Review of The Dark Knight (2008) by Vivekanand S — 23 Oct 2018

"What the hell are you?".

"I am Batman!".

This line will surely go make a mark in Hollywood history! Christopher Nolan, the director of the critically acclaimed movie INSOMNIA, unleashes his version of BATMAN, which I should say is the closest to the comics after the treatment Tim Burton gave to the character.

After the release of the first pictures of the Batman costume, (Thank god it was without the Bat-nipples) and the heavy duty model of the Bat-mobile (which again was a refreshing change from the sleek Bat-mobile) the world was pretty excited about what seemed to be a more dark, hard gritted take on the character. Fortunately, Mr. Nolan does not disappoint at all.

We get to see a perfect origin story of Bruce Wayne starting from the day of his parents' death until the day he finally dons the costume. We see him working with criminals to study their mind eventually meeting Alan Ducard (Ra's Al Ghul) brilliantly played by the versatile actor Liam Neeson who trains Bruce Wayne to be the Dark Knight with his own evil plan in mind. The training justifies the fighting methods of Batman in the movie, which is actually inspired by Ninja fighting skills.

Returning home, we meet Bruce Wayne's loyal and the most trusted friend Alfred portrayed by Micheal Caine which makes a good father figure for him with his witty advices.

We see Gary Oldman playing Jim Gordon, Gotham City's Police Commissioner and another ally of Batman. Talking about the characters of the movie, all of them fit really well in the movie. Be it, the scarecrow, who actually gives some jumps during his tenure in the movie, or Ra's Al Ghul; talking about endurance to Bruce Wayne or Alfred asking "WHY DO WE FALL?", all of them are near to perfection.

The movie itself has some nice thrills, for say, the entry of BATMAN, actually creating fear and panic for the villains. The fantastic monster Bat-mobile chase scene along with the background score of Hanz Zimmer is one which will be played by people driving at top speeds for years to come! Now that I did mention about the background score, Hanz Zimmer is almost half-responsible for creating this perfect image of the dark Batman with the music he gave!

Special mention to Morgan Freeman a.k.a, Lucius Fox, takes the mantle of the technical support for Batman. We see him explaining the suits, the weapons and my God, the Bat-mobile in a thunderous scene.

Something that did not add up was the inclusion of Katie Holmes. I found her an alien being in the whole movie, though she does her best.

So, go ahead and check out the guy who is flying on rooftops and you will be left craving for more because at the end we see what's coming next!