Dark Knight Film Review

Batman Dark Knight Film review

Batman the Dark Knight is the second film in the Dark Knight trilogy directed by Christopher Nolan, he has directed a vast number of successful films and had focused on making the Dark Knight trilogy the best batman film to date, I would personally consider it easily one of the best films to date. My favorite character is easily Heath Ledger’s portrayal of The Joker, He was criticized before the release of the film by critics and fans of the franchise that he will not be able to deliver the performance they wanted, the thing is he nailed it completely and raised the bar for future Joker roles. The film itself had a budget of $185 Million and made $1,004,558,444 in box office.

One of my most favorite scenes in the film was the interrogation scene, From the beginning of the scene it's instantly portrayed as a comfortable yet very unsettling scene, it starts off with using low-key lighting with a desktop lamp on the table giving off a very dim light showing the outline of The Jokers face, this in my opinion is the creators trying to make The Joker seem comfortable with his surroundings, with a long shot showing Gary Oldman’s character (Commissioner Gordon) walking into the room with the door creaking to a close, the sound of the door creaking is obviously diegetic, this adds to the eeriness and unsettling mood the creator/s have meant to create by the use of cinematography, another film which uses this is Friday The 13^th during the opening scene, yes the film is a completely different genre, but still the lighting used is extremely low-key which does create an unsettling uncomfortable mood, once you think the bad has happened Jason is silhouetted in the background behind the character ‘Whitney’ which leads to what the audience is lead to believe her death.

When Jim Gordon walks into the room there is a long shot on the very dimly lit unable to make out Joker with the use of a desktop lamp, this is a great use of Mise-En-Scene this is unsettling for me due to the cinematography used, The joker has been caught but yet is made out to seem so mysterious, it almost makes you feel something is bound to happen. When Jim sits down at the table in front of the handcuffed Joker, he questions him about the missing Harvey Dent, Joker replies with a statement that he wants to unsettle the commissioner which also creates a reference to ‘Batman Begins’ which is the prequel to Dark Knight, this really does help with the film being a sequel because it does help the audience understand  that the films are actually related and connected by story line instead of just the characters.

When the movement of the scene goes towards The Joker I could see his face a little more clearly, I could see his pale face makeup had faded and had worn away (above image), this shows a passage of time and the struggle The Joker has faced, his clothes are a little less complex as they were the scene before, which also shows the struggle which took place, this certainly makes the scene seem more realistic. After The Joker has teased and tried to downgrade the commissioner, Jim replies with “I’m going to get a coffee” to which The Joker replies “ahh the good cop bad cop routine?” Gordon walks towards the door and replies “not exactly” and closes the door behind him, (this references a load of cop based films) when Jim walks out of the door a medium close up on The Joker is shown, sitting in the dark dimly lit room, not showing anything behind him due to the low key lighting until the lights come on showing The Batman in shallow focus behind him, where he instantly hits The Jokers head off the table., the transition from low-key to high-key lighting instantly, This was really well thought of, the transition was smooth and obviously did add to the fact I felt something was about to happen, this once again is great cinematography, from a few seconds the environment itself went from mysterious to being clear.

A few seconds into the scene after Batman is introduced, there is a conflict of words between The Joker and Batman, seeming like Joker was trying to somewhat corrupt Batman, I find this part particularly weird because it isn’t exactly clear which the dominant one between the two is, yes The Joker did get his head hit off the table, but the angles aren’t exactly clear because there's over the shoulder high angle shots from Batman’s perspective looking towards The Joker, but The Joker isn’t shown in an obvious insignificant way presented in typical conflict filled films, The Joker is slouching down, not cowering in fear he’s more trying to mess with Batman’s head, I found this unsettling, however I did enjoy it because for once there wasn’t a typical antagonist cowering in fear from the protagonist, as mentioned before, I believe the Cinematography and Mise-En-Scene are both used great together to create an uncomfortable and conflict filled scene.

The physical conflict between the two was really well shown, The Joker did seem to attempt to corrupt and manipulate Batman but there was some kind of silent mental struggle going on between the two, the shot reverse shot shown and repeated throughout the whole scene made this perfectly clear to me, it worked well with the medium close ups to show the expressions on both The Joker and Batman, overall this created a visualization of the two being in an actual personal conflict. Another film which i noticed used the shot reverse shot really well was 'Panic Room' when the character of Forest Whitaker had broken into the 'Panic Room' and the expression on his face was shown by the use of the shot reverse shot when he realized the house was occupied, once again, it is a completely different genre but I believe it shows how one shot (and or angle) can be interpreted into so many different kind of film styles and still work for the creator/s purpose.

The Joker foresees the ending of the film, obviously if someone was watching the film for the first time they wouldn’t pick up on this straight away until the end or after watching it again, but he does say Batman would have to break his one rule (of killing another) to find out the truth, as silly as this seems I find this a smart way to portray The Joker because he is portrayed as an insane killer but also makes it seem he has thought a lot through which is what most antagonists do not do, because like I mentioned he does foresee the end where Batman has to kill Harvey Dent, this isn't Mise-En-Scene but i would say it is portrayed better with the use of Cinematography, the shots and angles used made this part of the scene more disturbing then it could of been shown.

When Batman throws The Joker onto the table, he walks off towards the door dragging a chair, the camera then jumps to The Joker lying on the table with a mid-shot with a Dutch-angle (with The Joker still mocking Batman) which is used to show unbalance and make the shot seem more obscure, the cinematography used at this point did make me feel something abnormal was going on, The Joker was lying there and taking a beating, why didn’t he fight back? So in my opinion this really did fulfill its purpose. This wasn’t the only Dutch-angle in this scene, straight after the shot shown above Batman walked towards the door dragging a chair to keep the cops out, once more this is a great use of cinematography, the Dutch-angle I believe is a rare technique which is hardly seen in films today, but it is greatly used in this scene to show unbalance and an obscure moment.

This shot, I would argue is a Dutch-angle handheld shot, because it seemed that the cameraman was running with Jim to stop Batman locking them out, because it still did create a sense of obscurity, furthermore I would say the cops are now in the dark and they (The Joker and Batman) are in the now brightly lit room how the tables have somewhat turned and that in fact the cops are actually in the dark because this isn’t any part of their plan and are kept out of the loop so to speak. Also in the shot above of Batman walking to lock the door there was a high pitch non-diegetic sound playing over the scene, in my own personal opinion I believe it’s symbolic towards Batman’s temper and his self-control building up to the point of where he snaps, this non-diegetic sound is a part of cinematography which is used well to show his temper rising.

A few seconds after locking the door Batman hits The Jokers head against the two way mirror there is a clear sign of dominance here and it is shown by the constant high angle shot from batman’s perspective and a low angle shot looking up at Batman from The Joker’s perspective, this is used very well with the shot reverse shot still going on throughout the scene, Even though Batman grabs and pulls up The Joker, he is still is shown dominant by the now obvious use of the high angle shot making The Joker now seem insignificant whereas before the Joker seemed to mock The Batman by slouching into a more insignificant position, this shown the still unserious joking personality of The Joker.

The colors throughout scene are bleak, The Joker's only mainly showing the color and green while batman is showing the color black, the color green is added in peoples life to show change while Batman’s color of black is mysterious and preparing for the unknown, this as much as it seems as I’m making it up is true and I believe as stupid as it seems that the creator/s thought about this and adapted through the use of mise-en-scene.

The scene isn't complex at all, mise-en-scene is used well throughout, due to nothing much actually being in the room besides a table, two chairs and a desk lamp, in my opinion it adds to the tension and the Cinematography used certainly does create a supportive structure to what is, in my opinion amazing acting and obviously helps portray the insanity of The Joker and the mysterious Batman trying to be morally good.

Fan Reviews  - dimmutaker:“Ok july isn't here yet, but a cople of people here, myself included, had the great oportunity to see TDK (The Dark Knight) early so let's post the reviews here for everyone to see

My partner works(asst mgr.) at a muvico theater here in tampa, fl and he took me this morning to what he told me was a screening for hellboy just for the employees.. Anyway when the movie started to roll it wasnt hellboy but the dark knight.... Of course me beign the sentimental and stupid guy i started to cry cause, first it wasnt an imax experience LOL(althought i already have tickets to see it on the 18th 3 times).. and second cause truly i wasnt expecting to see it this early.... Anyway so enough about me

This movie is a masterpiece, truly amazing in every word.. I havent seen a movie in which incorporates a lot of feelings into a 2 1/2 hours, until this one... funny, sad, pissed off, happy, amazed, joyful, SHOCKED, all this in one of another is going to pop up in you.... The characters and actors are amazing.. Starting from Rachel, which in this movie you really feel connected to her, in a way a friend, true friend, would be... Harvey.. In him you see someone who can really do a lot of good in a courtroom instead of beign outside kicking people asses. Great performance by Aaron and is true what people have said out there, you truly feel sorry and pitty for him. In one way he didnt want it to be two-face and u can REALLY sense his pain, and i will go further as to feel it.... Alfred is amazing as always. He cares about bruce a lot. You can see that in this movie, just like in begins, he's trying to talk bruce out of the batman idea, NOT directly, but with words... Gordon, still a little reserved, respect and is thankful for batman to be a hand against crime and corruption. Of course, as a lot of u guys know, that doesnt last long. From maroni to scarecrow all of them, even with little parts, all of them had a purpose in this movie....

Bruce.. God.. Nolan has created a movie so moving so powerful, that is like you can relate in some form with bruce/batman.... In begins you see that he knows that batman WILL be a force for good and he knows that in due time all of gotham will be with him. You can't say the same thing on this movie... You feel the weight of gotham in his shoulder. He knows that he will be back to "normal", thanks in part by 2 people, and most of all he knows that he will be with rachel, after batman is done.. Anyone can relate to that in some way or another.... Bruce have faith that in the end he will no longer be batman. When the movie is over for u guys, u can be damn sure, that when he was little and he fall into that hole and all the bats came after him, that was his fate, to be batman, to be some sort of securty for the people of gotham, to be an enemy against corruption, to be feared by a lot of people... Bruce realized that he created something that will never be broken, not even after death.... Anyway u guys get my point.. this movie was so good..

Joker... Everything that was said about heath and joker is true... This joker will be remember in 10 20 30 years from now.... He's an iconic figure in this movie... And im glad that... well let's say that i had concerns about joker, and im glad” – Dimmutaker – (http://forums.superherohype.com/showthread.php?t=307164)

Dimmutaker in my opinion is 110% right, This Joker performance will be remembered in 10-30 years because it is so powerful and insanely right, I feel embarrassed because I feel Dimmutaker has touched more critically than I have on the movie, but that’s why I’ve chosen him as an example because he touches on points from more of an angle than I do, keeping out of consideration the appalling punctuation used.