SINGAPORE : Dynamic plot – check.

Impeccable casting – check.

Thunderbolt Action – check.

2008 surely saw a slew of superhero movies hitting the big screens, with the likes of Incredible Hulk, Hellboy, Ironman and Hancock. But believe me, Christopher Nolan’s “The Dark Knight”, a sequel of 2005’s “Batman Begins”, though yet another comic-book adaptation, stands in a league of its own and has definitely raised the bar for movies of such a genre.

More than a film about an oh-so-sexy guardian of Gotham City in his even sexier batsuit trying to save the innocent and get rid of the bad guys, the story doesn’t fall short of an ongoing psychological dilemma one faces in his pursuit of good versus evil.

Batman’s (Christian Bale) nocturnal activities are flushing out Gotham’s organised crime syndicates. Things are made worse when the newly-elected DA, Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart) who plays the love interest of Bruce’s childhood sweetheart, Rachel (Maggie Gyllenhaal) decides to challenge the felons instead of accepting a bribe. Joining the axis of good is incorruptible police lieutenant Jim Gordon (Gary Oldman) and the trio is all set to straighten things out in Gotham.

But their mission isn’t a piece of cake with the emergence of a sadistic lunatic, The Joker (Heath Ledger) who offers to become the mob’s enforcer, without any personal agenda but with just one aim – to create havoc in the city. So this means paths are crossed with Batman. And his only demand to Gotham’s guardian aka vigilante: Remove the mask and turn himself in or the people will pay the price with their lives.

Undeniable is Ledger’s stellar performance, so much so, you might find yourself secretly rooting for him to win. An instant icon, his spluttering one-liners and idiosyncrasies will either make you laugh at the wrong moments or have you cringing at others.

While one might say that Ledger’s performance is only glorified because of his recent demise, it does not take a rocket scientist to know that the Oscar buzz was not premature and is only deserved with his whirlwind performance.

In Ledger’s words, The Joker is a “psychopathic, mass-murdering, schizophrenic clown with zero sympathy”. With his face smeared with greased paint, a grungy hairdo, terrifying eyes and yellow-stained teeth like a damned monster from hell, he never fails to inject anxiety and fear in his scenes. He is a ruthless villain who cares for nothing and works for nobody. His sole function is to be the devil of all mind-games – that is to push everyone to extremes causing mayhem in the city just to show Batman there are no rules to this game. All of these, Ledger produced an excellent delivery in his own twisted way.

But it is not Batman’s cape that prevents Ledger from overshadowing Bale’s performance and I dare say he gave a better one than that of “Batman Begins”. Steering away from the brooding that can make DC’s darkest hero feel like a melancholic teen, Bruce’s character is more complex as he faces more serious conflicts – how to save a city on the brink of destruction by an insane criminal mastermind, how to make the new DA (soon-to-be ‘two-face’) relief him off his duties without blowing his cover, how to gain the trust of the people with Batman look-alikes coming forth and causing a wreck in the city.

What’s interesting to note is that it doesn’t really matter if Batman captures The Joker or vice versa. But who emerges winner in getting Gotham’s soul was what really mattered. And it is this relentless pursuit of both men trying to control the minds of the populace that brings about a psychology of the things that happen – and this, along with the gripping action sequences adds punch and substance to the 152-minute movie. With so much going on and no minute wasted, Nolan has gotten noticeably better compared to “Batman Begins”, judging from the orchestrated action.

While others may deem unimportant, I cannot help but mention that the superb technical credits only propelled the movie to reach its finest quality of excellence. Hans Zimmer’s and James Newton’s score for the film trades in moods and rhythms. The most striking and fear-inducing is that for The Joker – a processed string arrangement which leaves viewers in nail-biting moments of guessing the impending dread.

“The Dark Knight” is among the most intellectually stimulating and thought-provoking comic-hero adaptations to date. A true loss to Hollywood, the promising Ledger left behind a monumental performance and has definitely raised the standards exponentially for future comic-hero antagonists.

Channel News Asia

opens today

THE DARK KNIGHT
Directed by Christopher Nolan
Starring Heath Ledger, Christian Bale, Aaron Eckhart, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Gary Oldman, Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman

Batman shows off his Bat Pod.

THE Dark Knight, the follow-up to the action hit Batman Begins, reunites director Christopher Nolan and actor Christian Bale, who reprises the role of Batman/Bruce Wayne in his continuing war on crime.

With the help of lieutenant Jim Gordon and district attorney Harvey Dent (Eckhart), Batman sets out to destroy organised crime for good in Gotham.

But they soon find themselves prey to a rising criminal mastermind known as the Joker (Ledger), who thrusts Gotham into anarchy and forces the Dark Knight ever closer to crossing the fine line between hero and vigilante.

There is a scene in the movie where the Joker gate-crashes a party to tell the shocked guests that he is “…the entertainment for the evening”.

Indeed, the Joker is easily the entertainment of the entire movie!

He often arrives on the scene without warning. He eventually becomes Gotham City’s most wanted criminal.

Ledger completed filming his role in the movie shortly before his death on Jan 22. Colourful, dangerous, cynical and witty, he manages to make the Joker likeable and arguably the best villain of the silver screen.

Combining evil with offbeat humour, Ledger manages to hold his own, interpreting his role differently from the Joker that Jack Nicholson magnificently played in the first Batman film (1989).

One of his memorable lines is: “You either die a hero, or live long enough to become a villain” – a declaration which can be aptly described as the film’s motto.

Make-up changed his looks altogether. And one can’t help but be impressed by the way he throws himself completely body and soul into the character.

The filmmakers made several changes to the world of Batman in this movie: Bruce Wayne’s family home, Wayne Manor, is burned to the ground at the end of the movie, so Bruce now resides in a modern penthouse overlooking the city.

Batman also has a newly-designed Bat suit, which gives him more range of motion and a greater field of vision. And the agile and powerful Bat Pod makes its much-anticipated debut as the Dark Knight weaves through Gotham City traffic in a pulse-pounding chase sequence filmed on the streets of Chicago.

Batman’s pursuit of justice also takes him on an odyssey halfway across the world to Hong Kong, marking the first time the cape crusader has left the confines of Gotham City on screen.

Six sequences of The Dark Knight were filmed with IMAX cameras, including the opening six minutes, in a show of bravura filmmaking.

This marks the first time that a major feature film has used such cameras in what is an intriguing integration of film technology.

New Straits Times

LOS ANGELES : Singaporean Ng Chin Han’s ears must have been burning. After all, it’s not everyday when your big-name director, who also happens to be one of your heroes, says to a roomful of international journalists in Los Angeles (fellow Singaporean, yours truly, included), that you have “a great presence which was really exactly what the character required”.

Those were the exact words Christopher Nolan, the highly acclaimed director of “The Dark Knight” said in response to this reporter’s question about why he chose to cast Ng, out of all the Asian actors in the world, in the most anticipated movie of the year.

“There was a long process of auditioning a lot of different actors and Chin just seemed very right for the part,” said the 37-year-old behind Batman Begins (2005) and the modern classic, Memento (2000). “Batman is played by an Englishman (Christian Bale is Welsh). The Joker (Heath Ledger) is played by an Australian. It really is quite an international cast.”

As hearts all over the island swell with nationalistic pride, it is the hearts of his parents that Ng is most thankful for. After all, they were the ones who gave him their blessing to fly back to audition in Los Angeles, where he’s been based for five years, almost immediately after touching down in Singapore on a trip to visit his sick father.

“This is indicative of their support all this while for my chosen profession,” the 38-year-old actor-director told TODAY. “But I don’t think they knew exactly the scale of the film until they watched Batman Begins on DVD at my sister’s house. That’s when they exclaimed to me: ‘You’re in the sequel to that film?”

The Singapore boy, who now goes by the name of Chin Han in Hollywood (does that now make “Han” his surname?), shares scenes with Hollywood’s finest – Bale, Morgan Freeman, Ledger, Gary Oldman – in “The Dark Knight”.

He plays the sizable role of Hong Kong mogul Lau, trumping pretty boy Edison Chen’s “Guy at Security Desk #2″ two-second role.

It is an incredible accomplishment for the man best known to Singaporean audiences as the grandson to Margaret Chan’s “crush him like a cockroach” matriarch in 1994’s TV calamity, “Masters of the Sea”.

And we are not the only ones in awe. “The biggest thrill after saying hi to Chris (Nolan) was the journey to my trailer. It was like walking down the Avenue of the Stars, as you walk past the other trailers and see all these amazing names on the doors. Then you reach your own trailer. It was heady and surreal,” said Ng, adding that he had to refrain himself from taking photographs like a tourist on set.

“You dream of the moment but when it actually happens to you, it’s not exactly how you imagine it – it’s better.” –

Channel News Asia

THE buzz that’s echoing across planet Earth, emanating from ground zero Hollywood, is not that Christian Bale is reprising his role as Batman but Heath Ledger’s extraordinary performance as The Joker.

The popular notion is that Ledger has been tipped to be an Oscar Best Actor nominee.

Of course the impetuous but bold prediction has found favour in several quarters.

It has been some time now that a villain of a soon-to-be-seen movie is given such prominence before its grand premiere. What makes it even more outstanding is the fact that the accolades are mounting on a posthumous level.

Ledger died on Jan 22 this year. The coroner’s report put it as accidental death resulting from complications arising from prescription drugs.

The Dark Knight which is scheduled for worldwide release on July 18 was in post-production when Ledger died. Director Christopher Nolan and the cast have paid tribute to Ledger’s outstanding final performance in the movie.

The two-and-a-half-hour movie has received a PG-13 rating. Batman fans will be glad to know that the Batsuit has been given a makeover. If you think the previous one was great, this one will take the wings off your back.

A brand new Batcycle will be introduced. Something for bikers to drool over and audibly exclaim “cool”.

Ledger’s untimely death has unintentionally given a new spin to the film. Warner Brothers has since intensified its marketing campaign of the movie. Several websites which were set up to promote Dark Knight have been modified to reflect the sombre passing of an esteemed member of the actors’ fraternity.

Dark Knight was budgeted at US$180 (RM576 million). It has been predicted to surpass the earnings of its predecessor Batman Begins (2005) on a worldwide basis.

Since this sequel is an inspired version of Frank Miller’s tale of Dark Knight, the story has been skewered to suit the screen and also has been shaped to manageable screen time.

In a nutshell, the story begins about 12 months after the conclusion of Batman Begins. Batman together with police lieutenant James Gordon and new District Attorney Harvey Dent formed a pact to clean Gotham City of all its criminal elements.

In their efforts to flush the streets and alleyways of the dregs of society, they awakened an unusual and dangerous crime lord who called himself The Joker. While the warped mind of The Joker perceives the law enforcers as worthy pawns in his overall scheme, the Dark Knight faces the challenge on a more personal level.

Thus, Bruce Wayne a.k.a. Batman ups the ante on his Bat technology to gain a much needed advantage over a deviously clever criminal with suicidal tendencies.

To spice up the plot, a love interest develops between Rachel Dawes (Maggie Gyllenhaal), Harvey Dent and Batman. Really, what’s the point of all that street war and explosive action if there’s no love lodged somewhere in the entire mix?

Some insiders who have been given the honour of watching Dark Knight about a week ago have already proclaimed Dark Knight as the “perfect movie”. Apparently, it has the right combination of artful direction, gritty storyline and perfect drama scenes.

Frank Miller’s more lengthy tale of the Dark Knight does not find maximum artistic expression here. The focal point of the entire movie is on the battle between the Dark Knight and The Joker.

Dieheard Batman fans and those Dark Knight comic readers who still have their Dark Knight issues all sealed and wrapped in acid-free material will no doubt make a beeline for the cinemas when the movie opens in two days’ time.

Meanwhile, for the rest of you who don’t have an inkling of what has just transpired here, you are not invited to the cinematic event of the year. All I can say is shame on you! May the rest of us, learned ones, be joyous in our happy hours inside the cinema.

Dark Knight Contest galore

GOLDEN Screen Cinemas is holding a contest in conjunction with the screening of The Dark Knight this month, starting tomorrow and ends Aug 15. All you have to do is collect two GSC The Dark Knight paid ticket stubs with the contest form (available at GSC cinemas or via www.gsc.com.my), circle the correct movie character’s name and complete a slogan in no more than 20 words.

You can drop off the contest forms at GSC cinemas by Aug 13 or mail your forms to “THE DARK KNIGHT Box Office Contest, Golden Screen Cinemas (Marketing Department) at No 1, Jalan SS 22/19, Damansara Jaya, 47400 Petaling Jaya, Selangor Darul Ehsan before August 18, 2008.

Among the attractive prizes are:

• The Dark Knight Water Resistant Steel & Rubber Watch,
• The Dark Knight Grey Jersey Gym Men Tee
• The Dark Knight Joker Card Tee
• The Dark Knight Moleskin Journal with Joker Card
• The Dark Knight Collector Series Button and GSC Complimentary Pass (worth up to RM1,605).

Other prizes include The Dark Knight Ladies Distressed Vontage Washed Jacket, The Dark Knight Aluminium Water Bottle, The Dark Knight Collector Series Button, The Dark Knight T-shirt, The Dark Knight Coffee Table Book and GSC complimentary passes.

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  Spirit of the caped crusader

New Straits Times

LOS ANGELES: Oscar-winner Michael Caine literally made his mark on Hollywood here on Friday, joining the ranks of movie legends who have sunk their hands and feet in concrete outside the famous Chinese Theatre.

The 75-year-old British actor was honoured at a ceremony in front of the Hollywood landmark attended by around 100 guests, including the director of Caine’s next film, the upcoming Batman sequel “The Dark Knight”.

Caine, who has twice won best-supporting Oscars for his roles in “Hannah and Her Sisters” and “The Cider House Rules,” plays the caped crusader’s loyal butler Alfred in the keenly anticipated blockbuster, due out on July 18.

“It’s the only award of its kind in the world,” Caine told the local ABC7 television network.

“I know you get your star on the Hollywood pavement, but there’s only been 192 of these since 1921, so they don’t throw them about, you know?”

The London-born actor, who received a knighthood in 2000, has also been nominated for an Oscar on four other occasions for “Alfie”, “Sleuth”, “Educating Rita” and most recently, “The Quiet American”.

Caine has appeared in more than 100 films during a career that has spanned a half-century.

- AFP/so

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