The Dark Knight - Kill... the Batman!!!

Rating: Null/10 (4 August 2008)

Batman  I had read the comic strips when I was young. I had seen the TV series  that was fun as a boy. I could not see Batman Begins  which I hear was really good. The hype around this release was so huge; reviews over the top and IMDb rating  topped it all. Number 1 spot of all time great ratings. Need I wait any longer? Movie starts with Joker (Heath Ledger) robbing a bank, following by Batman (Christian Bale) catching bad guys; and Joker telling the bad guys  KILL THE BATMAN. Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart) is like super hero attorney of the city. Joker takes it on himself to find and kill the Batman. To do that he creates havoc all around the city to bring Batman out in the open; but 90 minutes through the movie Batman catches Joker and puts him behind bars. (Curtains? You can just walk out of the movie hall at this stage  but another 1 hour of mayhem is yet to come) Joker escapes prison and creates more chaos and death all around. Due to the death of Harvey's girl friend Rachel (Maggie Gyllenhaal)  Harvey turns his guns on the cops of the city. Batman manages to catch Joker again, but to keep Harvey a hero forever - Batman takes on himself the crimes of Harvey. The movie ends with cops chasing Batman.
The movie has a dark comic book feel about it. However, it is not a comic book stuff. The movie is gruesome, dark, and grim. The pace is racy, the acting brilliant, the script tight, the dialogues nerve wracking.
All the actors have acted brilliantly, but the movie is over-powered by the powerful and scintillating performance of Heath Ledger as Joker. He sets the screen on fire, with his terrific performance and over-shadows all the other characters.
The music by James Newton Howard and Hans Zimmer matches the tempo of the movie, while the editing by Lee Smith of the movie is patchy and pathetic. The movie jumps from one scene to another in sharp fashion.
But to assemble this huge comic book story in this dark and gruesome manner  credit should go to Director Christopher Nolan  who takes one step forward since Batman Begins. (His movie Prestige was below the big budget huge cinema) Christopher uses the entire big gimmick stuff that a movie can provide to make it a blockbuster. How I hoped that he had used better editing and more children friendly images.
I enjoyed the movie  comic book in adult format.
(Stars 7.5 out of 10)