Saturday, September 06, 2008


A Hero we Deserved - The Dark Knight

We all know that this is a Batman film. And we all expected him to take to the fore and deliver one more punch at the ugly side of Gotham. And we knew that the Batman's work is never finished. If Rhaas-al-Ghul dies, someone else will rise. And how he rose. That is the story of the Dark Knight!
The movie begins with blood and gore and a typical bank heist, but they are all wearing smiling faces. The chaos spreads as the Prince of Chaos, the Joker, adds a little anarchy into the whole city. People start falling down dead, indications towards the lext victim is left and somehow the work is done. And boom! We have the Batman after him.
But what can I write about a common story? There is a superhero, there is a supervillain (the word 'super' usually don't come in these days. It's either a freak, or a vigilante). Supervillain kills people, Superhero kills Supervillain. Very good action, very cool gadgets, cool bike and car.
No, that is not what I want to talk about her. This is a common story, one that we have read in every comic book, one that we have seen in every action flick, one that we dream of being in within our imaginative world. But in this flick, there is a slight difference.
It is the Joker, the Prince of chaos. He is what we miss in each and every of the versions I just listed above. He can't be there in the comic book as he is beyond imagination, he is not what we see in every action flick, he isn't what we dream of when we imagine 'cool' stuff. He cannot be from there, for he is a character beyond common imagination. The Joker is an inspiration, the Joker is Satan, just a fallen angel.
It is as if there were no layers, a demarcating point between Heath Ledger and the mask that he was wearing. It seemed so real. It seemed so sharp, so locked. That laugh, that walk, that charisma, no one could have ever told it was Ledger behind that mask. Behind a thin coat of colour. I am sorry, I am not able to talk about anything else other than Heath Ledger. Because this happens at a point where you think you have seen everything and then something like this comes along. Your entire semblence is shattered, you can compare anymore, you cannot be subjective anymore, because you have lost your sense of the establishment, some thing that was created by you applying your rationality. Heath Ledger does that to you!
And though this is a Batman film, it is the Joker who lasts longer in your mind, not because his plans were overtly diabolic, but because he was being played by Heath Ledger, one in the category of legends. This has been, by far one of the very few times when we all hoped that the villain would not die. That he would be back in another part and torment our senses like that once again. However, the Joker lives and yet he died!
Heath Ledger will truly remain the hero that we all know him to be. He indeed is the hero that we deserved and yet we have to chase him now, forever. Because he has to run and we have to run behind him. And we will keep running behind him. Because under no circumstances can we ever catch up to him. We can never ever think about what he did. He will always remain the Joker, one who can make us laugh and shed a tear at that very moment.
Why so serious?