The Dark Knight

Location: IMAX KL
Time: 9 pm July 17

Believe the hype boys and girls, THE most anticipated movie event of the year is finally here - and it's majestic. Premiered in public cinemas last Wednesday here in KL and all over the world on July 17 - this was the movie to watch! I have to admit, I have been waiting for this movie to hit cinemas for nearly a year now.. thankfully, it was well worth the wait. The hype for this movie was huge, I've never seen a movie so heavily talked about even BEFORE the actual movie was released. And the fact that Heath Ledger (God bless his soul) died before the movie was out, made The Dark Knight even more engrossing to the public. So how would Heath Ledger leave his screen legacy by portraying the villain Joker? Would he leave a significant mark to the people? Would his last performance be worthy of an Oscar nod?

"Ladies and Gentlemen, we are tonight's entertainment!"

You have to watch it to believe it. This movie is far from being disappointing - all the hype in the world could not stop this movie from being an instant classic. If ever there was a need to choose a single movie for our generation, this would definitely be it. It is history in the making folks, it is THAT good.

I'm pretty sure by the time i finish writing my review for this movie, 99% of you out there would have already watch it. So, even if I try to keep this Spoiler free, I hope you wouldn't mind me discussing the details on some of the scenes - just because it'd be so uncool not to talk about it. So lets not be too serious, ok? :D

"And here we...go!"

The Dark Knight starts off where the last movie (Batman Begins) left us. Gotham City now is getting better thanks to Batman (Christian Bale) and also particularly because of the rise of Gotham's new District Attorney - Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart). With the help of Liutenant Gordon (Gary Oldman), Batman and Harvey Dent tries to get rid of the mob that controls the crime syndicate of Gotham. Until suddenly, the emergence of a new force only known as 'The Joker' (Heath Ledger) sets into play. Mayhem ensues.

So what's so damn good about this movie? Simply put - everything. This movie kicks ass from start to finish. With it's 2 and a half hour running time, the movie zips through without you even noticing it has already been nearly 3 hours in the theaters. A lot of material is crammed through the movie -new characters are being introduced, several key plot points, notable action sequences and also some tragic moments. But the beauty of it is, it does not convolute - it never feels as though too many things are happening at once (point in case = Spiderman 3) and so it leaves the viewers feeling satisfied sitting through a considerably long amount of time in the show.

Some men just want to watch the world burn.

The main attraction for this movie is none other than The Joker. Played to perfection by the late Heath Ledger, his personification of The Joker is as amazing as any classic screen characters to date. He is demented, crazy, creepy and funny all at the same time. I've never seen a villain so brutal and deranged having so much fun doing what he does. Almost all of his lines and dialogue in the movie is memorable - when he's not on the screen, you kinda miss him and can't wait for him to come back. And the pencil dissapearing trick? SICK! hahaha

"Want to know how I got my scar?"

However, the director smartly brings back its focus on Batman/Bruce Wayne. It is a Batman movie after all. I like how Christopher Nolan manages the weight of the three integral characters in the movie. All three of them have equal screen time, and brings much relevance and grit to the whole story arc of the movie. The character development of all these important figures in the movie makes the story so much more interesting - especially about the rise and fall of Harvey Dent. The transformation to Two-Face is nothing less than tragic.

"Let's leave it to chance, shall we?"

There are a lot more things to talk about about this movie. The action scenes are superb and well choreographed. Seriously there's more than 5 scenes that can make you go "whoahh" and "oooh" in the movie. My favourite scene, is the one where (spoiler alert) Batman gives chase to save Harvey Dent from the Joker. That scene was so excellently crafted, by the time you get to see the Batpod, you'll be like "how the hell did that come about!?" Awesome! But yeah, even the other minor action scenes are fantastic. You really have to see it to believe it :)

Batpod 2.0

Christopher Nolan has created a masterpiece. Just like Michael Mann did for Heat, and Scorsese did for The Departed, Nolan has created a crime saga based in the world of comic book mythology in epic proportions. Never have I seen a superhero movie this dark, this deranged, this massive, this deep, while keeping it realistically grounded AND super-entertaining at the same time. The only problem I have now after watching this movie is - how the hell are they gonna top this one? Well I guess that's a problem I can't wait to see. But for now, I'm gonna catch the movie again. Anyone for seconds?

Stars: 5/5 - The best movie of the year for me. Period. It can't get any better than this.

Look out for: Cameos by Cillian Murphy and Mr. Hong Kong bad boy - Edison Chen :P