Director Christopher Nolan has a sure shot winner this time pulling Batman movie franchise to new heights after reviving it through Batman Begins, The story is dark and murkier and the director has the right cards with him this time to take this movie beyond just a comic book superhero affair.
Gotham city now confides in it’s superhero, and surely our superhero does start feeling the load of responsibility to keep the city crime free and he also happens to discover that his Bat-Suit needs to be dog-bite proof(ha-ha) during a skirmish with a goon gang and Scarecrow still seen on crime spree again gets trapped and send packing to police by the batman. Christian Bale carries on from where he left in the last movie, does justice to the role of super rich business baron Bruce Wayne very well while playing the Batman.
I liked the directors concept of shifting the bat-cave or should I say urban bat hide-out below a container amidst the city hustle-bustle within Wayne Enterprise premises, we have being seeing bat cave, dark and super-big in previous batman movies, but this batman hideout is well lit and gives a practical touch to the storyline, Alfred(Michael Caine) is an under-spoken character but well-spoken, he does not act like a guardian or a preacher to Master Wayne, still he manages to carve out a father figure to Bruce Wayne.
Lucius Fox(Morgan Freeman) the now CEO of Wayne Enterprises, has witty one-liners to his role, plays a cool customer dealing in business affairs for Mr. Wayne, also re-designs the bat suit for him, however he would not do all that Mr. Wayne wants, he is a man of his own principles and I don’t think he would be there with Bruce Wayne or Batman in the next sequel.
Harvey Dent(Aaron Eckhart), promises a better future for Gotham city and Batman also sees a successor in him to keep the city crime free, he loves Rachel Dawes(Maggie Gyllenhaal) who is slowly moving away from the life of Bruce Wayne ready to marry Harvey Dent, Nolan has introduced the character of Two-face in this movie and ends his story in the same movie, it was a practical move though, Commissioner Gordon(Gary Oldman) forms a fragile, unofficial alliance with Batman and Dent to hit the crime lords finance inflow, as they capture A Chinese businessman Lau with the help of Batman.
However Joker(Heath Ledger) captures all the attention in the movie, who has no rules to play, Agent of Chaos, right from the beginning scene of bank heist to the moment he is captured by the Bat, hanging up-side down, he has no fear, nothing to loose, his character makes you feel that this movie does not portray a battle between the good and the evil, it’s a criminal mind of the joker which wants to peel of the mask of civil values from our society to reveal how mean, selfish and uncivilized we can be when the hell breaks loose, the dark score of Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard is apt to the movie, the creepy background sound to scenes involving the joker is gripping and raises an anxious feeling within you. I never enjoyed watching a baddie in a movie before watching this act of Heath Ledger as Joker, he has portrayed the character of Joker like a Master of Dark Symphony playing his tunes between a burning world around him.
Action is top-notch, not much of FX(Good), pure adrenaline, Batman innovates in this movie with a Sonar-view, another practical thought by the director, I suppose this is how bat’s hunt their prey in the dark, it’s not a feel good movie to walk out in the end, like a super-hero basking in the light of glory after defeating the baddies, here emerges our Dark Knight who would watch over this city, his character now painted in a grey shade at the end, give me another sequel FAST PLEASE.