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| The Dark Knight main casts |
Christopher Nolan's sequel to Batman Begins blew the superhero movie genre in ways that until to this day few have equaled. Titled as The Dark Knight, Nolan finally pits his Batman against his prime arch enemy, The Joker. Christian Bale returns as Bruce Wayne/Batman, this time more confident in his dual role as both alter ego and superhero. Nolan also brought in another important aspect of Batman as a character when he finally gave his Batman the detective skills that he is popularly known with by the comic book readers. But alas, Bale was upstaged by Heath Ledger's iconic and fatal role as the Joker. The Dark Knight was to be Ledger's final film appearance before succumbing to his death. Reports have it that Ledger died of acute intoxication, having overdosed himself with prescription medicines that dealt with anxiety, insomnia, and pain. Ledger might have over internalized his role as the Joker, leading himself to self destruct as he dealt with the after effects of cleansing his Joker persona in real life. Ledger totally owned the Joker, and not only did the make up covered Ledger's face, but his entire demeanor changed. It was as if Ledger was nowhere to be seen on film and what we saw instead was the psychotic and criminally deranged Joker on the screen. Another villain in the film was Harvey Dent/Two-Face (played by Aaron Eckhart), a Gotham City District Attorney who was Bruce's rival for the love of Rachel Dawes (now played by Maggie Gyllenhaal). Dent had his face disfigured by the Joker and lost Rachel when Joker kidnapped both of them and killed Rachel. The severe corruption in the Gotham City police would lead Dent to change his outlook and instead sought revenge against the Gotham City police force, headed by Lt. Jim Gordon (still played by Gary Oldman). Read on for more about The Dark Knight.
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| Batman takes captures Scarecrow in the opening scene |
The movie opens with a dashing daylight robbery headed by the Joker as he and his henchmen robs a Gotham Bank ran by the Gotham Mafia. Joker kills each of his men during the heist, and takes all of the money for himself. We then see Batman in his new and more bulletproof padded costume taking on the escaped Scarecrow from the first movie. This easily bridges the first movie and this movie as we last saw Scarecrow running loose during the mass hysteria from the Gotham City jail in the first movie. We are then introduced to Harvey Dent, a young and successful District Attorney who is dating Rachel Dawes. Bruce is impressed by his sense of idealism and throws his support to him, first by offering a fund raiser for him, and secondly by forming a triumvirate with Dent, Gordon, and himself as Batman to finally eradicate Gotham City's crime bosses. While this team is gaining groundbreaking victories against crime, The Joker would present himself to the crime bosses of Gotham as their answer to Batman. The Mafia initially hesitates to acquire the services of Joker, but Joker kills one of the bosses and takes control of his thugs as he forces his way into the Mafia's inner circle, rendering them helpless and consenting to Joker's plan of counterattack against Gotham's crime busters. It also does not help matters when the mob learned that their accountant Lau run off all their money to Hong Kong as he tried to save himself from the sure eradication of Gotham's criminal empire.
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| Bruce Wayne and Harvey Dent |
Meanwhile, Batman heads to Hong Koong to retrieve Lau and make him a state witness that would finally send the Gotham Mob to jail. In an intense battle, Batman finally nabs Lau and during his return to Gotham, initially celebrates the progress of their work. During the fund raiser for Dent, Joker makes an appearance and threatens the guests, robbing them off of all their jewelries and luxuries, and in the process introduces himself to the terrified guests that consists of Gotham City's the rich and famous. The Joker was in the hunt for Dent but Batman was able to hide Dent just in time. The Joker also kills Gotham's Police Commissioner and the Judge handling the Mob trial albeit in mysterious circumstances despite both being heavily guarded by the Gotham City Police Department. The Joker then challenges Batman to reveal his identity to the public and that people will die each day every time Batman delays his revelation. As time pressure heats up, Joker attempts to assassinate the city mayor but Gordon's quick thinking foils this attempt, sacrificing himself in the process. Gotham mourns the death of Gordon and with too many lives being lost, Bruce finally decides to reveal himself in public. But before he could do so, Dent beat him to it, revealing himself to the public as Batman. Dent did this to protect Batman as he still believed that Batman is the city's only hope. As Dent is being transported with a heavily armed escort, the Joker launches his assault on Dent, but to his surprise Batman appears and both are engaged in a tough battle before a very much alive Jim Gordon appeared and takes the Joker into custody. Gordon had faked his death to throw Joker offhand, one upping the Joker as Gotham celebrates the Joker's capture.
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| Batman battles the Joker |
Not all good things would last though, as later in the night, reports would appear that both Dent and Dawes had went missing. A furious Batman interrogates the Joker, beating him to a pulp as he extracts information about the whereabouts of both kidnapped victims. Joker would trick Batman as to Dawes location, leading him to Dent. Both were housed in two separated buildings that is wired with explosives, with the bomb detonator hidden somewhere near the Joker's holding cell. Batman manages to save Dent, whose face was hideously scarred in the process. But the Gotham City Police would be too late, as they arrived in time only to see the building where Dawes was held captive explode right before their eyes, effectively killing Dawes. Joker had activated the detonator and escapes with Lau as he successfully fights off the Gotham City Policemen in his daring escape. Joker's escape forces one accountant working in Wayne Industries to reveal Batman's identity. He had deduced that Bruce Wayne is Batman. But the Joker prevents him from doing this by creating a mass hysteria as he tells the public to kill Reese before he reveals Batman's identity or else he would bomb a hospital. A mad scramble ensued as people came attacking the accountant, hoping to stop him from revealing Batman's identity. Police escorts were tasked to protect the accountant but too much pressure even from within the Police ranks would nearly have this accountant killed if it weren't only for Gordon and Bruce's protection. The accountant eventually changes his mind after being saved by Bruce.
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| Joker convinces Two-Face to turn to the dark side |
By then, Joker had made his way to the hospital where Dent was recuperating from his injuries. Dressed as a Nurse, The Joker would visit Dent in his room and tries to convince him to seek revenge against those who have wronged him. Joker then leaves the hospital and bombs it. Dent manages to escape and began plotting his next move. He goes after mobsters and cops responsible for the death of Dawes, deciding their fates if he would kill them or let them live by flipping a coin. Joker meanwhile had rigged bombs in two ferries where one was housing ordinary Gotham citizens and the other housing the Gotham prison inmates and convicts. Joker had created a bomb scare in Gotham City and the government had decided to ship the citizens away from the city for the meantime while they deal with the Joker menace. Joker reveals that each ferry has a bomb detonator and that the citizens must blow up the other ferry or else Joker will blow up both ferries. The citizens and inmates were caught in a quandary as none of them could ever live with the fact that they were able to blow up a ferry full of people just to save themselves. Some citizens were saying that they should save themselves and blow up the other because the other ferry contained criminals, while the other ferry containing the criminals would reason that they should blow up the other because some of them have already killed, and there was no more moral fiber in them. But Joker's game would not be successful as Joker's thoughts where chaos and mayhem would rule over the sane mind was not to be. The people would prove Joker wrong.
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| Batman's final showdown with Two-Face |
Meanwhile, Batman (with the help of Lucius Fox) locates Joker in a building and a fight ensues. Joker had cleverly dressed the hostages as his men while the assaulting SWAT team was on its way to shoot at the hostages. Batman manages to save them all from bloodshed as he single-handedly beat all of them. Batman then engages The Joker in a final showdown, beating him endlessly before saving The Joker from a fatal fall from the building. The Joker gloats that all is not lost for him because he still had a wild card left in the person of Harvey Dent. Gotham's former District Attorney and the christened "White Knight" to Batman's "Dark Knight" had already lost all his sanity and was hell bent on killing Gordon. Joker had concluded that when the whole of Gotham knows that Dent had turned to a life of crime and revenge, all hope would be lost. Batman races against time to save Gordon from Dent and he reaches just in time to witness Dent take Gordon's son as a hostage. Dent had already lost all his idealism and hope in Gotham as he blames Gordon and his entire police force for the death of Rachel. There were a number of corrupt Gotham cops who were under the payroll of the Gotham mafia, and some of them were responsible for the deaths of such noble men like the former police commissioner, judge, and other victims of the mafia. Dent decides to use his coin toss in deciding the fates of Batman, Gordon's son, and himself. He shoots Batman, spares himself, and was about to throw Gordon's son off the edge of the building when Batman lunges at him, saving Gordon's son but fails to save Dent as he falls to his death. Batman tells Gordon to put all the blame on him, preserving Dent's image as the "White Knight", which also in turn preserves Gotham's hope for good people without resorting to vigilantism. The movie ends with Batman running away from Gordon and the police force, escaping from arrest for the crimes that he did not do.
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| The casts thus far for the two Nolan produced Batman movies |
What separated The Dark Knight from other superhero movies is that this isn't your typical superhero movie that involves camp, humor, and cheesy story lines. There wasn't even a feel good vibe to this movie as it is more akin to a crime drama than two dimensional spandex wearing fictional characters that came from comic books which began as children's past time. Marvel had produced a slew of feel good and cheesy movies, cementing the Superhero movie genre as a strong financial profit vehicle for movie studios. The Dark Knight changed all that perception. Superhero movies doesn't need to be cheesy to be appreciated. And just like how The Dark Knight Returns changed the whole culture of comic books when this Frank Miller penned graphic novel introduced a more mature reader oriented stories, The Dark Knight introduced to us a different facet of the Superhero movies. The movie dealt with a lot of moral and cerebral issues that makes us look at the mirror and question how strong our moral fiber is. There were a lot of instances in the movie (like how the citizens and inmates reacted to Joker's bomb challenge) where we could ask ourselves what would we do if we were in their situation. Chaos and anarchy leads to panic and indecisiveness. But can we keep a sane mind through it all? Ledger's masterful Joker portrayal brought us a different kind of terror. If Nicholson's Joker portrayal in Tim Burton's Batman was a striking balance between camp and terror, Ledger's Joker was purely terrifying. For how would you deal with a villain who had no other motive but just wanted to watch the world burn. The unconventional route that The Dark Knight took would shape the succeeding DC Superheroes movies. DC's Green Lantern (which was written in the same vein with how Marvel's superhero movies are written) bombed at the box office, while their Nolan produced Man of Steel which was written with realism in mind was successful at the box office. The DC and Marvel comic book companies rivalry has now spilled in the big screen. Marvel's movies are more fantastic and more accessible to all ages, while DC's movies are more in touch with the mature and cerebral audience. The Dark Knight blueprint might very well be DC's ticket to success at the big screen.
The Toy lines
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| An evolution of Batman toys from the Nolanverse Batman |
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| Basic Batman figure from The Dark Knight |
The Basic Figure: Just like the basic figures from Mattel's Batman Begins toy line, these figures from The Dark Knight stands at around 5 inch. It shares the same articulation with that of the Batman Begins toy line. It features a ball jointed neck, swivel shoulders, waist, and hips, and hinged elbows and knees. The figures released on this toy line consists of multiple Batman with different costume colors, two Jokers (one seen above) with different suit colors, Two-Face (as seen above), and surprisingly Deathstroke. Now Deathstroke never really appeared in the movie but I'm puzzled as to why he is included in the toy line. Mattel's Movie Masters toy line also debuted the same year these figures were released. The Movie Masters sported better sculpt details and is more articulated (in the same way with that of their DC Universe Classics toy line). It also stands bigger than the basic figures as it is scaled at approximately 6 inches. The success of Mattel's 6 inch DC Universe Classics would sound the death knell for the five inch figures as moving forward, Mattel concentrated on releasing the Movie Masters for the adult collector market and a smaller scaled 4 inch line for the basic figures. I personally have a preference for 5 inch action figures because I'm a huge fan of vintage action figures. Seeing this scale disappear in the toy shelves is quite saddening to me.
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| The Remote Controlled Tumbler |
The Tumbler (a.k.a Batmobile): Mattel also was able to release the Tumbler for their 5 inch basic line. There were a lot of versions released and what I used here in the review is the cheaper one, a smaller scaled Remote Control Tumbler. There were versions that could fit the 5 inch ones and the Movie Masters ones, but since I'm not that much of a Batman fan, I skipped on getting the Tumbler. This though is a decent display piece albeit too small even for the 4 inch basic figures.
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| The Batpod |
The Batpod (a.k.a Batcycle): In the movie, when Batman chases the Joker, Joker manages to destroy Batman's Tumbler with a rocket propelled launcher. Batman managed to pull off a surprise by unveiling his Batpod, a big wheeled cycle like vehicle that was made from the Tumbler's undamaged parts. This transformation was one of the coolest scenes to be seen in a Batman movie. The old movies had flashier and sleeker Bat vehicles, but Nolan's Batman sports a more intimidating armada of vehicles. Both the Tumbler and the Bat Pod are perfect examples of these. Mattel was able to release a Bat pod that is more likely in scale with the 5 inch than that of the movie masters. I love how the Batpod looks. Batman's vehicles should bear a menacing look than those sleeker ones made from the 90's Batman movies. After all Batman is about instilling fear in the criminal's hearts. The Batplane in the next movie should be something to watch for.
This wraps up my entry on The Dark Knight. I've got one more Christian Bale Batman entry before we wait for the next Batman movie. Let's hope that Ben Affleck is up to task for his role as Bale's successor to Batman.
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