Well, to be honest, I still am not sure if I have seen this film. As of the writing of this review, I have seen the film three times now and I am still not sure I have seen all that the film has to offer.
When I was a child, I used to collect comic books and I always had one favorite hero, The Batman. I had no idea why I liked him. Maybe it was his dark outfit, maybe it was him trying to save Gotham City from the bad guys. I have no idea to this day why I selected him as my favorite. All of my other childhood friends were into Superman. I like him but to me he was just to good to be true. After awhile, I quit reading the books and moved onto baseball cards.
I forgot all about Batman until I heard about a story called
The Dark Knight Returns and rediscovered Batman as a dark hero that the world deserved and have not left the Batman world since.
So who is the man that we call "Batman"? To me he is a
Ronin because he has always blamed himself for his parents death as a child. In the new batman film, he looses another one close to him and it looks to make him more of a "Ronin."
So with all of this in my mind, I went to see my childhood hero, "Batman's" latest film,
The Dark Knight . I had only one thought after I saw it at the IMAX, "My God, They have finally gotten my hero right."
THIS WILL BE A HEAVY SPOILER REVIEW ALERT, SO IF YOU DO NOT WANT THE FILM SPOILED, THEN PLEASE STOP READING NOW.
If you are going to show a hero, you must also show the villain. Batman's main villain is
The Joker and he is shown the way that the Joker was meant to be played by the late, Heath Ledger.
Alfred states the best description of "The Joker" and he makes this comment. "You crossed the line first, sir. You squeezed them, you hammered them to the point of desperation. And in their desperation they turned to a man they didn't fully understand." ......."Because some men aren't looking for anything logical, like money. They can't be bought, bullied, reasoned or negotiated with. Some men just want to watch the world burn." Mr. Ledger's acting makes you think that all he wants to do is to watch the world burn while he laughs at the result.
I think that the Academy Award Oscar should just be given to the estate of Mr. Ledger for his performance as the Joker.
Near the end of the film "The Joker" makes A statement that shows that him and Batman are the same..
The Joker: You just couldn't let me go could you? This is what happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object. You truly are incorruptible aren't you? You won't kill me out of some misplaced sense of self-righteousness, and I won't kill you, because you're just too much fun. I think you and I are destined to do this forever.
Batman: You'll be in a padded cell forever.
The Joker: Maybe we can share one. They'll be doubling up, the rate this city's inhabitants are losing their minds.
This led to the major question that I had about the next film. Do they recast the Joker or do they try and find another villain? The Joker was supposed to be in the third film and with the death of Mr. Ledger would you want to even try and make another one? How can you top this battle between good and evil between the Joker and Batman?
Now for what I liked about the film...
The voices of sanity for Batman,
Alfred Pennyworth: (Michael Caine) and
Lucius Fox: (Morgan Freeman) These two fine actors show why they are great actors and give the film a voice of logic in insane times.
The role of
Harvey Dent: (Played by Aaron Eckhart) In this role, he gave Batman hope that he could be the white knight face that Gotham needed. He could be the hero and save Gotham from crime. When you see it all go wrong for Dent, Eckhart's acting makes you see that he has fallen and the white knight is no more.
I loved this role, I actually believed that he had made a deal with the devil to get revenge and in the end it cost his life and almost his dream of hero for Gotham.
The role of James Gordon (Played by Gary Oldman) tells us, the movie viewer, what the city of Gotham needs.
Lt. James Gordon: Because he's the hero Gotham deserves, but not the one it needs right now...and so we'll hunt him, because he can take it. Because he's not a hero. He's a silent guardian, a watchful protector...a dark knight.
In this film, he becomes the police commissioner. He also knows that he must also play a two-face role with Batman. In private he must hunt Batman for his fake crimes and he knows that he will need him to save the city from itself.
Now for the one thing in the film that I really hated, was the role of
Rachel Dawes: (played by Maggie Gyllenhaal
).
This character was never in the comic book and was made for this series of the movie. She was supposed to be a love interest for Bruce Wayne. Instead, when she dies in this film, she becomes another reason for Batman's "Ronin" outlook. He has now lost his parents and the only woman that he has ever loved. I thought her acting was very bad and she slowed the pace of the film in every shot that she was in.
At the time of this writing, the film has made over 440 million in the US Market and is within striking range of the 600 million $ that "Titanic" made in the 90's.
I have written words of praise for this film in order to try and convince you to see this film. I honesty do not if the words I have written have done this film any justice. All I can ask is that you take your time and please see this film. It is worth your time and your $. We are given a hero that we deserve, as a world. We are not given a hero that we need. I think this is why the film has done so well in the USA. He is what we need as a nation, a dark knight.
Grade A+
The Chechen: What do you propose?
The Joker: It's simple, we, uh, kill the Batman.
[
mobsters laugh]
Salvatore Maroni: If it’s so simple, why haven't you done it already?
The Joker: If you're good at something, never do it for free.
How I saw it. CGV IMAX
Opened in South Korea on 6 August 2008
Opening weekend in USA. $158,411,483 (USA) (
20 July 2008) (4,366 Screens)
MAY HEATH LEDGER FIND THE PEACE IN DEATH THAT HE COULD NOT FIND IN THE TIME OF HIS LIFE.
Have you even had a bad feeling about a film and when it was over, you were so glad that the feeling was wrong? Well I loved Mamma Mia! and I hope that you will also.
Now, I had heard of the musical "Mamma Mia" and I knew that it had been a huge world-wide hit and that it has done very well in Korea. I knew next to nothing about the film. I knew about the stars and I knew that it has a lot of ABBBA songs in the musical. I really had no idea if I would like the film.
The film talks about a single mother watching her daughter fall in love and now its the day before her wedding day and she is scarred for her. Her daughter has always wondered about her father and by a chance of finding her mothers old diary she has narrowed her father search to 3 men. Meryl Streep heads the cast of the film, playing the role of single mother Donna Sheridan. Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth, and Stellan Skarsgård play the three potential fathers to Donna's daughter Sophie (Amanda Seyfried).
Now their has been some serious bad reviews of this film and I will ask that you ignore those and go see the film with someone that you love. The film talks of love lost and love found and all with the songs of ABBA intertwined to make a good film into a great one.
So, please go and see the movie with someone that you care for and please stay for the credits. It was well worth the extra time.
Grade A.
Sophie: Do you feel like I'm letting you down?
Donna: Why would you say that?
Sophie: All the stuff that you've done, the Dynamos, raising a kid, running a business single handedly...
Donna: Honey, I didn't have a choice. I couldn't go home. When I was pregnant, my mother told me not to even bother coming back. And I wouldn't have had it any other way, God, look at all the stuff we've done!
Opened in Korea on 4 September 2008
How I saw it. CGV Theater.
Opening weekend in the USA. $27,751,240 (USA) (20 July 2008) (2,976 Screens)
