The Dark Knight
Year: 2008
Director: Christopher Nolen
Stars: Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Gary Oldman
MPAA Rating: PG-12
Studio: Warner Brothers Pictures
Running Time: 152 Mins

The Dark Knight is the second film in Warner Bros re-energized Batman franchise but most of the film’s hype has been surrounding the death of Heath Ledger. This is his last completed film before he passed away this past January from a drug overdose of prescribed drugs.

The Dark Knight is set one year after the events of Batman Begins, where Batman’s (Christian Bale) crusade to rid Gotham City of crime has been going very well, with the help of Lt. James Gordon (Gary Oldman) and the city's newly appointed District Attorney Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart). Everything is fine until a new sadistic villain known as The Joker (Heath Ledger) starts creating chaos in Gotham City. In the amidst of this, his alter-ego Bruce Wayne is caught up in love triangle, as his childhood friend Rachel Dawes (Maggie Gyllenhaal) is in love with Harvey Dent even though he still have feeling for her. Now Bruce Wayne must put side this romantic triangle aside, as his alter ego Batman must use every means necessary to stop the Joker before his reign of terror burns Gotham City down and turns it into a city of chaos. Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman and Eric Roberts also co-star in this film.

Before I go into my review of this film, this is definitely not a film that your seven or eight year old kid should see, as this is very violent and dark, and also the subject matter may frighten them. So take them to go see Wall-E or Space Chimps instead.

With that said, I remember watching the review on Ebert & Roeper that Richard Roeper said that “The Dark Knight” was the best superhero movie ever and a film that should be nominated for Best Picture and that Heath Ledger should be nominated for Best Supporting Actor. I thought at the time that the Oscar talk that Roeper talked about was absolutely so far fetched. Also, when I heard that Health Ledger was cast as the Joker sometime last year, I didn’t think that was good casting. Man, was I totally wrong with both the casting of Ledger and Roeper’s highly praised review of the film. This is definitely a film that we might be talking about during Oscar season.

The Dark Knight is truly the year’s best film so far. Director, Christopher Nolan again does a great job again with the direction. I liked how he goes for a more realistic approach with the action to this film. He does that in the way he directs the action scenes and the actors. The action scenes, in this film were so great. The scenes was realistic and includes one the best chase scenes when the cops transport X character (won’t reveal since the scene before is a main part of the film) and the Joker is trying to kidnap him and a major chase happens since the shootout in Michael Mann’s Heat. The acting felt top-notch. It felt like something that you would see in an Oscar caliber film. Christen Bale turns in very good performance here again as Bruce Wayne, but the main star of this film is the late Heath Ledger. This is a performance that I would still talk about if he was still living today. His performance as the Joker is up there with Sergi Lopez’s Captain Vidal in Pan’s Labyrinth as the most sinister performance ever. It’s definitely an Oscar-worthy performance, as the performance was terrorizing and frightening. The supporting cast was also good. Aaron Eckhart was very good as Harvey Dent/Two-Face, playing two variations of one character, as the character was likeable one minute and unlikable the next. Morgan Freeman, Gary Oldman and Michael Caine are also back from the first film along with Maggie Gyllenhaal taking over for Katie Holmes role in the first film.

The screenplay written Christopher Nolan and his brother Jonathan Nolan was very good. I would even go to the lengths to say that both of them should get an Oscar nomination for this screenplay. The reason I say that because this film didn’t feel like your average superhero movie. It felt like an epic crime film like “Heat” and “The Departed”. The Nolan Brothers do a very good job in writing the characters here, as each of them were different from one another. They also do a great job with the Joker in this film. He was more sadistic and frightening which makes the character more better than in Tim Burton’s Batman where the character seemed comic-bookish and comes off as a prankster than a heartless villain. The Nolan brothers also do a great job developing the themes and the characters. They do a great job exploring the society of Gotham through some of themes that are currently happening today like surveillance, terrorism and the media. It was done effective well here to add to the film’s darkness. Their development of the characters here was very good, as it added to the whole Batman mythology. But what made this film different from Batman Begins was the fact the story had a lot of twists and turns. Those were done very well, as it kept me on the edge of my seat.

Please note that this is not the last time you’re going to hear me talk about this film. The Dark Knight is truly the best film of 08 so far and yes, I’ll say it like Richard Roeper did - “It’s the best superhero movie ever.”

Review Rating: 5 Stars

Well, it has been an interesting couple of weeks going into 2008. January actually provided us with one really good movie in “Cloverfield,” and the Oscar nominations were announced and many (but not all) got their die from the Academy. However, much of that has been shadowed by tragedy. We lost a couple of actors who left us with some great work, and yet they also left us way too soon. It’s a reminder of just how unfair life can seem.

Like all of you, the death of Heath Ledger was such a shock that it seemed almost unbelievable. I kept hearing people talk about him while I was passing the halls of my cubicle dungeon, and I wondered why people were talking about him so much in the first place. Then one of my colleagues who was sitting right across from me found out that Heath had died, and my eyes were wide open. I immediately checked out the CNN.com website, and saw it right there on the front page. I was shocked and infuriated all at the same time. How dare we lose another young actor so soon! I haven’t felt that strongly about any actor’s death since Christopher Penn died about a year ago. I remember talking about it with a friend of mine, and we both agreed:

“This blows!”

When it comes to the death of celebrities, we almost always remember where we were when we got the news of their demise. My dad keeps telling me that the day John Lennon died was the saddest day of his life. It was so senseless what happened to him, and like many others, my dad had just about every vinyl record made by the Beatles (he has since upgraded to CDs). I remember reading about River Phoenix’s death in the newspaper while my mom was talking to me about something (I don’t remember what). Seeing that, I couldn’t speak for about a minute. I refused to believe at the time that his death was drug related, thinking that River would be too smart to fall into that pit of self-destruction. Shows you what I knew back then.

Heath Ledger’s and Brad Renfro’s collective deaths will now be forever burned into my conscious mind for as long as I live. The tragedy of two young people gone at such a young age is something that seems impossible to get completely over. Many complain that lots of people die young and don’t get anywhere near the same amount of publicity. As a result, many see this as saying that these two actors are way more important than anyone else. I say bullshit to that, and I don’t think anyone else out there wants to put a lesser meaning on those who have passed in the same manner. It’s just that we can’t help but feel this way about Heath and Brad because whether we knew them personally or not, they were a big part of our lives whether we wanted them to be or not. We felt like we knew them, even if their personal lives are really none of our business.

Heath’s death feels especially tragic in that he was an actor who had finally come into his own thanks to his astounding performance in “Brokeback Mountain.” This was a performance he must have been impatiently waiting to give. He had spent the last couple of years beforehand sabotaging his career with several crappy movies so that he could break out of the teen heartthrob that the studios wanted to sell him as. But like Johnny Depp, he didn’t want to be seen as a product. With “Brokeback Mountain,” he managed to break out of that mold forever, and we were eager to see what he would do next.

Ever since laying eyes on his interpretation of The Joker in this summer’s “The Dark Knight,” I have no doubt that his performance will be nothing short of astonishing. While Jack Nicholson’s version of The Joker in Tim Burton’s “Batman” was a hoot to say the least, you already got the sense that Ledger’s take is more than likely to stand on its own. Now that Heath has died, watching his performance in that movie will seem all the more eerie.

It was hard to find the words how I felt about all of this. It seems clear now that there was an obscene amount of presumption on the part of the press in assuming (but not knowing) how he died. We are in no position to make assumptions on anybody’s death until we have all the facts. Just because there were sleeping bills and a rolled up $20 dollar bill next to bed seemed license enough to see Ledger as another actor who got caught up in a world of drugs that ended up destroying him completely. I don’t typically read the news as much as I used to, and that’s mainly because I don’t believe much of anything that is told to me anymore. I try to reserve judgment when it comes to situations like this because what I end up thinking about it ends up saying more about me than anyone else. That also goes for anyone who rushed to judge Heath in an unfair manner.

My guess is that Heath died of a sudden heart attack. I hear he was having trouble sleeping to the point where he was getting about 2 hours of sleep a night while making “The Dark Night.” I have heard some say that you can’t die from insomnia, but there has got to be a point where the body just gives out and can’t take anymore. The same thing happened years ago to comedian Robin Harris who you remember from Spike Lee joints like “Do The Right Thing” or “Mo Better Blues.” He went without sleep for days and days, and then one day he went to sleep and never woke up. Now there was another talented man who went before his time.

Now some may have seen Brad Renfro’s death coming from a mile away, but I doubt that. Granted, he had become more famous for his run ins with the laws and for his substance abuse problems than anything else. But if you peel that back a little, you will find a very strong film actor who was no flash in the pan. Many may know him best from “The Client” which is one of many John Grisham adaptations made back in the 1990’s, and he was plucked from obscurity by Joel Schumacher to be cast in the role of a young boy who witnesses a murder. It was a strong debut, and he did a lot of great work after that.

Another strong performance from Brad was in the movie “Apt Pupil,” a Bryan Singer movie that was an adaptation of a Stephen King novel/short story. I actually didn’t care for the movie that much, but the performances were very strong regardless. Brad more than held his own with Ian McKellan as a high school student who discovers that he is living right near a man who was a member of the Nazi party, and who participated in the execution of many Jews in the death camps. Renfro never shied away from portraying the darker aspects of a character who was just a young teenage boy who proved to be wise beyond his years.

But the performance I remember him best for was in Larry Clark’s “Bully.” It was no surprise that this was a very controversial movie, as it was directed by the same man who helmed the highly controversial “Kids,” a movie as brilliant as it was psychologically damaging to sit through. Here, Brad played a high school dropout named Marty who has no real direction in life, and who is endlessly harassed by his “best friend” Bobby Kent (Nick Stahl) who has been treating Marty like his kicking toy since he was a little kid. It’s a very raw performance by Brad, as he plays a kid who has nothing around him to really challenge him as an individual, and who eventually finds a desperate solution to his problem by taking the life of the supposed friend who never stopped abusing him. You despised Marty for what he and his friends for what they did, and yet you feel the tragedy of the character for not knowing a better solution to his problems. Brad totally immersed himself into the character to where you couldn’t tell if he was acting or not.

Brad continued to do a lot of great work in independent movies like “Ghost World” and others that were not seen by many upon their initial release. Who knows what he could have done had he lived.

Seeing Brad and Heath leave us so suddenly is frustrating beyond all repair and infuriating as hell. Hopefully, history will look on them kindly as two young actors who did great work and who left indelible marks in the world of cinema that are not easily forgotten. Their loss is felt deeply and will not be easily forgotten.

Rest in peace Heath Ledger and Brad Renfro.

Yesterday, we lost one of the greatest actors of this generation. Heath Ledger was an upcoming star. If he has not already had made himself a name in the past with films like “Brokeback Mountain,” “Ten Things I Hate About You,” and “A Knight’s Tale,” then he would have surely made a name for himself playing The Joker in the new Batman movie “The Dark Knight.” It was sure to be a success, and just looking at the “Why So Serious” posters, I was sure I was looking at a star that would have gotten much more stardom in the future. Unfortunately, the fantastic future ended untimely yesterday, when Ledger was found dead in his home.

I’ll never forget February of 2006. I was the only kid in my town that was rooting for “that gay cowboy movie.” I’ll never forget being made fun at school because I cheered it on. This was before even seeing the film. I knew that it would have been one of the best films of that previous film. When it lost to “Crash,” I was devastated. “Crash” was good, but something was up between the lost of a film where the characters are homosexuals and a film where everyone is almost racist as can be. I finally saw it April of 2006, and the film stayed with me for a long time. There was a three week period in April where there was nothing good that came out on DVD, so I sat and watched “Brokeback Mountain” many times. The gay scenes never bothered me; if I could put up with the ones during “Alexander,” I could put up with the ones in “Brokeback Mountain.”

Ang Lee created a masterpiece in his eyes and in mine. The wonderfully acted film starred Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger as two gay cowboys that had a love affair for many years with their wives. I was surprised when I found out how well acted it was, and for an A-list movie that literally had nothing going for it until the public found out these characters were gay, I think it was quite an achievement. Despite “Scary Movie” star Anna Faris and “Scooby Doo” star Linda Cardellini, it was held pretty well by the two men and Anne Hathaway and Michelle Williams. I still think that after all of the controversy, Ang Lee’s “Brokeback Mountain” remains a classic.

Even if Ledger’s films were terrible, he seemed to always hold the film on his own. “The Brothers Grimm” was one of the most disappointing films of 2005, but Heath Ledger held my interest until the final credits. I’m not that big of a fan of “A Knight’s Tale” and “Ten Things I Hate About You” either, but I can admit that Heath Ledger works every way in those films. “Candy” was a different type of role for the guy – a normal guy that gets hooked onto heroin. The film didn’t work out so well, but next to Jared Leto, Benicio Del Toro, and Ben Foster, he played a drug user great enough that it should have been nominated for an award. I like “Lords of Dogtown” for what it is too.

It’s said that Heath Ledger either killed himself or died on an accidental overdose of over-the-counter sleeping pills. Being that the apartment was in the name of Mary Kate Olson doesn’t surprise me. That place was a death trap to even begin with. But in all seriousness, I never saw a drug overdose coming. The man had a bright future. With “The Dark Knight” on his heels, he would have made himself one of the most famous stars in Hollywood. I began thinking that maybe Ledger wasn’t ready to become a big star. “Brokeback Mountain” made him big enough, but it wasn’t as viewed by many as “The Dark Knight” will be.

Every-time that I see a trailer for “The Dark Knight,” I already get filled with emotion. I really don’t know if I can see the film in theaters when it will be released in theaters. It will be hard to watch Ledger’s last performance and maybe even his best. Of course, “The Dark Knight” will still go on, and all of the filming has finished, but is Ledger had any role in the post production is clearly unknown to me.

My thoughts go out to the family of Heath, which include his ex-wife and two year old daughter (plus his other family members). My thoughts go out to the friends of Heath, and all of the people who worked with him. And my thoughts finally go out to the fans, who are all going through a rough time now. Yes, we lost one of the greatest actors of this generation, but his legacy will march on. May he rest in peace.

From CNN


Actor Heath Ledger was found dead Tuesday of a possible drug overdose in a Lower Manhattan apartment, the New York Police Department said.

Heath Ledger was found dead in his Manhattan apartment.

The Academy Award nominated actor was 28.

"Pills were found in the vicinity of the bed," police spokesman Paul Browne told CNN.

"This is being looked at as a possible overdose, but that is not confirmed yet."

Ledger was found by a housekeeper who had gone to wake him for an appointment with a masseuse in the Soho apartment, Browne said.

He was declared dead at about 3:30 p.m., Browne said.

In 2005, the actor played Ennis Del Mar in "Brokeback Mountain," about two cowboys who had a secret relationship.

The role earned him the Oscar nomination.



FilmArcade will have more once the story develops


Respect you fuckers.