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Posts Tagged ‘Rambo’

Much like the Robocop series that started around the same time, the Predator franchise never really hit the levels of quality that the first instalment promised.  1990’s Predator 2 was a fairly dull affair, with Arnold Schwarzenegger’s action movie profile and presence replaced by a gruff Danny Glover basically reprising his Lethal Weapon shtick and doing the best he can with a plodding and occasionally ridiculous plot.  Since then we’ve had the team-up with the Alien franchise for two movies – one mediocre and one downright dreadful – that has seen the once-intimidating hunter become nothing more than a slightly chubby and quite cartoonish bit-player (we all know the Alien is the real star!).

But luckily Robert Rodriguez (Planet Terror, Sin City) was taking note and has now given us – or had a big hand in giving us – Predators.  Ignoring the Alien vs. Predator movies and bypassing Predator 2 (although apparently that one still counts), this new movie tries to do to the 1997 original what James Cameron’s Aliens did for Ridley Scott’s original Xenomorph adventure by adding an ‘s’ to the title, upping the ante and giving us more of what made the first movie so great.  Does it achieve its goal, or is the Predator franchise destined to stay as one awesome movie and a series of cack follow-ups?

Plot-wise this pretty much follows the same course as the original, and that isn’t a bad thing as the franchise’s history has taught us that straying from the basics too far makes for a crap film.  The movie opens with Royce (Adrien Brody) waking up to discover that he is hurtling towards the ground at a serious rate.  After landing in a strange jungle he is joined by several other characters – including Cuchillo (Danny Trejo), Edwin (Topher Grace) and Isabelle (Alice Braga) – who have all had a similar journey, none of them knowing how they got there or why they are there.  It soon transpires that the group all have something in common; that in some form or another they are all killers, and that they are being hunted in a deadly game by an unseen and seemingly indestructible force on a strange planet. 

Of course, we all know who the invisible hunters are, as this movie is relying on the fact that we have all seen the original Predator and is really playing to all the fanboys out there who have craved a decent sequel to Arnie’s actionfest.  To add to the action, there is also something of a ‘blood war’ going on within the Predator ranks, as a stronger and more powerful breed is at loggerheads with what we may now call the ‘classic’ Predator. 

The newer Predator design is fantastic and – at last – the beast is once again intimidating like it was the first time around.  With minimal CGI and some decent camera shots – instead of the ultra-fast quick-edits we’re used to seeing in action movies these days – the battle scenes are pacey and adrenaline-filled but still with a sense of clarity, so the action is never muddled.  There is less of a focus on the technical gadgetry of the last couple of movies, so the hunter is back to using more of his basic tools and this gives it more of that primal edge that has been sorely lacking.  Combine this with some stunning visuals and a claustrophobic atmosphere and the fanboys should all be gushing about this movie.

But there are faults here, namely the casting.  Somebody somewhere decided that Adrien Brody – fine actor that he is – was a suitable candidate to step into Arnie’s no-doubt huge shoes (or boots!) and carry a macho, testosterone-filled sci-fi /action movie such as this – and they were wrong!  Putting on a silly and unnecessarily gravelly voice doesn’t make you any tougher or charismatic than you are; just ask Christian Bale.  And looking like a gangly version of Alistair McGowan (English impressionist, for our overseas readers) doesn’t do much for the action hero stakes, either.

Also, the characters aren’t as rounded as those in the original, and there is a distinct lack of the quirky humour and quotable lines that peppered that movie.  Not that the movie suffers too much for it but a bit of light relief would have been welcome, especially about two-thirds of the way through when the pacing dips and there’s still too many characters onscreen, ushering in a rather rushed final act.

Overall, though, Predators does its job and provides a decent action/sci-fi adventure in the spirit of its timeless source material.  Casting and pacing issues aside, there’s plenty here for audiences get their teeth into and although the original is still the definitive Predator movie, for those fancying something different but with enough familiarity to keep you interested then you could do a lot worse than this.

Rating: 7/10

Summary: Casting and pacing issues lose it a mark but overall this is the first decent sequel to an 80′s classic.  It may not have the staying power of the original but for those after a fix of up-to-date Predator action, this is as good as it gets.

If you like this then try: Aliens, Rambo, Apocalypse Now, The Thing, Universal Soldier.

For more information on Predators go to: www.predators-movie.com

Yes, it’s that time of the decade when everybody has to hit the search engines to remind themselves of some of the movies they’ve seen of the course of the last ten years, and what a decade it’s been for cinema, and not just in horror. As well as the upsurge in teen-based slashers that have appeared, the remake became a genre within itself and caused a major split between movie fans, superhero movies started to actually be quite good and George A. Romero started making zombie movies again – hoorah!

There was also a load of shit, too, and I may get round to doing a list of those, but for now I give to you my favourites of the last decade. The top five are in order, and the rest are interchangeable depending on if I’ve just watched it and it’s fresh in my mind, but I think that’s pretty standard thinking for most people. Oh yeah, the dates in brackets are the production dates and not necessarily the years the movies were released. Enjoy!

20. The Grudge (2004) – The movie that got me interested in Japanese horror, this American remake (directed by the original Japanese movie’s director, Takashi Shimizu) stars Sarah Michelle Gellar as Karen, an American care assistant living in Japan who gets assigned a job caring for Emma, an ailing elderly lady whose previous carer mysteriously disappeared. Karen enters a room in the house that has been taped shut and discovers a small boy who refuses to come downstairs. After calling her boss, Karen and Emma both get a visit from the malignant spirit that haunts the house, apparently a former resident who was murdered by her jealous husband and is now a ‘Ju-On’ – the restless spirit of somebody who was killed in a fit of rage – and Karen now has to unravel the house’s history to finally put the curse to rest. Atmospheric, creepy, well acted and quite stylish, ‘The Grudge’ is a surprisingly effective chiller that spawned two awful sequels and a load of imitators, but this version (and the original Japanese version) is definitely worth checking out for some good, old-fashioned scares.

19. Blade II (2002) – Directed by Guillermo Del Toro and starring Wesley Snipes, Kris Kristofferson and Luke (When Will I Be Famous?) Goss, ‘Blade II’ is one of those rare things – a sequel that’s better than the original. Snipes stars as Blade, the half-human, half-vampire assassin who is forced to join forces with his vampire enemies to destroy a new breed of vampire known as Reapers, led by the vicious Jared Nomak (Goss). Amazing special effects and Del Toro’s knack for perfect action movie pacing combine to make one of the best comic-book adventure stories of recent times and Snipes probably gives his defining performance as the ‘Daywalker’. Luke Goss is also pretty good as Nomak, one of the screen’s more terrifying vampire creations, and is certainly a better actor than he is a drummer! (If you’re from the US, he was the drummer in an awful 80’s boyband from over here).

18. Planet Terror (2007) – One part of the ‘Grindhouse’ double feature (with Quentin Tarantino’s ‘Death Proof’), ‘Planet Terror’ is a 70’s inspired zombie romp directed by Robert ‘Sin City’ Rodriguez that really plays on the original ‘Grindhouse’ tradition. ‘Planet Terror’ stars Rose McGowan, Freddy Rodriguez, Bruce Willis, Josh Brolin, Jeff Fahey, Quentin Tarantino and Michael Biehn, and centres on a plot involving chemical bio-weapons that turn its victims into pus-filled zombies. And that’s all you really need to know regarding plot. Over-the-top gore and violence combine with self-knowing comic performances and a loving homage to 70’s and 80’s exploitation/horror video nasties to create a hilariously gratuitous, non-stop gorefest that does exactly what it sets out to do.

17. The Mist (2007) – Based on the story by Stephen King, ‘The Mist’ stars Thomas Jane as David Drayton, a normal family guy who goes to the local hardware store with his young son and his neighbour Mr. Horton (Andre Braugher) to get some bits and pieces to repair their houses after a storm. Once in the store a mist comes down over the town, and one of the town’s residents soon comes running in, bloody, panic-stricken and ranting about creatures in the mist. After trying to escape from the back of the store – with tragic results – David and the rest of the townsfolk begin to realise that there may be no escape from the monsters that are lurking in the gloom. Meanwhile, a religious fanatic amongst the group starts preaching from the Bible about the end of days and causes a rift between various factions within the store. If you haven’t seen it I shan’t spoil it, but needless to say that this movie has possibly the most thought-provoking and disturbing ending ever seen. The rest of the movie is a fairly mid-paced thriller that steadily builds in tension; the characters are nicely realised and (mostly) pretty sympathetic, the CGI monsters quite scary and there’s a few action-packed attack scenes, but that ending is definitely the money shot.

16. Slither (2006) – One thing that this decade has produced is a wonderful flurry of old-fashioned B-movies, and ‘Slither’ is a great example of how to do it right. The oddly-named Grant Grant (Michael Rooker) is a wealthy middle-aged man who is married to the much younger (and very gorgeous) Starla (Elizabeth Banks). One night after a row, Grant goes to his local bar and gets drunk. After hooking up with an old girlfriend’s younger sister, the pair stumble out into the woods where Grant discovers a slug-like creature that has emerged from a crashed meteorite. After the creature gets into Grant’s brain, he undergoes a transformation where he can’t stop eating meat and eventually his body morphs into a squid-like mass intent on possessing the bodies of all the townsfolk, so it’s up to Starla and her admirer – local Sheriff Bill Pardy (Nathan Fillion) – to stop him. Ghoulishly gooey fun from start to finish, this is a movie that owes a lot to the classic monster movies of the fifties, as well as Romero’s zombie films and more modern influences like ‘Night of the Creeps’ (in itself a homage to the classics), and deserves to be mentioned in the same breath. Michael Rooker is his usual intense and excellent self, the rest of the cast are all pretty good in their roles and the movie is well made and lovingly put together, so top entertainment all round.

15. Land of the Dead (2005) – You could have heard the cries of joy from miles away when it was announced that George A. Romero was returning to the zombie genre with which he made his name. Following on from 1985’s masterpiece ‘Day of the Dead’, ‘Land…’ is set in a possible near-future, where zombies have overrun the suburbs and the rich and wealthy are living in a giant complex named Fiddler’s Green. The proprietor of the complex, Kaufman (Dennis Hopper), keeps the poorer communities of society on the outskirts of the city and gives them scavenging jobs to keep them at bay. After Cholo (John Leguizamo) gets turned away from Fiddler’s Green as he doesn’t fit in with the image of the complex, he steals Kaufman’s armoured vehicle – named Dead Reckoning – and goes on the run. Kaufman then hires Riley (Simon Baker) and his group of friends to get Dead Reckoning back. Unfortunately, there is an army of the undead – led by evolved zombie Big Daddy (Eugene Clark) – that are intent on getting into Fiddler’s Green, and without Dead Reckoning to help protect him it looks like Kaufman’s selfish grip on society will slip. But will Reilly return Dead Reckoning to the megalomaniacal Kaufman or does he have other plans? Jokingly referred to as the fourth movie in Romero’s zombie trilogy, ‘Land…’ is a really entertaining zombie romp that still reverberates with Romero’s scathing social commentary. Being a big studio production it lacks the grittiness of Romero’s earlier zombie movies and smacks of compromise throughout, but the gore is good (except a few dodgy CGI moments) and the performances (apart from a rather flat Simon Baker, who really isn’t a leading man) are solid, and there’s great support from Asia Argento and the always-great Robert Joy.

14. Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (2005) – I know what you’re thinking, but let me explain. When I was a kid I was the biggest ‘Star Wars’ nerd that there was; I had the toys, the books, the videos, the costumes, the lightsabre – even the pyjamas – and when it was announced that George Lucas was making the three prequels I – then a 22 year-old guy – got on my knees and wept tears of joy. Upon seeing ‘The Phantom Menace’ and ‘Attack of the Clones’ I wept again – mainly for the shattering of my childhood dreams – and, like most, wanted to string Lucas up by his batteries. But then ‘Revenge of the Sith’ came out, and all my fears and worries were put to rest. Now we got to the crux of the story – the real meat and potatoes – and watching Anakin Skywalker fall under the spell of Chancellor Palpatine, who then became the Emperor, was as enchanting as when I first saw ‘Return of the Jedi’ at the cinema back in 1983. Dark, exciting, dramatic and action-packed, ‘ROTS’ is definitely worthy of a place in the franchise with the original three movies, although Lucas is still a clueless twat.

13. Saw (2004) – Although the ‘Saw’ franchise is now a bit of a laughing stock, with its never-ending twists and ever-more-complicated turns, people tend to forget that the original movie is actually pretty damn good. Dr. Lawrence Gordon (Cary Elwes) and Adam (Leigh Whannell) both wake up in an abandoned warehouse, chained up and unable to escape. There is a bleeding body lying in the middle of the floor and neither man knows how or why they are there, but it soon becomes apparent that somebody is playing a game with the pair of them and wants them to appreciate their lives a bit more. Co-starring Danny Glover, ‘Saw’ is arguably the movie responsible for the term ‘torture-porn’ (although where the ‘porn’ part comes from is a mystery) and is a pretty clever and riveting thriller. The subsequent sequels may have watered-down its impact, and Elwes performance really is cringeworthy, but overall this is a movie that tried and succeeded in putting a modern twist on an old formula and is still worthy of repeated viewings.

12. Dawn of the Dead (2004) – Originally met with howls of protest from horror purists the world over, Zack Snyder’s remake of George A. Romero’s 1978 milestone movie was actually pretty decent, and once the genre snobs had actually seen it, most tended to agree. Taking Romero’s basic plot idea of having survivors trapped in a shopping mall surrounded by zombies but without the social satire, Snyder added a few ideas of his own – like making the zombies able to run rather than stumble – but kept the movie respectful to the genre. Starring Sarah Polley and Ving Rhames, Snyder’s movie is extremely gory and thunders along at a cracking pace, playing out like more of an action movie with zombies in it, displaying Snyder’s directional flair and stylistic flourishes. The remake debate will rumble on and on, but this welcome addition to modern horror cinema certainly puts the case forward that it can be done, and done well.

11. Sin City (2005) – Directed by Robert Rodriguez, Frank Miller and Quentin Tarantino, ‘Sin City’ is a brilliant example of how to bring a graphic novel to life on the big screen. Based around the crime-ridden town of Basin City, the movie brings together the different stories of a bunch of characters that all unwittingly cross over into each others lives, in a ‘Trick r’Treat’ kind of way. Starring Mickey Rourke, Bruce Willis, Elijah Wood, Clive Owen, Jessica Alba, Benicio Del Toro and Powers Boothe, ‘Sin City’ is a film-noir style fantasy that encapsulates the style of the original graphic novel brilliantly, and shows off Rodriguez’s stylish filmmaking techniques to the full. The acting is superb – especially the freaky performance by Elijah Wood – and even the usually monotone Clive Owen doesn’t come across too bad. So all in all, one to see if you haven’t already.

10. Shaun of the Dead (2004) – Possibly the one movie that brought the zombie genre back to the mainstream, British rom-zom-com ‘Shaun of the Dead’ was a self-knowing homage to the classic zombie movies of the 70′s and 80′s. Shaun is one of life’s losers, and after splitting with his girlfriend Liz (Kate Ashfield) due to his inability to pull himself away from the pub, retreats to the safety of his flat with his slobbish best friend Ed (Nick Frost). However, an apparent zombie plague is sweeps across London, and Shaun and Ed must rescue Liz and her pals from their flat and go to the only place of safety they can think of – the pub. Littered with references to such genre staples as ‘Evil Dead’, ‘Night of the Living Dead’, ‘Braindead’, Lucio Fulci and ‘Day of the Dead’ (Bub’s Pizzas – yes, I spotted it!), writers Simon Pegg (who stars as Shaun) and Edgar Wright (who also directs) have made a movie that seems to get better with every viewing and will quite possibly attain the label ‘classic’ in years to come.

9. Inside (2007) – Now we’re getting to the hardcore stuff! ‘Inside’ (or ‘À l’intérieur’ to give it its proper French title) is quite possibly one of the creepiest and goriest movies of all time, and is one of the best examples of the current European horror cinema boom. Sarah (Alysson Paradis) and her husband are involved in a car crash in which the husband is killed. Fast forward a few months and Sarah is heavily pregnant and due to give birth on Christmas Day, so on Christmas Eve she is home making the final preparations when she gets a knock at the door. A mysterious woman – known only as La Femme throughout the movie – tries to blag her way into Sarah’s home to try and take Sarah’s unborn baby, literally straight from the womb. Can’t reveal any more than that, but needless to say the movie is played out using John Carpenter-ish uses of shadow for maximum tension, plus an all-too-real display of violence and gore that will unsettle the hardiest of genre fans. However, none of it is for titillation purposes, and the movie as a whole is very striking and one that’ll give you the creeps long after it’s finished.

8. The Hills Have Eyes (2006) – French director Alexandre Aja – he of ‘Switchblade Romance’ fame – directs this remake of Wes Craven’s 70’s shocker (although Craven is credited as producer), and for once we get given a remake that’s far better than the original. A normal, all-American family are making their way across the desert to California in their caravan when they take a short-cut that isn’t on the map, given to them by a gas station attendant (durrr!). Unfortunately, they become the victims of the inbred cannibal family that live in the hills, and after a shocking attack on the caravan during which the cannibals take the eldest daughter’s baby, it’s up to the surviving family members to turn the tables and tackle the clan on their own turf. Much like what Zack Snyder did with ‘Dawn of the Dead’, Aja opted to use Craven’s original story as a basis for putting his own spin on events, and after setting up the family’s predicament in the same way Craven did, the movie’s final act goes completely mental and blows the original’s to pieces, such is the unrelenting nature of the violence and brutality. Again, another great example of what can be achieved within the field of remakes.

7. Trick ‘r Treat (2008) – Resurrecting the horror anthology, ‘Trick ‘r Treat’ has been surprisingly divisive amongst genre fans, many loving it’s sense of occasion and overall feel, but some thinking it too light to be a serious horror movie. The movie shows four different stories that are happening in the same town on the same night; a headmaster who leads a secret double life, a teenage girl hoping to have her ‘first time’ (whatever that may mean!), a group of kids revisiting the site of a fatal school bus accident and a Halloween-hating miser who gets a visit from an unlikely guest. Although the stories do intertwine and involve some of the same characters, the timing is a little out but if you can ignore that then this movie is tremendous fun, and undoubtedly a future cult classic that will be essential viewing come Halloween night every year.

6. Martyrs (2008) – Another entry for France in the top ten, ‘Martyrs’ could well be the most disturbing movie you’ll ever see; it’s certainly the most though-provoking and one that demands an opinion, good or bad. Can’t reveal too much of the plot within such a short space, but it centres around a troubled youth called Lucie, whose childhood traumas have led her to the family that did the traumatizing. Upon taking revenge, she soon discovers that this doesn’t make the pain go away, and once her friend Anna gets involved, the movie takes one Hell of a bit turn and plummets deep down into complete madness. Not much to go on I know, but this movie doesn’t follow conventional narrative flow and really needs to be seen. There is gore and violence, but none of it is gratuitous and all serves the plot, although those aren’t the things that will shock you. Rent it, watch it once and form an opinion, as this movie is probably the most original thing to happen within horror since ‘Hellraiser’. Don’t expect many laughs from it, though.

5. Rambo (2008) – Shame that another company has used the ‘does exactly what is says on the tin’ tagline, as ‘Rambo’ is a movie that offers no apologies and gives the audience exactly what it wants. Sylvester Stallone returns as the Vietnam vet John Rambo, who is now living a peaceful life in Thailand, that is until a group of missionaries doing volunteer work in Burma get captured by the corrupt military forces in charge, and Rambo is called upon to take a group of mercenaries upriver to investigate their disappearance. Obviously in over their heads, the mercenaries need a little extra help so our seasoned hero steps in to save the day. Now using more modern filmmaking techniques and able to get more past the censors, Stallone’s fourth outing as Rambo is sheer joy from start to finish and is quite possibly the greatest action movie ever made. The violence is brutal and bloody, the script kept to a minimum and Stallone still looks absolutely nails as the reluctant hero with a big chip on his shoulder. A friend of mine saw this and remarked that ‘he doesn’t say much and all he does is kill people’. My response? ‘Good. That’s why I like it’.

4. The Devil’s Rejects (2005) – My, oh my, hasn’t Rob Zombie taken a bashing this year? Yes, we all know that ‘H2’ was a steaming pile of poo, but before Mr. Zombie made a career of contradicting himself he did actually make a movie that was fantastic. A sequel to his debut feature ‘House of 1000 Corpses’, ‘TDR’ is less of a horror movie and more exploitation, taking its influences from the road movies of the 70’s. It’s the aftermath of the atrocities of the first movie and Sheriff Wydell (William Forsythe), the brother of Lieutenant Wydell who was murdered in ‘House…’, is seeking revenge on the twisted Firefly ‘family’. After raiding their morbid farmhouse, the police capture Mother Firefly (Leslie Easterbrook) but Otis (Bill Mosely) and Baby (Sheri Moon Zombie) manage to escape and hook up with Baby’s father, Captain Spaulding (Sid Haig), and try to make it to Spaulding’s brother’s brothel for safety. Unfortunately, Wydell is in hot pursuit, willing to forget the rulebook and determined to stick the wrath of the Lord up their asses. In years to come, this will undoubtedly be the yardstick by which all of Rob Zombie’s work will be measured – fully realized characters, an expletive-ridden script that actually works, brilliant performances from all the leads (especially the interplay between Mosely and Haig) and a fairly tight direction from somebody who should really be churning this sort of excellence out more regularly instead of unnecessary rubbish remakes and their sequels. Watch it and remember what Rob Zombie is capable of when he applies himself.

3. Rocky Balboa (2006) – Another entry for Mr. Stallone (did I ever mention I was a big fan?), this sixth installment of the ‘Rocky’ saga did what ‘Rocky 5’ should have done and gave our favourite rags-to-riches hero the dramatic and satisfying ending he deserves. Former heavyweight champ Rocky Balboa (Stallone) is now a widowed restaurant owner approaching his sixties, who still has a nagging in his gut that needs to be put to rest. After managing to get his license back, Rocky decides to do a few local low-key fights, just to keep on proving to himself that he is worth something, but new heavyweight champ Mason Dixon has other ideas. Disillusioned by not getting the respect he feels he deserves and spurred on by a virtual reality fight between Dixon and Balboa – in which Balboa won – Mason’s management hit on the idea of staging an exhibition bout with the former champ to boost Dixon’s profile. After convincing his friends Paulie and Duke to help him train one last time, as well as trying to win over his son’s affections, Rocky steps into the ring one last time to stand toe-to-toe with the best and see if he’ll still be standing at the end. Yes, it’s a virtual re-write of the first movie – Rocky going up against the best to see if he’ll still be upright when the final bell rings – but by doing that Stallone has stripped the franchise of its excesses and taking the story, and the characters, back to its roots. Like Apollo Creed, Dixon isn’t a bad guy or an indestructible force of nature, but a champ who needs to be tested to stay at the top, and Stallone has probably never given such a heart-rending performance. A bit cheesy, but I defy anybody not to be cheering Rocky on during the obviously painful training scenes and realistic final fight. A real triumph.

2. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003) – I know what you’re going to say, but I honestly love this movie. During a time when decent horror movies were thin on the ground, this remake of Tobe Hooper’s 70’s classic ticked all the right boxes and helped usher in a new wave of horror movies that, at the very least, gave the genre a defining style and look for this decade. I don’t need to run through the plot as the still-the-best-ever title tells you all you need to know – it’s in Texas, there’s a massacre and a chainsaw is used. Director Marcus Nispel’s use of from-the-ground-up camera angles and Carpenter-esque shadows gave the movie a stylistic edge (although it’s a puzzler why his ‘Friday the 13th’ remake used a lot of the same techniques and was a complete mess of a movie) and, for once, we were given vulnerable characters that weren’t really annoying. Former bodybuilder Andrew Bryniarski gives Leatherface the menacing edge that the character was so badly lacking in the original franchise’s sequels (no lipstick or cross-dressing here, thank you very much!) but the real star of the movie is R. Lee Ermey as Sheriff Hoyt, a proper nasty bastard; at least you know what Leatherface is all about, unlike this character. A great remake of a great movie, I honestly couldn’t say which I prefer as they’re both brilliant, but in this decade – as in the 70’s – a movie about a freaky family of killers is still entertaining and still a movie that’s worth going back to over and over again. So there!

1. The Dark Knight (2008) – Was there ever any doubt as to what my favourite movie of the decade would be? Not really, as a lot of other people thought the same thing. Plot rundowns and analysis at this point would be useless as you’ve all seen it and know how great it is. I don’t need to mention Heath Ledger’s genius performance as The Joker, or Chris Nolan’s directorial flair, or the amazing stunts, or the wonderful supporting cast, or Christian Bale’s horrible Batman voice…hang on, I’ve gone off track there. Yes, that voice is annoying but apart from that there really isn’t much to fault this movie with. It is long, and maybe a better idea would have been to split it in two – maybe around the time that Harvey Dent is rescued from the fire by Batman – and then have made the concluding part a bit longer, but it’s too late for that. Comparable to Michael Mann’s ‘Heat’ in structure, this crime drama moved the Batman franchise away from its comic-book roots, but that isn’t a bad thing as look what happened to the movies in the 90’s when they went all camp and overly-fantastical. There’s not a lot else to be said about this movie that hasn’t been said already, and such is its reputation that I really don’t need to sell it to you. A proper modern classic that has set a benchmark that will take some doing to surpass.

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