What's on Shenji's Mind: Not the Same Saturday Morning Batman Cartoon I Used to Watch When I was Young

Title: Dark Knight
Starring: Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Aaron Eckheart, Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, Christopher Teo
Director: Christopher Nolan

Who can ever forget the cape crusader who patrols the city of Gotham fighting crime when Batman has been around for decades since Superman? Although I'm never really a big fan of Batman, I followed the series closely which was played every Saturday morning on TV when I was growing up. Probably its just because of the fact that there were hardly any costume strapped heroes aired on Malaysian TV back then. Although there was Superman back then, but the fact that the man of steel was almost invincible wasn't really appealing for me compared to a mere mortal behind the rubber suit of a bat who is scarred and constantly haunted by the death of his parents. Unfortunately, my taste for heroes and superheroes rescuing the-day-and-putting-the-bad-guys-behind-bars slowly disappeared as I grew older. Instead, I prefer the heroes (or vigilantes, most of you would address) who resorts to gruesome methods and even death as a way of reminding the bad guys that crime can be hell. Vigilantes like the Punisher catered my taste and I slowly drifted apart from the Batman series. Back in 2005 when a remake of Batman (Batman Begins) came out in theaters, I was not excited like most people I knew as I thought that the movie was going to deliver the same violent free routine of teaching the bad guys just like Tim Burton's Batman movies in the early 90s. Conversely after 2 hours in the theater watching Batman Begins, I was completely proven wrong and my perception of Batman quickly changed. The remake of Batman which featured a reasonable amount of violence together with a dark and gritty presentation of Batman redefined the classic cape crusader of Gotham. I was impress with the remake and I was hoping that there will be a sequel to the movie. Three years later and the Dark Night arrives in theaters worldwide. I was fortunate enough to catch the movie a day after its premier which I never thought I could, given the highly anticipated nature of the movie . Unlike its previous installment, the Dark Knight extends the violence and provides a darker and also disturbing theme than the previous movie. Despite its gruesome plot, the Dark Knight forces the audience at the edge of their seat throughout the movie only to receive two thumbs up at the ending credits of the movie.

Dark Knight picks up shortly after the ending of Batman Begins. With crime still on the rise, Batman sets out to annihilate the remaining organized crime that plagues the city of Gotham. His quest to defeat crime is greatly assisted by Lieutenant Jim Gordon and District Attorney Harvey. The unlikely triad managed to pummel the rate of crime forcing the leaders and major players of the remaining organized crime into a desperate state. Unfortunately for the triad, the advent of the criminal mastermind known as the Joker to aid the remaining leaders of the organized crime turn the war on crime against the triad's side. With devastating and disturbing tricks up his sleeves, the Joker forces a great challenge for Batman, when he delivers chaos, terror and anarchy on the city of Gotham. Although the plot behind the Dark Knight appears to be the simple typical comic book hero style, the unexpected twist and turns in the plot together with a dark and sinister background of the characters force the ratings of the story quality to sky rocket.

The content of the movie is simply spectacular in many ways. Aside from the usual good versus evil theme, the presentation of the characters were marvelous. Bruce Wayne still maintains his usual man-charms that often gets him triple dates to the ball while Lieutenant Jim Gordan and District Attorney Harvey Dent exemplify a convincing determination to annihilate crime and restore order in the corrupted city of Gotham. Batman's zero tolerance on crime which can be illustrated by his skull-cracking-punch-landing interrogation techniques makes the other Batman in the cartoon series soft gentle bunnies. This does not only instill a big distinction between the new Batman and the older Batman series but also forces a R rating which caters for the mature audiences. Despite playing the role of a villain, the Joker was the most astonishing character among the others in the movie. With his psychopathic behavior that illuminate a disturbing and traumatizing aura accompanied with his eerie giggles and his own unique "sense of humor" which never fails to deliver chills down the audiences' spine, the Joker is one character whom the audiences will find it difficult to forget. The music score for the movie is remarkable which wouldn't be any surprise seeing that Hans Zimmer was placed in charge for that aspect of the movie. Like the previous installment, Hans Zimmer smartly implements his ever thrilling Molossus masterpiece at moments of the movie that depicts high octane action sequences. Speaking of action sequences, the Bat Mobile chase scene which later highlighted the use of Batman's new high speed bike greatly accelerated the action of the movie. The use of Skyhook, a method of extracting special operators or CIA operatives from volatile positions behind enemy lines, was also featured in the movie which left audiences amazed. Heavy emphasize on SWAT action in the Dark Knight packs the movie with more high adrenaline action; my jaws reached the ground during the scenes where Gotham City's finest were rappelling and getting ready for some SWAT action. In the Dark Knight, Batman fans were pampered with new gadgets and weapons among the Dark Knight's arsenal. The new design of Batman's improved body armor (which is so strong that it can even out stand a Rottweiler's violent chomp), forearms guards which projects shuriken-like blades and a computerized eye visor which is slaved behind Batman's mask are examples of few gadgets and technologies which are truly impressive.

Despite most of its pros, the Dark Night still presents a couple of cons, nevertheless they are still forgivable. It was a shame that Katie Holmes could not reprise her role as Rachel in the Dark Knight. The new actress who replaced Katie Holmes in Rachel's role did a great job however; her mature looks (which look older than Bruce Wayne) wasn't really suitable for Rachel's young and charming appearance. Having a different set of voices for Batman and Bruce Wayne was unnecessary given the fact that Bruce Wayne wasn't suffering from a split personality; Bruce Wayne's rough voice behind the mask of Batman is simply cheesy and corny.

Although the plot behind the Dark Knight appears to be the simple typical comic book hero style, the unexpected twist and turns in the plot together with a dark and sinister background of the characters force the ratings of the story quality to sky rocket. Overall, the Dark Knight deserves an 8 out of 10 for its outstanding movie content. Judging from the ending of the movie, it is unclear whether there would be a sequel to the Dark Knight. If the directors, producers and writers plan to do a follow up, it is only the question of which villain the Dark Knight will be facing .