The Dark Knight: A Creepily Good Movie

Rohan Ambastha
May 13, 2021

Standing alongside Inception as a Christopher Nolan masterpiece, The Dark Knight will satisfy both moviegoers and comic book fans alike.

As a sequel to widely popular Batman Begins, it surprisingly doesn’t rely on its predecessor’s success — as it barely referenced the previous movie at all — and is one of the few sequels that is just as good as, if not better than, the original.

Christian Bale returns to protect Gotham City as both the rich, parentless Bruce Wayne and his mysterious alter-ego, Batman. To antagonize him, the late Heath Ledger stars as a much darker interpretation of the Joker, Batman’s iconic nemesis, with an absolutely stunning performance. While still the usual psychotic criminal lunatic, Heath Ledger plays an unnervingly sinister and intelligent Crown Prince of Crime.

Somewhat controversially, Christopher Nolan decided not to include much of a full backstory for the Joker with flashbacks, like he did in Batman Begins, but rather through dialogue from the Joker himself. More analytical watchers might realize that Batman and the Joker are two sides of the same coin, both having had traumatic and life-changing experiences as children, but choosing to cope in dramatically different ways. Bruce Wayne vents by, in the words of his engineer Lucius Fox, “beating criminals to a pulp with his bare hands”, whilst the Joker simply wants to show everyone how helpless they truly are.

While others may appreciate this movie for its action, I think that Heath Ledger’s performance is the true star of the film. From the flawless delivery of his lines to his chill-inducing laugh, he leads the audience through a wild roller coaster of a movie, and fully deserves the posthumous Oscar he received, and as he reminds us with his iconic quote, “Why so serious?”.

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