a mark. So when ever he flip it it's what is chance what or who dose or doesn't deserve justice.

3 he is a human: By the end of the day, I get it why people would say Dr Freeze for Killer Croc is the most tragic Batman villain but to me it's always Two Face because he is a human man trying to do his business, he is not an insane clown, he is not an over-size crocodile and not an extremely attractive plant woman. He is probably the most realistic DC antagonist in my opinion. (No hate, I love them all)

The third act climax: This had to be my favourite part of the film! There is so many going on and it's setup all of the chaos! Joker is straight up committing genocide to Gotham and the people and criminals are giving a choice who should died first but the people rejected it and even question themselves by the end, do Batman need us? Batman had to (intentional) had to kill his friend and Harvey Dent died for trying to help Gotham but died as a corrupt villain. Or is he a villain? Because (I wish I said this earlier, well jokes on me!) he says "You died as a hero or you live long to see yourself become a villain" this might not sound very dramatic on paper but it's actually very affective line which is the whole theme of the movie! And when Harvey Dent dies Batman remembered what he said "You died as a hero or you live long to see yourself become a villain". That concept is talking from the Graphic Novel The Killin Joke but it's on Harvey Dent instead. I think this is really brilliant and well executed!

In fact that what this movie's challenge to Batman it's the down fall of Batman and this later go on as Alfred is concerned about Bruce and his actions or his actions are the wrong thing to do. It's that Batman still wins but he lost almost everything, his reputation , his friends and the next film his company. Yeah the guy have been a lot (though a bit too much).

Final thoughts: So overall, I think Christopher Nolan is a very creative, breath taking and a really good writer in general! His realistic portray of Batman is amazing! Like I said I don't hate the recent (well mostly) MCU films just for the sake of it, I l admire peoples talents and the movie is thought out and well executed enough movies like Christopher Nolan's Batman Trilogy shows that's superhero movies can still be takin seriously and stand the test of time of this century! It's that the MCU now days leaded to heavy on jokes then story and most of them aren't funny and became very cringe instead. But here I know it's not a comedy but the funny is very sharply written being that characters are amusing themselves not the audiences and the reason why I said that in my final thoughts section because it's the less thing I had to say or then oh that's not very funny or that is very funny because it's not saying much. It's amazing that he took Two Face as a gimmicky dumb character to a compelling character arc! This is my favourite Christopher Nolan film by a long shot and as you can tell I love this film (don't worry I also seen the rest of his films which get there own discussion and you guys know I'm not lying to you and keep that in mind). So I don't know how deep the Batman movies are but I don't think I need to say everything about this and maybe there are some aspects that I probably missed, I don't know but that's everything I got to say about this Peak Masterpiece!

And I'll read my comics peacefully....

Rest-In-Peace,

Heath Ledger

1979-2008

We will never forget you.