moral conflicts and political implications, now this is batman!

Rating: 10/10 (15 July 2012)

'The Dark knight' is a brilliant comic book adaptation that captures the essence of the iconic figure 'batman'. 'Batman begins' the previous installment, developed the mythologies of batman as a realistic, serious and conflicted character that explored the origins and fears of the comic hero. Now Nolan's new efforts explores the moral conflicts of characters, while being a complex, disturbing and epic crime saga.
The story follows Batman and commissioner Gordon war on crime with the help of the new D.A Harvey dent, however a new class of criminal arrives, 'the joker', who pushes them physically and mentally to their limits.
As many film-goers, i was primarily attracted to 'the dark knight' due to the hype surrounding heath ledger performance as 'the joker', however with repeated viewings 'the dark knight' has unfolded on me to reveal itself as a character study on the premise of 'good vs evil' and the moral conflicts that are embedded in the noblest man, such as batman and his realization in the audacious lengths he has to go to stop men like the joker who represents the characteristics of a nihilist.
While the movie encapsulates these conflicted characters it also excels in providing brilliant action set pieces, each set piece as breathtaking as the next. Some of my favorites, the opening bank robbery and the inclusion of William Fichtner (homage to heat), the hong Kong sequence which also provided a greater scope to the Nolan universe as the inclusion of hong Kong grounded the film in a realistic setting and the car chase sequence, this might sound like an absurd comparison but the direction of the car chase evoked memories of john ford's 'stagecoach' and how both films capture the action with greater time lengths in camera takes instead of relying on frantic editing to convey a sense of energy.
Many people have suggested that 'the dark knight' is an allegory for the bush reign on the 'war on terror', there is, without a doubt, political embedded themes through out the film, especially the sequence where batman taps millions of cellphones to create a sonar to locate the whereabouts of the joker.
Also the film is filled with boasting performances from Christian bale, Morgan freeman and Michael Caine, but it is Aaron eckhart portrayal of the tormented Harvey dent and heath ledger portrayal of the joker that steals the show.
I sincerely thank the team behind this innovative take on the 'batman' universe because as i know, as many others, that this franchise has developed an image that represent the true mythologies of the iconic figure.