20 July 2008

Sanity in Insanity?

Whoa, I just caught The Dark Knight with baobei and we both agreed the movie's a total head-trip! No doubt, this movie gave me a fresh introspect into humans in general.

I will not be elaborating on the actual plot so you can read on with the peace of mind that whatever is written below will not spoil your movie experience.

I gotta say, aside from the usual big-bangs and catastrophic clashes, it's one helluva captivating show that's packed with intelligent dialogue. The interaction between Batman and Joker alone more than justified the ticket price for me. The more you ponder upon their banter, the more you will realise just how smart and ironic the story actually is.

After watching the movie, I can safely conclude that the main antagonist (The Joker, in his fullest deepest darkest glory) seemed to have only one genuine aim in his intricately-complicated mind, and that is to prove that each and every human is just as crazy as he is. That people can never truly follow a moral code of conduct or live by the rules. That everyone bends and breaks when they are pushed to some point. That in reality, the law and order that mankind tries so hard to achieve is nothing but a big fat hypocritical lie.

What I find most scary is that I can actually empathize with the Joker. At first, I thought he was just some lunatic who went around killing people just because it was funny to him. But as the movie progressed, he started to turn my world upside down. His ideologies slowly sank into my mind and I began to understand just where he was coming from.

So the question is, just how far does one have to be pushed before moral codes do not matter anymore? Apparently, it's not too far given Singapore's context. Boarding passengers who completely block off the exit of the MRT just so they can be the first to enter, albeit with some pushing and shoving all at the alighting passengers' expense. People who act like a mighty lion but when faced with someone of a higher status, his/her attitude does an instant 180 and he/she suddenly turned into a submissive little mouse. Families who are financially stable lying about their state, just so they can get hold of funds intended to assist the needy. These are just to name some of the few cases that I can grab off the top of my head.

I really would like to think that most people are good-hearted and morally-upright, like how I used to. However, these recent episodes have led me to believe otherwise. The Joker might just be much more sane than anyone of us. Pretty ironic huh?

On a side note, Heath Ledger's Joker was epic. It was an INSANE performance, you gotta give him MAD props (Haha... I just couldn't resist). In my opinion, he wasn't just merely portraying the character, he became The Joker. To be honest, with all the hype built up from his death, this final act of his was one of the main reasons why I wanted to watch The Dark Knight so badly. Not surprisingly, his performance exceeded all expectations. It was certainly a fitting curtain-call for such a fine actor. If anything, it only made me regret even more that such an immense talent had to pass at such a young age.

Let me just end this entry with one last irony. I read from Wikipedia that to prepare for the role as The Joker, Heath Ledger isolated himself by living alone in a hotel room for a whole month. Throughout this time, he tried to get into The Joker's psychology and kept a diary on how The Joker might think or feel. In a seperate interview which he did after filming has concluded, Heath Ledger commented that his role in The Dark Knight had caused sleeping problems, that his body was exhausted but his mind was still going. The official story on his death was that he overdosed on common prescriptions that are used to deal with insomnia, anxiety and depression.

Maybe, JUST MAYBE, Heath Ledger delved too deep into the twisted mindset of The Joker and it took its toll on him... and eventually his life too.

5 Comments:

Blogger Marco said...

I didn't intend to catch this movie, but you seriously made me change my mind. Haha.

1:04 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

yea this movie blew off my mind too!

7:58 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

yar!! suddenly i would like to catch the movie too! sharks i dun have the time! :( Wow interesting review. perhaps u submit it to some...movie reviewer...and earn money/movie tix...hahaaa...sounds familiar huh..

10:25 AM  
Blogger Scott said...

"Why so serious?" Haha...

To Kenny and Marco, I'm glad you guys enjoyed the movie! I certainly did!

To Ade, herm maybe you can go Korea and catch it with SKY... Not too sure if they are still showing it there though. Whoa... you mean can earn money by writing reviews? WHERE CAN I DO THAT? $_$ Kaching kaching.

8:29 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

nice =D and insightful...

9:42 PM  

Post a Comment

<< Home