All right, I'm not much into movie reviews and this is one that has been reviewed a thousand times over by people far better and far worse than me - however, it would simply be not fair to not comment on this brilliant movie. The Dark Knight is probably one of the best movies I've seen - and not just in recent times. But my comments on the movie come in a different context - of that of a boy who has read through many of the caped crusader's exploits. Although having been a fan of the Batman character since I was a kid, I always knew that this one series was different from the other super hero comics I used to read - Phantom, Mandrake, Superman, Tarzan, et al.

The Batman has always been a darker comic series than any of the other ones. He was one that had enough gray shades that made him more human rather than super human. For a young boy reading these comics, Batman was the ultimate in super-cool - he had the gadgets, the car, the planes and didn't waste his time romantically (too much). Most of his female counterparts were also in the same league - Catwoman, Batgirl etc. And many of the stories actually were more of detective stories than action oriented ones with dark and sinister events.

I was lucky to have watched only a few of the Batman & Robin TV series when it aired. The serial converted the duo into a set of - pardon the pun - jokers!  A caricature of the true Batman, the paunchy crime fighter with his "kapows" and "Holy <whatever>" disgusted me enough to never venture near that series for more than a few odd episodes. When the new Batman movie franchise was launched I was quite happy that finally we might have a more serious Batman version.

To a point, the first Batman (the Tim Burton one) was quite dark - at least as compared to the TV series. Jack Nicholson's Joker was eerily evil with a bunch of one-liners that made his characterization interesting. But the later parts of the franchise disappointed big time - BatGirl, Robin, the villains were all more around for their star power in Hollywood rather than the depth they could bring to their characters other than taking them back to being caricatures.

At that time I started reading the Frank Miller and Alan Moore versions of the Batman in something called Graphic Novels. These were serious adult books given in pictorial form rather than prose and were a perfect medium for the film noir tone setting for the Batman series. Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns took it to a new level by showing an aged and retired Bruce Wayne reluctantly donning his mask and cape again and fighting a corrupt system including his old contemporary - Superman. The next part in the series The Dark Knight Strikes Again also took the tone and setting to new heights.

Moore's tryst with the Batman also had some great moments  with The Killing Joke. I still remember the last few panels of this comic where after listening to a joke from the Joker, the grim faced Batman - over the span of a few comic book frames - starts off with a small tic at the side of his mouth, then a small snrrrk, a bigger grin and then into peals of laughter with the Joker joining in. Although a very dark and violent comic, The Killing Joke's final moments had me rolling over in splits at the brief camaraderie that two "freaks" in the world - albeit on the opposite ends of the law - have at a shared joke - something that made both of them human again.

When the Batman movie franchise was rebooted with Batman Begins I was in no moo to watch another caricature being made of him anymore. It was after reading a lot of reviews that I decided to go see it and didn't regret it one bit. The movie was great and in fact paid a lot of tribute to many of the scenes - almost frame-by-frame - to the Frank Miller incarnation. (Remember the scene when Batman calls in a ton of bats to descend down upon a house - exactly the same thing happens in the graphic novel as well, amongst other things). A great beginning to the story.

The Dark Knight (TDK) made it into a much more serious franchise. Having already de-seated The Godfather at the IMDB #1 spot, TDK is less of a super hero movie than a movie about real people in the real world - with their own insanities to drive them. TDK was a movie that stayed true to the Batman legacy and was as dark and sinister as they come. From the first frame of the bank looting job the movie continuously expanded upon the conflict between the "good side" and the "bad side". And as in the real world, both these sides were not truly black and white - rather different shades of gray.

I was watching with my wife, Shekhar, Navneet and my 2-yr old son (who kept staring at the screen in fascination for a long time before sleep finally overtook him). None of the others had a "grounding" in the Batman history and probably missed a number of in-movie references / subtle hints about things to come. For instance, when Harvey Dent captures one of Joker's henchmen and threatens him, you can see his sanity slowly starting to erode away. And if you didn't know about Two-Face and his coin flipping habit, you completely miss the point that he is not going to remain the good guy for much longer. I think the only negative point about the movie would be the very small time given to the villain Two-Face. I wish they could have retained him for a future movie. The graphics on the character's face was extreme and raised a chill down my spine the first time they showed his dual face on screen  - even though I was expecting it.I did hear a number of gasps and even a small shriek in the movie hall from some poor unprepared souls!

The Batman and Gordon have extremely fine moments as well. Batman flying around in his suit over Hong Kong and Gotham City looks fantastic and so do some of his stunts with the Bat Bike. And I did like the movie not pulling any punches (literally) when showing Batman actually torture the Joker in an interrogation room - another aspect of the gray shade that the Batman has. Many people also seem to have missed the extremely subtle nod that Bruce Wayne gives the lawyer who was supposed to reveal him as the Batman after saving his life from an assassin in a car. The look said - I just saved your life, so you owe me one - a kind of bribe that Batman paid to retain his secret identity.

And finally to something that has been written about almost everywhere - but still I require to say it. Heath Ledger as the Joker brought out the epitome of evil on screen. His evil has almost no logic to it - thereby increasing his menace. Something like the Borg in Star Trek, he can't really be reasoned with - because he has no reason. An anonymous entity who lives only for creating chaos, he is the Yin to Batman's Yang and the true opposite. As he hisses "You make me complete" to Batman, you realize that this is unlike any other villain on screen - he doesn't really want power, love, revenge or money (he burns a few million dollars in cash just for the heck of it). The menacing way that the Joker talks, every once in a while licking his lips, and eyes going wild - you again get the very real feeling that this is a man who doesn't give a damn about good. The way that every time he changes his story about how he got the scars that give him the permanent grin is chilling. The Joker is now probably the meanest, baddest villain to have even walked the silver screen beating Darth Vader, Lex Luthor, and company easily.

It's a shame that Heath Ledger passed away this year. Since his character doesn't die at the end of this movie, it would have been interesting to see the Joker return in a later part of the franchise. But now I'm afraid no one will ever dare to take up this role as matching it is going to be extremely difficult. A little like Gabbar Singh from Sholay.

This new Batman franchise has really taken the comic book movies to a new level and I would love to see where they go from this. Will they bring in Robin and make it again a caricature or will they make it even darker and more of a crime thriller than a superhero flick? I was extremely disappointed with Spider-Man 2 and 3 and X-Men 3. I sure hope the part 3 jinx doesn't strike this Batman.

RIP, Heath Ledger - you will be fondly remembered as an extremely potent depiction of evil on screen!

Tags: movies, books
Categories: Books | Movies