The Dark Knight

Christian Bale as Batman

Heath Ledger as the Joker, brandishing his ace in the hole

Went to 1U to watch the Dark Knight with Wen An today. And as expectd, it was really really fantastic! The biggest blockbuster of summer 2008 totally deserved the rave reviews, generous praise and accolades heaped on it. To be honest, I don't really think Heath Ledger's performance merited Oscar nomination, but he definitely brought a new dimension to the Joker's character. Jack Nicholson in the first Batman movie was supposedly witty and crazy with a little wickedness added for good measure. This Joker was no joke (pun intended!) to be messed with. Ledger's character was twisted, bloodthirsty and evil to the core. Totally overshadowing Christian Bale (he seemed perhaps more gorgeous in Batman Begins), Ledger thrilled and chilled the audience with his sardonic but ingenious schemes to turn Gotham City into a living hell. Definitely more gory and action packed than the first installment, I would have a PG-13 rating slapped on it if I was the film producers. I kind of closed my eyes once or twice during the killings! My only complains were that firstly, Rachel Dawes (played by Maggie Gyllenhaal) was too ugly and should have been reprised by Katie Holmes; and the plot deviated a little from the original comic book series. Being quite a die-hard devotee of the Caped Crusader, I found it a tad annoying that Barbara Gordon was cast as Commisioner Gordon's wife instead of his daughter; but that's that I suppose. The only problem facing us now is who on earth is going to replace Ledger as the Joker for the next movie, as it would be an astronomical task to find someone who would be able to duplicate his superb portrayal. I will be waiting for the day they include a hot Robin to accompany Christian Bale on his mission to kick some bad guy butt in Gotham. :)

Cheers to Frank for being on target against Guangzhou Pharmaceutical and Chengdu Blades. That'll show Abramovich what'll be his biggest mistake if he lets Frank go to Inter Milan on a FREE TRANSFER next year. Hopefully, you will score a hat-trick against our sh**** Malaysian XI on Tuesday and show them what REAL class is.