MIND-BLOWING

The Dark Knight blew me away.


The movie was overwhelmingly breath-taking that it wasn’t overshadowed by Heath Ledger's amazing performance as the Joker. Batman the reluctant hero, Harvey Dent the face of hope in Gotham, Rachel the reason of tangle for normal life, the message of the movie, the conflicts, the kick-ass action, the effects, the realism and everything else. Christopher Nolan made a masterpiece.

The bank robbery in the very beginning was damn exciting, giving the movie the perfect introduction for me. Adrenaline right from the start.

Grumpy: I'm betting The Joker told you to kill me as soon as we loaded the cash.
The Joker in mask: No, no. I kill the bus driver.
Grumpy: Bus driver? What bus driver?
[a school bus drives through the wall and kills Grumpy]

It was really sly of Joker to instruct each accomplice to kill his partner to raise own’s stakes of the loots. In the end, Joker was left with only one easy prey to kill and the money is all his! After all the meticulous efforts of teamwork, only one got the prize. That’s a really cunning, cruel plan.

I loved how he, as a complete stranger, can just crash into a mob bosses’ meeting, laughing and asking if their balls fell off, demanding for half of their loots, and none of the intimidating brawns and numbers could do anything to this one person.

"You think you can just come in and steal all our money and get away with it?”
Joker: Yes.

The crazy “pencil trick” that he gleefully performed, was enough of a reason for the mobs to give in to Joker’s demands. And it was a prelude to the audience of who this Joker guy really is.

The Joker: This town deserves a better class of criminal... and I'm gonna give it to them. Tell your men they work for me now. This is *my* city.
The Chechen: They won't work for a freak...
The Joker: [mocking his accent] A freak...
[pulls out his switchblade and tosses it to some goons who grab the Chechen]
The Joker: Why don't we cut you up into little pieces and feed you to your pooches? Hmm? And then we'll see how loyal a hungry dog really is. It's not about money. It's about sending a message.

He’s a really frightening, sadistic psychopath with no direction in life, an anarchist dedicated to chaos and mass killing. To him, it’s a pleasure, a sense of achievement and fulfillment in life.

Putting terror into people is a routine like the tormenting of the fake Batman on air and the variety of horrible scar stories. They’re all freaking freaky.

Joker: You know why I use a knife? Because I get to be up close to savor all of the... emotion. You see who people really are as they die. So, in a way, I know your friends better than you. Would you like to know which of your friends were cowards?

He doesn’t kill with a logical purpose. He kills just to see what people like Batman and Harvey Dent can do about it. And the more Batman thwarts his efforts, the more sense of challenge he feels and he gets more addicted to slaughter (Yeah, slaughter is the best medicine). It becomes an obsession.

"You wanna know how I got these scars??"

"Do I really look like a man with a plan, Harvey? I don't have a plan. The mob has plans, the cops have plans. You know what I am, Harvey? I'm like a dog chasing cars. I wouldn't know what to do with one if I caught it. I just DO things.”

And the way he does crimes, he involves everyone! He believes everyone is bad deep down by nature (which is partially true) and he tries to force the dark side in everyone out with all his smart tactics.

"I'm looking to add to my ranks, but I've only got one spot left, so we're going to have try outs." (breaks a stick to two and throws to the group of people)

He wants people to eat each other. He doesn’t have to do the killing part, the good people of Gotham do it! The threats to blow up the hospitals and ships are the perfect examples of his craftiness. The cop worried for his wife in hospital tried to take Reese out for good. The passengers in both ships were impatient of blowing each others’ ship. It’s really true that in desperate times, people’s evil sides surface.



Look at what Joker turned Harvey Dent into – a monster like himself. He was the white knight of Gotham, the face of optimism in the pessimistic city of Gotham. He’s the proof that there’s still hope of humanity in the city, trying to bring peace and protect the people. But, after just one very bad, terrible day, he becomes the complete opposite. It was a big transformation in short time.


That was what Joker constantly tries to do against Batman, forcing him to break his one rule of mercy, to finally cross the fine line between hero and vigilante by taking out a life. But the strong stand of Batman only makes Joker loves him more. He takes advantage of it. That’s why Joker does not worry about his physical vulnerability when against Batman, he dares to not defend himself. Imagine how big of a contribution it would have been if Batman would just knock him down with his lightning fast Batpod.


The physical beating, in fact, he loves it. Look at how wildly he laughed when he was tossed and turned by Batman in the interrogation room. It was like orgasm to him. And when Batman threw him down the building, he was laughing all the way down. What was he thinking??! He’s really insane. He’s fearless. I read that in the comics, Scarecrow once used the fear gas on Joker, and it didn’t fucking work!


"You seen Harvey Dent? You know where Harvey Dent is? You know where Harvey Dent is? I need to talk to Harvey Dent."

"dent, dent, dent, Harvey dent, oh! excuse me, i wanna drive"

"Oooo you wanna play come on....... come on"

I remember studying a short story in secondary school’s literature about a scientist inventing a sound machine. They called him mad because he was meticulous with every detail of his daily life, his process of inventing especially. Now what do you call Joker? That’s pure madness to the extent that he’s not mad! There are chilling theories that he’s actually not crazy, in fact he’s so sane that he sees more clearly than anyone else.

breathing the refreshing air of chaos

“No… I’m not crazy.”

"see I’m not a monster.... i’m just ahead of the curve"

No, I’m not done with his madness. Remember how he burnt the mountain of money? It’s a jaw-dropping moment especially that it was a crazy amount of money to have and he was sliding down the money mountain just moments before. And he burnt it? He’s fucking awesome. Yeah, money is not everything huh? HAHA.

And the scene in the hospital when Joker asked Harvey to shoot him with the gun pointing point-blank at his head? The whole conversation was bloody intense! It’s freaking mad of him that he doesn’t care Harvey was gonna pull the trigger any second. He just doesn’t care!

With Joker ever eager to test out Batman’s stance and Batman’s continual refusal to kill him, it was always going to be an everlasting rivalry. It’s what makes the relationship between Batman and Joker special. In the comics, Joker is really immortal, making a comeback each time no matter how impossible it was to survive an ordeal. But unfortunately, we’re not gonna see it in the movies franchise.


Frankly, I feel a bit discouraged to watch the next Batman movie with Two-face as the villain. I don’t like his theory of fair chance by flipping the coin. But, the fact that it’ll still be a CHRISTOPHER NOLAN movie is already a big reason to catch it.

The Joker: "You just couldn't let me go, could you? I guess this is what happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object. You are truly incorruptible, aren't you? You won't kill me out of some misplaced sense of righteousness . . . and I won't kill you because you're too damn fun. You complete me. We're going to do this forever."

This nutcase really had Batman stressed out and busier than ever. It’s just too hard for Bruce to cope with his every fatal move. The innocent citizens and people dear to him were put into danger because of his relationship with Joker. All the dilemmas he had – surrendering himself for good and thriving on the hope on Harvey, and thinking about finally wetting his hand with blood to solve the problem once and for all.


And when Rachel was blown up as he got tricked to save Harvey instead of Rachel, I thought it had to be the lowest moment of his life. Another loved one taken away from him after his parents. I really thought there was no reason left for him to carry on as the Batman. Saving the city – for what? He’s all alone now, without friends.


But he never gave up. Sacrificing himself to take the blame for Harvey’s killings says it all. For what happened to Rachel and for his identity, he was in position to be the scapegoat. And he was WILLING. He’s a really big character.

Son: Why is he running?
Gordon: Because we have to chase him.
Son: He didn’t do anything wrong.

And the accompanying ending music by Hans Zimmer was really fitting to wrap up the movie. I felt like crying, although I was a bit disappointed not to see Joker involved in the ending. But, I just have to mention, Hans Zimmer’s music throughout the movie was awesome.

A great piece of work The Dark Knight is.