THE IMDB Top 50 CHALLENGE #10 The Dark Knight

Despite the high regard in which it is held, The Dark Knight is a flawed film. There are too many characters with too many faces, it’s far too long and the not-quite-climactic boat scene is just an undercooked philosophical exercise on screen. But there is one thing which all fans, fanboys and film critics agree on: Heath Ledger is magnificent as the Joker.

Whilst the film was still shooting, Ledger outlined his vision for the character as a "psychopathic, mass murdering, schizophrenic clown with zero empathy.” What couldn’t have been anticipated was that, six month’s after his death, Ledger’s Joker would become one of the most memorable and iconic screen villains of all time.

Director Christopher Nolan allowed Ledger huge creative freedom in bringing the Joker to life, leading to the Australian actor locking himself away in a London hotel for a month to experiment with different voices and tics – a process which Ledger says led him into ‘the realm of the psychopath’. Sadly, art imitated life when Ledger passed away in his room following a cocktail of prescription drugs taken in an apparent attempt to quiet the voices which stopped him sleeping.

The tragedy which took the young actor’s life only solidified people’s support and affection for him, with expectations of the movie high following Batman Begins and Nolan’s superb viral marketing campaign: often featuring tantalising glimpses of Ledger’s Joker. The combination of these factors and the expectant fervour which greets any superhero film combined to create a level of anticipation barely seen before.  And from the very moment he appears on screen, the Joker does not disappoint: the character is a carefully crafted and calibrated ‘agent of chaos’. From his appearance to his mannerisms, from his speech to his costume, everything about the Joker combines brilliantly to create an utterly unhinged villain capable of absolutely anything. 

Rather than the comic caricature previously offered up, this Joker has a far more chilling appearance thanks to make-up inspired by Francis Bacon and A Clockwork Orange. Framed by greasy green hair which looks like the result of a botched dye job, the smeared, tear stained pan stick and dark eyes are off-set by a smudge of rouge around the Joker’s misshapen, scarred mouth. It’s a look which degrades as the film goes on, allowing the Joker’s circumstances and environment to be reflected on his face: a marked improvement on Jack Nicholson’s perma-grin.

Physically, too, Ledger is magnificent. Simultaneously skittish and purposeful, menacing and humorous, he lurches, skips and slides across the screen wonderfully, improvising wonderful examples of business (his famously unscripted reaction to the hospital bombing is a fine example), always aware of his audience – and on the verge of erupting into uncontained violence.

Most remarkable of all is the Joker’s voice. It’s a vocal tour-de-force from Ledger: swerving in pitch and tone, moving between a breathy sing-song to a baritone snarl with alarming ease. At times playful, but always with a hint of menace, Ledger even manages to turn his physical scarring into a wetly reptilian quality – thanks largely to his lizard like tongue. His laugh, too, is a unique creation which begins as a gurgle in the back of his throat before erupting in a high pitched squeal of fearsome delight. Whenever possible, Nolan left Ledger’s voice unaltered in the sound mix, unwilling to risk damaging or altering Ledger’s unique and inimitable performance – a performance which words simply cannot do justice and which will, rightly, be what this remarkably gifted young actor will be most fondly remembered for.

The Dark Knight Rises

Ever since Tim Burton’s Batman, the world has waited for the truly definitive Dark Knight film. We’ve been treated to an assortment of Caped Crusaders, some truly memorable villains – and Arnold Schwarzenegger as Mr Freeze. Now, in the final instalment of his current incarnation, we have finally seen the real Batman.

Taking the best elements of the first two of his trilogy, Christopher Nolan has thrown in the best of Inception, ratcheted the whole lot up to eleven and created the greatest superhero movie of all time – a genre defining, game changing which realises every one of its director’s ambitious artistic visions.

Beginning eight years after the death of Harvey Dent and Batman’s self-sacrifice, the story resumes with Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) a broken man – in body and spirit. Barely able to walk, holed up in his house like a latter day Howard Hughes, Wayne has retreated from public life as Gotham enjoys an unparalleled period of peace under the watchful of Commissioner James Gordon (Gary Oldman) Inevitably, however, a series of events conspire to tempt the Dark Knight to emerge from the shadows in a battle to save the city from complete destruction at the hands of his fiercest nemesis yet: the brutal Bane (a masked Tom Hardy).

To say much more would be to spoil the plot of one of history’s most eagerly anticipated films. Certainly my own enjoyment was tempered somewhat by a spoiler heavy review in The Guardian which led me to a media blackout prior to seeing the movie. I’ll not fall into that trap here.

What i can say is that Nolan has created a truly original superhero story with genuine gravitas and emotional heft. From the very outset the film tugs at the heartstrings as Wayne toys with the idea of donning the body armour again, only for loyal butler Alfred (a scene stealing show from Sir Michael Caine) to plead with him not to. It’s an emotional moment born of Nolan’s fastidious creation of a full and engaging back-story for his central protagonist – this is not a money spinning threequel but the conclusive part of what was always meant to be a trilogy.

The supporting cast are uniformly excellent. Anne Hathaway is magnificent as the sleekly sexy Selina Kyle, a cat burglar par excellence, who always seems likely to figure significantly in the plot. Joseph Gordon Levitt adds steely determination as idealist cop Blake and Marion Cotillard lends a frisson of sexual tension to every scene she appears in.

Critics have been quick to slam Tom Hardy’s Bane, but that’s merely because he is not Heath Ledger. Nobody is and comparisons are unfair. Instead, he offers something the Joker did not: muscularity. He’s an immoveable force and Hardy bulked up hugely for the role. His sheer physicality poses Batman a problem he’s not yet dealt with – he cannot outfight or outmuscle his opponent. And this is a film in which Batman is severely physically punished – at times it’s painful to watch his body being battered and bloodied.

Perhaps the first time in Nolan’s trilogy, Batman and Bruce Wayne see their boundaries blurred. Often Batman is seen without his mask, the secret of his identity begin to slip and their fallibilities merge as one. Offering such a human touch to the superhero pays off in spades in the film’s climactic scene and is the key reason why Batman is a character worth rooting for: he is just a man.

Of course, The Dark Knight Rises is not just a drama – it’s a rip-snorting action adventure filled with Nolan’s trademark CGI-eschewing set-pieces, enormous battles and wry plot twists and surprises. Every single element of this film is superior to anything else the genre has ever produced. The world will wait with bated breath for the amazing Christopher Nolan to announce his next move.

THE IMDB TOP 50 CHALLENGE #29 Se7en

Serial killers and violent slashers have been a staple of Hollywood for so long that they’ve become hackneyed, clichéd and, quite frankly, dull. There are only so many times an audience can watch the same plot rehashed, the same killers recycled and the same deaths re-enacted. Praise the lord, then, for Se7en – without question the greatest serial killer movie of all time.

In one key way, Se7en subverts our expectations of the genre: we are given no clue about the killer’s identity. The audience is never asked or expected to identify him and are never given a glimpse of him at work. Instead, we are provided with another mystery to solve: how will he kill next?

Selecting his victims so that he might punish them for committing the seven deadly sins (gluttony, sloth, pride, envy, lust, greed and wrath), the killer constructs elaborate crime scenes and creative deaths: gluttony sees a fat man chained to a table and forced to eat pasta sauce until his stomach ruptures, sloth involves the near mummification of a victim tied to his bed for a year and kept barely alive.

The killer (unimaginatively christened John Doe) is methodical, intelligent and patient – everything that happens in Se7en is part of a masterplan which culminates in one of the most brilliantly plotted twists ever. Anyone who second-guessed the film’s ending is a liar or a genius. Or a sociopathic murderer.

Hints at Doe’s state of mind are provided in the finest title sequence I’ve ever seen. Featuring the construction of his notebooks, Fincher had a team working tirelessly to produce genuine artefacts of hand-written scrawls, psychotic outpourings and horrifying images of torture and disfigurement. This filmed process is truly horrifying.

Although John Doe’s murders belong strictly in the present day, everything else about Se7en is decidedly old-fashioned. The central relationship between Brad Pitt’s impetuous young cop, Mills, and Morgan Freeman’s weary Somerset has been seen a thousand times. But their dynamic is crucial: Mill’s hot-headedness is just as important as Somerset’s intelligent understanding of Doe’s literary references to the likes of Milton, Chaucer and the Bible.

The set design and costume also belong to a bygone era. Cops wear trenchcoats and carry flashlights, phones are attached to walls, furniture is heavy and wooden, the rain never stops pouring. When light, colour and modernity impinge on proceedings it’s usually to illustrate the gaudy nature of Doe’s killings and the perceived sins of his victims.

To say much more would be to destroy Se7en’s power. There are too many surprises which could be spoilt, too many creative touches which could be ruined. Be warned that Se7en is not a film for the faint hearted and occasionally requires a strong stomach. But the gruesome nature of its crime scenes is not exploitative or gratuitous. Rather, they are an insight into a twisted and warped mindset and a crucial part of drawing the audience into a highly original and intelligent horror movie which remains unrivalled sixteen years after its original release.