The Dark Knight

The Dark Knight is second of the Batman movies created by Cristopher Nolan. It is one of the highly rated movies of all time for various reasons, not all related to film-making as an art as such. As with any other Nolan movie, The Dark Knight again is a perfect mixture of fantasy, drama, grandeur and cinematic brilliance. Powered by a a script fit for an epic and a series of well crafted sequences, the movie rides on riveting performances by almost all the characters, especially the actors in lead.

The story revolves around the good force of the Batman and the eccentricity of the Joker, and his twisted tricks to portray the Batman as an outlaw who has his own rules and judgments. Aaron Eckhart plays Harvey Dent, the White Knight, who becomes the major casualty of the Joker's tricks.

Those interested in Batman comics would know that the Joker was probably the most complex character that Bob Cane had created after Batman. Heath Ledger plays the Joker and he plays it to perfection. So much so, that the same character played by the great Jack Nicholson(1989) fades in front of this one. We all know, it doesn't happen that often with any of Jack Nicholson characters.

Many Batman fans complain that the movie is focussed more on the Joker than the Batman. It's true to some extent too, but again the Joker is such a complex character that he deserves that much of screen space. There is a madness in his cruelty and eccentricity in his methods, and all of that has been stupendously portrayed by Heath Ledger. In one of the scenes the Joker burns the pile of currency, consisting of his part of the loot and says to the mob, "All you care for is money. This town deserves a better class of criminals and I'm gonna give it to them." It sounds so true, word by word. For me, the only other 'villain' that comes close to matching the aura of the Joker was the computer HAL900 from 2001: A Space Odyssey - very methodical yet very unorthodox.

I suggest you watch it for the amazing performance of Heath Ledger. You, as me, would be convinced that all the hype about the movie was not only because he died during the release of the movie. He actually gave an out of the world performance. If not for that, you always have Christopher Nolan's film-making genius, Batman's grandeur and the billionaire Bruce Wayne's reckless show offs to look out for. And yes, Hans Zimmer makes up for the low-tempo music of Batman Begins. The music of The Dark Knight keeps up with the pace of the movie and maintains the dramatic flow. A fantastic watch all in all (I have already seen it almost a hundred times).

Batman Begins

Even when I was young, I was never really into Batman. Somehow, I just kept ignoring his 'existence'. It was only by chance that I downloaded (well!) this movie (in HD :) ) that I got to know Batman (and later as it turned out I ended up buying his comics and posters and what not).

You are never too old for superheroes. In fact, I believe a man (or a woman if she's really into jobs and stuff) needs a superhero more as he (she) grows older.

Batman Begins, as a movie, is a perfect balance of style, emotions, grandeur, technology and well! fiction. Christian Bale as Batman is neither too chocolaty as Spiderman is, nor is he as superhero-ishly blank as Superman. He is as authentic as Bruce Wayne as he is as The Batman, and for the 'where-is-the-logic-in-this' kinds his super-acts are all technically correct ( you can be sure of that with Christopher Nolan anyway, discounting The Inception).

Bruce Wayne as a reckless Billionaire never loses his ground against the powerful and big Batman. More than any other superhero movie. Batman Begins needed a good actor and Christian Bale does more than justice to both his roles. He is equally good as the reckless billionaire buying hotels (and setting new rules for the pool area) as he is as the convincing guardian keeper of Gotham. Nolan's Gotham must be a delight to watch for any Batman fan.

The background score keeps you yearning for more. So much so that sometimes you wish it picked up on the tempo a bit but it never does. However, you have to be a double PhD in music to question Hans Zimmer and company.

Christopher Nolan with his favorite crew delivers one of the best superhero movies that I have seen.