The Dark Knight

I've been looking forward to The Dark Knight ever since they announced the sequel to Batman Begins, but I spent last week dodging spoilers while riddled with a virus. So I was gibbering with excitement when The Ours and I finally headed out to the cinema last night.

And I'm delighted to say that it lives up to the almighty hype surrounding it. It's satisfyingly spectacular in its cinematography, stunts and effects but, unlike the usual blockbuster action film, the characterisation is excellent.

It is so well cast. I've enjoyed all the Christian Bale films I've seen so far and I've been a fan of Aaron Eckhart since the brilliant Thank You for Smoking, but Heath Ledger’s performance steals this show. Gone is Jack Nicholson's campy, greedy and elegant villain; this Joker is an amoral psychopath with a sense of humour that is blacker than black.

When I was reading up on editing I came across a piece of advice about writing villains; give them an off-putting mannerism to drive home their unattractive nature. I won't tell you what it is but Ledger's The Joker has a mannerism which is both repulsive and hypnotic. I was utterly taken in by his performance.

It has violent scenes that may not entice everyone but it is worth a look for the personal struggles, motivations and moral dilemmas that the characters experience and endure. And from a purely non-writerly perspective it is just a brilliant film!

One of the trailers last night was for Star Wars: The Clone Wars, the animation looks absolutely beautiful. A vast improvement the overdone live action CGI of the newer Star Wars films methinks (one of my pet hates, don't get me started...)

I'm off to Birmingham for the weekend - have a great one.