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Review
When we think about great movies that emerged in the 21st century, we cannot help but mention The Dark Knight. From the beyond-amazing screenplay to the extraordinary acting and cast choice, let’s dive into this rollercoaster and discuss significant aspects of this 2008 production.
The Dark Night: Cast and Crew
Christopher Nolan directed, co-wrote, and co-produced the movie with Johnathan Nolan and David S. Goyer in the writing team and Charles Roven and Emma Thomas in the production team. Christian Bale plays Bruce Wayne, Heath Ledger as Joker, Aaron Eckhart as Harvey Dent, who is the focus of this plot, and Maggie Gyllenhaal as Rachel.
Plot Summary
The first scene of the movie is a bank heist. We see several criminals wearing clown masks, and one of them is wearing a purple suit. When the man reveals his face, we know that the Joker has come to Gotham! What happens next?
Bruce Waine goes to meet Detective Gordon at the crime scene, and they cooperate with Harvey Dent to save Gotham from the Joker’s madness. Dent and Rachel are a couple, and while Bruce is a bit jealous, he still has hope that Dent will become the hero who is going to save Gotham and that he will quit being Batman to be with Rachel! However, it wasn’t long before the Joker found a way to tear them all apart!
The Joker kidnaps both Rachel and Dent and locks them down in two separate places. He gave the locations to Batman and told him that he would blow the two locations up at the same time and that he could only save one of them. Batman decides to go after Rachel, and Gordon goes to rescue Dent. However, when Batman got to Rachel’s location, he found out that it was the wrong location and that the Joker was going to kill her.
The Joker blew up the two locations, killing Rachel and burning half of Dent’s face. When Dent woke up in the hospital, he was devastated by what happened to Rachel, and the Joker decided to pay him a visit. He told him that he should take revenge for what happened to his girlfriend and make all those involved in the case suffer.
Tow-Face in Gotham
Harvey Dent is the main character of The Dark Knight. In this movie, we follow Dent’s transformation from Gotham’s hero to the vengeful villain known as Two-Face. Gotham City elected Dent as their district attorney for his remarkable work in fighting corruption in Gotham’s organisations, and he was known as The White Knight. However, after what happened to Rachel, Dent couldn’t believe in the good world he was trying to create with Batman. He could no longer believe that good people have a spot in this cruel and corrupt life.
Therefore, he promised to make Bruce, Gordon, and all those he blamed for Rachel’s death pay. Although the Joker is the one responsible for her death, Dent blames Batman and Gordon for choosing to save him instead of Rachel. Two-Face got out of the hospital and went to Gordon’s house to kill his family. Shortly, Batman was able to save Gordon’s son, and Dent fell off and died.
In order to keep Dent’s good reputation for the public, Batman took the blame for his death, and all Gotham believed that he killed the good and pure Harvey Dent. What happened to Harvey was horrifying, the way he lost Rachel and how he got disfigured in this horrible way. However, even with those reasons on the table, does any of that justify his transformation into the Two-Face villain? Or is there something more?
A Closer Look Into Dent’s Past
Dent was the only child of former officer Harry Dent and his abused wife, Lucy Dent. Dent Senior was an alcoholic, abusive and terrifying man who used to beat Harvey’s mother, and no one could do anything about it. Due to the fact that Harry Dent was a police officer, those in the police department never tried to help Lucy or save her from the hands of this abuser.
Harvey grew up watching the injustice towards his mother; he grew up in a world where Evil always wins. When he was 10, Harvey’s father finally moved out of the house, leaving him and his mother for six years without any sort of contact. However, one night, at the age of 16, Harvey went back home to see his father dead on the floor with a gun pointed to his head and his mother hanging from the ceiling with a knotted sheet around her neck!
When we dig deep into someone’s past, it kind of helps us form an explanation of their current behaviour. Of course, it doesn’t always work that way, but let’s say that Harvey’s past and the injustice he witnessed were the main reasons behind his decision to become Gotham’s White Knight. But it could also be the reason why he became the Two-Face villain.
It is Joker Time!
Where to begin? The Joker is more challenging to analyse than you may think. It is not because we have no clue about his past or why he is the way he is (whatever that is); it is because of the multiple layers of personalities hiding underneath his mask. It is because the Joker might not be as insane as we want to believe; in fact, he might be the only sane individual in this movie! But how?
A “psychopathic, mass murdering, schizophrenic clown with zero empathy” were Heath Ledger’s words on the Joker. If we pay more attention to the Joker’s behaviours, we will find that each and every move he makes is thoroughly planned and studied; he doesn’t act randomly about anything, even his facial expressions are not random, and he does them in the right place at the right time.
It is as if the Joker is only here to prove a significant point of view, which is that we cannot have a world without corruption. Good and Evil were created side by side, and nothing can change that. To prove himself right, he targets Dent and drives him to the edge of insanity, turning who once was Gotham’s White Knight into the Two-Face villain who wants nothing but revenge.
It is kind of sad to think about this, to think about how every ray of hope for any goodness in this world is killed by someone like the Joker. However, what the Joker doesn’t know is that even with the presence of Evil, there is still Good in the world, and it will never come to an end. But it is a bit too late for Dent to get that lesson!
The Dark Knight is a Great Movie
The Dark Knight is one of the greatest movies of the 21st century. Storytelling, character development, cast, and each and every element in this movie played an integral part in its global success. Since it hit all theatres in 2008, it has kept on being the favourite movie for many around the world.
Heath Ledger and the Remarkable Joker Performance
Some call it the best Joker performance in history! And we can’t really disagree with this after watching Heath Ledger’s remarkable performance of the character. Heath Ledger was an extremely talented actor, and at the age of 28, we lost him due to an accidental overdose of prescribed drugs.
Heath’s death was shocking news to the whole world! Not just because he was a young man at the beginning of a promising career but also because he had a long-lasting impact on the hearts of those who knew and loved him. 13 months after his tragic death, Ledger won the Oscar for Best Actor in a supporting role for his role as the Joker.
His family accepted the award on his behalf, and his father, mother, and sister made a speech to honour him and celebrate his eternal success. Needless to say, everyone in the audience was moved with tears in their eyes, remembering Heath and wishing if could have been there to witness his success.
Who Was Heath Ledger?
Heath Ledger was an Australian actor, director, and producer. He was born in Australia in 1979 and died in New York in 2008. He started his career playing various roles in Australian TV and cinema, then moved to the United States in 1998, seeking Hollywood’s global success.
The legendary actor participated in and starred in some of the most significant movies, such as A Knight’s Tale, Brokeback Mountain, the teen rom-com Ten Things I Hate About You, and his last movie, The Dark Knight. He was such an inspiration for the youth, and they wanted to follow his path and achieve success at such a young age. Heath will always be remembered, and the Joker will forever be his beyond-incredible performance.
Now that we have tackled different angles of the movie, what caught your interest the most while watching this iconic production?