Glare in envy, fanboys, I have managed to charm Warner Brothers into letting me into a preview screening of The Dark Knight. Sure, I had to stagger out of the cinema at noon and burst my daze as I returned to work, but it was worth it. It’s no secret that The Dark Knight is the most anticipated film of the year, after Spielberg and Lucas destroyed a great franchise earlier this summer. The promos for the second revived Batman movie have been astounding, as have the rumours that the recently deceased Heath Ledger has delivered an award-winning performance. But, is the story of Batman’s battle with Joker and Two-Face going to live up to its expectations?
Before I continue with The Dark Knight, I should explain that I found Batman Begins to be a disappointing film. While I appreciated Nolan’s attempt to reinvent Batman according to Miller’s grim style, Batman Begins felt too serious, too much in love with its sense of unjustified gravitas to acknowledge that the plot was rather silly, despite Nolan’s best efforts to portray the villain as a moral force.
Fortunately, the sequel manages to avoid this, by generating a dizzying world of chaos and violence, represented by one figure: The Joker. This is not the prancing prat from the CRACK POW Batman series, nor is it the self-destructive maniac that is Jack Nicholson after a few pints of booze. No, this Joker has a one-track mind on a mission to revel in endless destruction. Read the rest of this entry »
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