The Dark Knight "Let's put a smile on that face!"

Rrrrrrright OK so its been a while since a post has been done on this blog (partly because of the Australian open (the first grand slam of the tennis season) had start last week!) but I'm back now to do another un.  And this post will be on another Batman film and its strangely one I had left out of my reviews of the Christopher Nolan trilogy, The Dark Knight.  So let's give this dark brooding tale a look....

So a bit about the story as it all begins with the Joker (Heath Ledger) and some masked men carry out a bank robbery, where all the accomplices kill one another one by one in sequence, which was masterminded by the Joker, who escapes the bank with the money alone.  Meanwhile Batman/Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) along with Lt Jim Gordon (Gary Oldman) decide to join forces with the D.A. Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart) in an effort to try and take down the mob.  Bruce decides to hold a fundraiser for Dent as he is impressed by his ideals, although Dent is dating Bruce's close friend and effective childhood sweetheart, Rachel Dawes (Maggie Gyllenhaal).  In the meantime, the mob bosses hold a video conference with a Chinese accountant named Lau (Chin Han) who has fled to Hong Kong with the mob's money, where he promises it will be secured from the police and Dent.  The Joker however then interrupts the meeting and offers to kill Batman for half of the mob's money, but they quickly decline his offer, but the Joker insists that Lau will squeal to Batman, who doesn't believe in jurisdiction.  The mob boss, Gambol (Michael Jai White) then puts a bounty out on the Joker's life, but the Joker who is soon captured by Gambol's men, tricks him and ends up killing Gambol and taking control of his men.  Batman then manages to travel to Hong Kong where he captures Lau and brings him back to Gotham where he agrees to testify.

Meanwhile the Joker steps up his presence in the city as he announces publicly that he will kill one person a day until Batman reveals his true identity to the press.  This prompts the Joker to kill commissioner Loeb (Colin McFarlane) as well as the judge that presides over the mob trials.  The Joker then goes after Dent at Bruce's fundraiser for him, but Bruce incapacitates and hides Dent before the Joker can get to him.  The Joker next targets Gotham's mayor but Gordon saves the mayor by taking the bullet and apparently sacrificing himself.  Dent then in an effort to conceal Bruce's identity, announces to the press that he is Batman and he is taken into custody and persued by the Joker and his men across the city.  The Joker in an effort to try and capture Dent is foiled by Batman and also Gordon who reveals that he faked his own death.  The Joker is then interrogated by Batman back at the police station who reveals that he has had both Rachel and Dent captured and held in two different locations in the city, where they are tied up and surrounded by explosions.  Batman and Gordon race off to the two separate locations only to find that they have been tricked and given the opposite address, as Batman arrives to rescue Rachel only to find Dent which he rescues just before the building explodes, however Rachel is as a result killed in the other explosion.  And from this point on the Joker escalates his threats and terror on Gotham, leaving Batman to try and find a way to stop the demented murderer from wreaking widespread havoc on the city.

Although this may strange I would have to say that The Dark Knight is my least favourite of the three Nolan/Bale Batman films, yet that is saying something as it is still a very intense, dark, brooding and entertaining film.  The film also expands on the criminal elements of Gotham as we know see the mob incorporated into the story and with the Joker we get a truly terrifying and peversley amsuing villain who will go to any length he sees fit to wreak the havoc he so wants on the city of Gotham.  Harvey Dent is also effectively introduced as an idealist district attorney who wants to rid the city of the mob and also just happens to be dating Bruce's close friend, Rachel Dawes, which causes some feelings of jealousy for Bruce despite impressed by Dent's own ideals.  But towards the end of the film we see the terrible fate that Dent endures at the hands of the Joker who pushes his buttons to become a criminal himself.

Performance wise The Dark Knight is excellent all round, starting with Christian Bale who once again excels at playing Bruce Wayne as a suave, soft spoken billionaire businessman, but also happens to be the protector of Gotham at night.  However it has to be said that I was never very keen on Bale's take on Batman as its here where he decides to overdo Batman's ridiculously husky voice in order to conceal Bruce's identity, but in practice it just sounds ridiculous!  And that remains the one big flaw in Bale's potrayal of the character because that aside he is excellent in the part as he also handles the physical action confidently.  Bale has quite a few highlights in the film and some good lines of dialoge even, such as the first scene where Batman appears who apprehends the criminal Doctor Crane AKA Scarecrow (Cillian Murphy again) carrying out an illegal deal only to be intercepted by fake Batmen dressed in poor batsuits and Batman ties them all up.  And in the scene one of the fake Batmen asks "what is the difference between you and me?" and Batman says "I'm not wearing hockey pads!".  Another good scene is where Batman brutally interrogates the Joker at the police station and the Joker says is he prepared to break his one rule (i.e. not to kill) and Batman says "I'm considering it!" and proceeds to beat the Joker until he tells him where he has Rachel and Dent held captive.  Then there is the scene near the end where Batman tries to find the Joker and ends up fighting with him, as the Joker holds Batman near the edge of a smashed window in a high storey building, he asks him "By the way do you wanna know how I got these scars???" and Batman says "No, but I know how you got these!" and fires his batsuit's guantlet blades into the Joker's face!  And then there is the scene near the end where Batman confronts the scarred Dent, who is now nicknamed himself as "two face" and Batman tries to stop Dent from killing Gordon's family and Dent angrily says "The Joker chose to save ME!" and Batman says "Because you were the best of us!  He wanted to prove that some one even as good as you can fall!".

As for the late Heath Ledger, there is no question that he provides the film's best performance as he is simply superb in his role as the film's main villain the psychotic Joker and he plays with him with a creepy sense of malice, twisted humour and intensity.  Ledger has many highlights in the film right from his first scene where he robs the bank at the start of the film and after he has scheme to kill all of his accomplices, he shoots the bank manager in the stomach (William Fitchner) who out of disgust asks "What do you believe in, huh?!  WHAT DO YOU BELIEVE IN?!".  And the Joker walks up to him and jams what appears to be a grenade in the bank manager's mouth and says "I believe that whatever doesn't kill you, simply makes you.....stranger!" and he pulls of his mask to reveal his white painted face and scarred lips and red make-up on his mouth.  Then there is the scene the Joker walks in on the mob who are having a video conference call with the Chinese accountant, Lau, who talks of his plan to keep the mob's money safe and the Joker says "And I thought my jokes were bad!".  And in the scene there is a funny moment where the Joker sticks a pencil down on the table and he says "I'm gonna make this pencil disappear!" and one of the mob bosses men walks over to attack him and the Joker slams the man's head onto the pencil, killing him, the Joker says "Ta da!  Its gone!".  Another great scene is where the Joker gatecrashes Bruce's fundraiser for Dent and he grabs Rachel and holds a knife close to her face and tells her how he got his scars.  And he tells her of the story (most likely a lie) of how his former wife got her faced cut up after owing money to loan sharks and he says "She can't take it.  I just want to see her smile again!  I just want her to know I don't care about the scars.  So I do this and stick a razor in my mouth and do this... to myself.  And you know what?  She can't stand the sight of me!  She leaves.  Now I side the funny side.  Now I'm always smiling!" and she pushes him away and he says "A little fight in you!  I like that!".  And the Joker does the same to the mob boss Gambol, although he tells a different story about his father sticking the knife in his mouth and says "Why so serious, son?!  Let's put a smile on that face!".   

Another chilling moment is where the Joker captures a police officer and records him on video and asks him "So Brian, do you think Batman has made Gotham a better place??  Look at me" and the officer shies away too scared and the Joker explodes with a demonic response "LOOK AT ME!!!".  Then there is the scene where Batman interrogates the Joker at the police station and Batman appears silently behind him and he slams the Joker's against the table and the Joker says "Never start with the head.  The victim get's all fuzzy.  He can't feel the next...." and Batman cuts him off by punching the Joker's hand and the Joker whinces and says "See?!".  And in the scene Batman asks the Joker "Why do you wan't to kill me??" and the Joker laughs hysterically and says "I don't wanna kill you?  Why I would kill you???  What would I do without you???  You COMPLETE me!!".  Another good scene is when the Joker (dressed as a nurse no less!) enters the hospital where Dent is being treated and he gives him the opportunity to kill him as he gives Dent a gun and let's him point it at his head.  And the Joker says "I'm an agent of chaos.  Oh, and you know the thing about chaos is?  Its fair!" and Dent holds a coin up showing heads and tails and he says "You live" showing him the good side, then the scarred side "You die" and the Joker grins saying "Now we're talking!".  And in the next scene we see that the Joker has survived the coin toss and he leaves the building and having rigged the hospital with explosives he triggers the detonator, which only partially works, then he presses it again and the whole hospital goes up!

Aaron Eckhart is also excellent in his role as Harvey Dent (and later Two-Face) as the ambitious and seemingly incorruptible D.A. who is out to target the mob and rid Gotham of its criminals.  Eckhart has a good opening scene in court where he questions one of the mob's associates who belongs to the mob boss Maroni (Eric Roberts) on the stand.  And the mobster tries to kill Dent, who grabs the gun and punches him and takes it away and he says "Made in China.  If you want to kill a public servant, Mr Maroni, I suggest you buy American!" and as the Judge tells the bailiffs to take away the mob guy, Dent says "But you're honor, I'm not done!".  And later on when Gordon vists Dent in the hospital, after Dent has been badly scarred down half his face, Dent insists Gordon to tell him what his nickname used to be "Remember the name you all had for me when I was at internal affairs?  What was it?" and Gordon is reluctant which prompts Dent to yell "SAY IT!!!" and Gordon quietly says "Two-face.  Harvey Two-Face".  And Gordon after says "I'm sorry, Harvey, I truly am" and Dent shows the other side of his scarred face and he says "No you're not.  Not yet!".

Which brings me onto Gary Oldman, who also provides a fine performance as Jim Gordon, who eventually is promoted from Lieutenant to Commissioner after Loeb is killed after he has been poisoned by the Joker.  Oldman also has some good scenes such as the one where he questions the Joker at the station, getting nowhere Gordon changes tack and uncuffs the Joker and says "If we are gonna play games.... I'm gonna need a coffee" and he starts to leave the room.  And the Joker says "Ah the old good cop, bad cop routine??" and Gordon says "not exactly" and leaves the room and the lights turn on in the room to reveal Batman stands right behind the Joker.  And there is also the scene where Bruce Wayne saves one of the Joker's targets by crashing his car into a van that would have collided with the target's car.  And as the Joker has rigged the city's central hospital, Bruce says after the crash "You think I should go to the hospital?" and Gordon says "You don't watch a whole lot of news do you, Mr Wayne?!".  And in the film's last scene (PLOT SPOILER) where Gordon tells his son after Batman has saved Gordon's family and asks that Gordon pin Dent's death on him, Batman does a runner.  And Gordon's son asks why Batman is running and Gordon says "Because we have to chase him.  He's the hero Gotham deserves, but not the one it needs right now.  So we'll hunt him.  So he can take it.  Because he's not our silent hero.  He's a silent guardian.  A watchful protector.  A dark knight".  Maggie Gyllenhaal is also an excellent replacement to Katie Holmes as Rachel Dawes and she plays the part with a bit more sass and maturity than Holmes did.  Gyllenhaal and she too has some good moments and her best line comes when she walks out of court with Dent at the beginning of the film and says "Come on, Harvey, if you aren't getting shot at in this town, your not doing your job right!". 

Michael Caine is also in fine form again as Bruce Wayne's butler, Alfred Pennyworth and he has some good moments in the film as well and he proves the film with some levity to lighten its pretty dark tone.  Caine also provides the film with a good speech as Bruce in his Bat quarters (as at this point Wayne manor must be still being repaired after it was burned down in Batman Begins) looks at the video of the Joker and says "Criminals aren't complicated, Alfred, I just need to figure what he's after".  And Alfred says "Perhaps with respect, Mr Wayne, this is a man you don't fully understand either.  Because some men aren't looking for anything logical, like money.  They can't be bought, bullied, reasoned or negotiated with.  Some men just want to watch the world burn!".  And Alfred of course has his point proved later when the Joker burns half the mob's stash of money and he says "Everything burns!".  There is also the scene where at Dent's fundraiser, where Dent asks Alfred about Rachel and he says to Alfred "Rachel says she's you known all of her life" and he smiles and says "Not yet, sir" and Dent quietly asks "Any psychotic ex-boyfriends I should know about?" and Alfred smiles saying "Oh you have no idea!".  Then there is the scene where Bruce and Alfred arrange to cancel the Russian ballarinas show in Gotham and has them all taken on a large yacht as a diversion for him to travel out of the city.  And as Bruce takes a dip in the waters, Alfred quietly says "You can tell me Russian for "You apply your own bloody sun-tan lotion!".  

And last of all Morgan Freeman who is reliable in anything he does, makes a good retun as Lucius Fox, the CEO of Wayne Enterprises who acts as Bruce's armourer for his nocturnal activities as Batman.  Freeman has some good scenes as well and the first one that springs to mind comes when a weasly accountant, Reese tries to blackmail Lucius into giving him money to keep quiet about the fact that he has found blueprints for Batman's car and devices.  And Lucius calmly replies "Let me get this straight.  You think that your client, one of the wealthiest and most powerful men in the world, is secretly a vigilante, who spends his nights beating criminals to a pulp with his bear hands.  And your plan is to blackmail this person???  Good luck!".    

As for the film's director, Christopher Nolan yet again does a great job and he handles the film's action scenes confidently and builds up the tension and suspense really well throughout the film's lengthy running time.  Nolan also provides a pretty dark tone for the film like he did with Batman Begins but he does allow for some moments of humour here and there just to keep it from being overwhelmingly serious and dour.  Nolan also makes good use of IMAX cameras during the film's action scenes, particularly during the opening bank robbery and also when the Joker attacks the police van that holds Dent.  And last of all Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard work together again to provide another fine music score for the film, which doesn't quite scale the heights of Zimmer's score for The Dark Knight Rises, but its still good enough and has plenty of tense and atmospherics parts to it.

So as for flaws.....we'll The Dark Knight for me as I said remains the weakest of the three films but that's not to say it is a really good film, which it is, but one of the flaws of the film is it length as at nearly two and three quarter hours, its just a bit too long and drawn out and certain scenes kind of slow things down a bit.  This is evident in such scenes as where the Joker kills off people in the wake of Batman revealing his identity and Gordon faking his own death and eventually comes back to his family.  Another issue I had is with Harvey Dent as Two-Face when you look at his facial scares, half of his face is badly scarred and we see his flesh and bone sticking out aswell as his eyelid has been burnt away, yet somehow he is still talking normaly!!  I mean wouldn't his speech be severely impaired in reality if he were to suffers scars like that???  Yet he walks around with no ill effects and can talk fluently with no lisps or slurs and it just seems a bit improbable that would be the case not to mention he would need some mighty strong painkillers!  But then again as I've said before it is a Hollywood film so you just have to suspend all belief.  I also felt that the ending in a way was a bit stupid that Batman decides to take the fall for Dent in order to protect his public image after his death, as everyone would surely know that its not in Batman's character to even kill someone anyway and he even says that himself its the one rule he doesn't break.

Anyway that put aside, The Dark Knight even though it is my least favourite of the three Nolan films, its still a very entertaining film with an intense and foreboding tone to it but you know ultimately whatever happens that Batman will come good in the end (and that in itself is quite a spoiler!  Well sort of!).

And with that I shall leave you there! :-)    

Resident Evil 5 "Sheva!!"

OK its that time that I get on that keyboard and clack out another post (yep quite alot of clacking indeed!) and this one is on another Resident Evil video game, having covered various ones in the series already this one will be on Resident Evil 5.  So let's give this mother a look....

Right so a bit about the plot which takes place five years after the events of RE4 it follows the main character, Chris Redfield who was a former S.T.A.R.S. operative but is now a member of the BSSA (Bioterrorism security assessment alliance) who is sent into Kijuju (which is actually a fictional region in Africa) along with Sheva Alomar, a fellow BSAA operative based in Africa.  Chris and Sheva together are sent to aprehend Ricardo Irving, before he can sell a BOW (bio-organic weapon) on the black market.  Chris and Sheva both discover on arriving they find that the locals have been infected with parasites, which they fight off and they are soon rescued by the BSSA delta team, one of whom is Josh Stone, Sheva's mentor.  Josh reveals to Chris that he has a data file with a photograph of his sister, Jilly Valentine, who Chris believed to be dead after an encounter with his old foe, Albert Wesker.  Chris and Sheva along with the Delta team advance on Irving but he manages to escape, however he leaves behind some documents, which contain information on the whereabouts of the deal, which is in some oil fields.  Chris and Sheva then continue into the marshlands and they track down Irving, who injects himself with a variant of the Las Plagas parasite and he mutates into a monster, whom Chris and Sheva finally defeat and with Irving's dying words he leads them toward a cave belonging to a tribe which holds the flower from which the T and G viruses were created.  From here Chris and Sheva continue their investigation into who and what is behind the BOW attacks (which is soon revealed to be Albert Wesker after all) and also they learn a far greater threat is brewing in the form of a new enhanced bio-organic virus, which they must stop from being used across the world.....

As a follow up to the superb RE4, Resident Evil 5 does a fine job in doing so even though it still does borrow quite heavily from the format of what went before in the previous game but that in itself is not a bad thing given just how good RE4 was.  Gameplay wise the game is very similar in style except the single player game now almost takes on almost co-op based style as the main playable character, Chris has Sheva run alongside him and at certain points she has to perform some tasks to open doors or help take out enemies to cover Chris, which again was covered in RE4.  Chris and Sheva at certain points in the game also have to peform timed actions totgether such as bashing down doors and Chris himself at times will be required to carry out physical actions in scenes where he has to evade baddies or perform a melee attack when he is in close contact with an enemy.  The game also features similar enemies to those in RE4 (the Ganados) the Majini who are Africans infected with the parasite and they also can run, wield weapons and dodge attacks.  And one of the notable enemies in the game is the return of the crazed leatherface chainsaw psycho (well except this will be an African one rather than Mexican) who Chris will have to run away from fast or he run risk being sliced up (and you are treated to a rather gruesome cutscene if Chris is killed by him). 

Weapons and ammo wise the game is also fairly similar to RE4 in that Chris can pick up ammo from dead foes as well as money, which you can use at the end of a level to upgrade your weapons and ammo as well as buy other items which will help you along the way.  Chris can also break open creates and barrels to pick up items. e.g. ammo, first aid sprays or herbs to restore his health.  The weapons in the game are also pretty varied as Chris can pick up various guns such as handguns, shotguns, sub-machine guns, assault rifle and a sniper rifle and as the player can actually select the weapons and health items during the action rather than go into a menu to access what you need.  The game also features the standard combat knife which is practically useless except for breaking open crates, but you can also pick up different grenades such as incindenary, flash or frag grenades, which can come in handy.    

As for the game's visuals RE5 looks stunning as it is the first game in the series to have been made in high definition and the game's environment are richly detailed and sharp.  The character models are also great and in some instances almost lifelike and one example is the character Josh Stone, who you could swear is an actual guy when you look at him in the game!  Chris and Sheva's charactel models are also excellent as well (and it has to be said that Sheva is rather sexy! Sorry perv!).  There is also great graphical variety with the baddies in the game not just the majini infected humans, but also other monsters as well, a giant mutated octopus and also infected dogs, which can split open into two, which looks gross and like something from John Carpenter's The Thing! (probably the influence here!).  The game also features an excellent music score by several Japanese composers that include Kota Suzuki and Akihiko Narita, which contain many exciting, fast paced tracks that are guaranteed to get your adrenaline going.  In fact one of the tracks, Majini 2 remains one of my favourite video game music tracks of all time as it really is an intense and powerful piece of music that knocks off your feet when you hear it (well nearly!).

As for the voice acting, overall its excellent as Roger Craig Smith is fine in his lead role as Chris, who get's some pretty standard serious RE dialogue but also one or two amusing lines aswell such as during Chris's fight scene with Wesker, where Sheva says to him "He's lost it!" and Chris says "He never had "it" in the first place!".  The other voice cast members are also very good such as Eva La Dare as Sheva, Chris's partner and T.J. Storm as Chris Stone, the BSAA delta team team leader who aids Chris and Sheva.  

So as for flaws....yes OK RE5 has one or two, to start with I think the game probably borrows too heavily from RE4 at times and in doing so it offers not a great deal new to the series overall, so it feels alot like playing a retread of RE4 itself.  And whilst RE4 was something of a landmark in action games and also reshaped the series it also lead towards RE5 moving further away from the roots of what made Resident Evil good in the first place, the creepy corridors, the dark hallways, moaning zombies or other monsters coming at you all added up to the great experience it originally was.  But by RE5 the series really has moved into the action genre and getting a bit further away from its original horror-survival concept, even though this is something the games does pretty well is still immerse the player in the action.  I also was bugged by the fact that Albert Wesker now has been effectively given an English accent as if all archetypal villains in video games now need to be English in order to be a real badass and in the game his accent just sounds silly anyway!  And D.C. Douglas, the voice actor from Wesker, delivers some naff dialogue in such an exaggerated accent such as "You're merely postponing the inevitable!" and "there's no point in hiding!".
 
And last of all some of the quick time event sequences (introduced in RE4) where you have to press a button on your controller prove to be a bit of a pain in some instances, particularly in the last battle Chris has with Wesker when he has to push a big boulder into lava to clear a path and he will die if he mistimes it.  This bit whilst not difficult, does highlight what a pain in the ass all this quick time event nonsense can be these days in video gaming, where the player can be reduced to a raging wreck simply because they couldn't time pressing button just at the right moment!    

Aside from the flaws there were also some accusations raised at the game for being racist as it depicts white people killing black enemies during the African village levels, but I think you can't really level this against the game as it just happens to be the setting for the story and I don't think the creators had that in mind.  And if you look at RE4 the enemies are much the same except they are Mexicans infected and all they have done is change the race and regardless of that it shouldn't be considered as racism just because the enemies happen to be black.  But again it does raise just how gaming has changed over the years and that we have moved on from the simple days of Pacman to now where gaming has become more advanced and now even has political leanings to them and other issues in society.

Anyway that all aside Resident Evil 5 is a fine follow up to Resident Evil 4 and its still well worth playing even if its a game that may not please all the fans of the series but it still stands head and shoulders over Resident Evil 6.  So we will just have to wait and see what Resident Evil 7 will have in stall for us (if and when that is!).

So until the next post bye the noow.