*Spoilers ahoy*

I’ve purposefully left it a week or so before I wrote down my views on The Dark Knight. It’s easy to walk out of a film and say “wow, that was the best film ever”, and then forget about the film. But not this time. The Dark Knight truly does live up to the hype and more, and is one of few films that has truly stuck with me despite only one viewing.

Sure, other films have grabbed me but they don’t usually get their hooks in until a 2nd or 3rd viewing (Before seeing Bourne Identity: Matt Damon in an action film? Rubbish. After seeing Bourne Identity: Hey, Matt Damon kicks ass. After repeat viewings: Jason Bourne is the fucking man!!!.), but after one viewing The Dark Knight is still in the front of my concious mind. I’m still going through scenes in my head. Still cringing at the “disappearing pencil trick”. Still getting a chill from thinking of the Joker screaming at the guy tied to a chair in the video he records (and it’s not often a film can truly freak me out even for a few seconds).

I had no idea what to expect from Heath Ledger. Bale is a given. I’ll see any film he’s in, and I honestly think he’s the greatest actor currently around. Michael Caine, Gary Oldman and Morgan Freeman are all proven actors, so no worries there. But I don’t think I’d ever seen a film with Ledger in other than The Brothers Grimm. The pre-release images of the Joker looked awesome. He had the right manic look but the realism that we’d expect from Nolan’s vision for Batman. Then the trailer was released, and it was like watching part Johnny Depp, part Cesar Romero. Constantly licking his lips, fidgeting, playing with his hair. THIS was the Joker.

The Tim Burton films were enjoyable, good films. but they were never true “Batman” films. Nolan took the essence of the comics and put them into the real world. The Batmobile was built for real. The tech and gadgets were all based on real life plans for military equipment. Nothing seemed over the top and even the most hyper-real parts seemed grounded in reality. And Ledger’s Joker follows this. He doesn’t have loads of green gas to disfigure people, when he wants to do that he uses a knife! he’s not out to take over the world, or even Gotham, he just wants to have some chaotic fun. We don’t get an origin, we just get a fully formed, mad-as-a-hatter Joker from the start, ploughing his way through Gotham.

And Gotham itself is as fully realised as ever, without being as big a “part” of the film as Batman Begins. In “Begins” Gotham felt like another character, in this film Gotham becomes the backdrop, but no less well rounded. The inclusion of The Scarecrow again for just one scene shows that this is the same Gotham as before, living and breathing crime. Harvey Dent and his policies fit right in, right up until the moment of his “accident”. The police care for their fallen and the local news is often shown on the TVs in the background.

At just over 2 and a half hours long I feared that the film may drag, but there wasn’t one point when I was bored. The slower parts build up. The action scenes are fast and in your face. As tension mounts the music changes to fit the scene. In fact part of what makes this film so good is the soundtrack, which not only includes the usual orchestral score, but also simple noises. Taking a que from the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre, tension is built by what sounds like a razor blade being scratched over a saw blade, the pitch getting higher and higher.

Batman Begins re-invented the Batman franchise for the real world, and films like Iron Man followed suit (no pun intended!), but the Dark Knight all that in the face, taking things to the next level. While only rated a 12A (which surprised my as it’s quite violent), The Dark Knight is one of the best psychological thrillers I’ve seen since Se7en.

I’ve really no idea how they would top this film if they made another one. But speaking of Se7en, I’d love to see Nolan tackle the Riddler, someone who leaves clues throughout Gotham but is sick and twisted, along the lines of Kevin Spacey’s character. But for now I’ll just wait for the DVD of The Dark Knight.

Watchmen. Trailer. Bloody amazing. Nuff said!

Creative, yes. Comics, no.

For so long I really wasn’t bothered about being in a band again. In fact i almost sold my main guitar as well as my amp and other equipment. I’m so glad I didn’t. Getting back in a band has been the best thing I’ve done in a long time. It’s taken me a few weeks to get the feel of it all again after the initial excitement, but the riffs are starting to flow finally and so are the lyrics. Positive hardcore lyrics, not cynical metal lyrics like I used to write. These are the kind of lyrics I can hear in my head being shouted out by (hopefully) loads of hardcore kids at gigs. Can’t wait to get out gigging.

Of course, all this just gives me another reason/excuse for not doing any of the comics I promised myself long ago I would do. I hadn’t realised how long ago it was that I’d started scribbling down these ideas, until I remembered that I’m 29 this weekend. Next year I stop counting, eternally 30. So I must promise myself to finish and produce at least one of these damn comics before I hit 30.

With Doctor Who finishing on the BBC until Christmas I’ve had to start buying up old episodes on DVD to fill the void. Maybe I should just go out on a Saturday night and actually meet people instead. I spent almost 2 years hardly going out, locking myself in a relationship, then spent the next few years going out far too much, wasting so much money, now I seem to stay in and manage to blow the money on books, comics and DVDs instead.

I think people scare me.