The appearance of the new generation of iPod Nanos is subject to a wide spectrum of responses. Some are irked by the fact that it resembles cheaply-made MP3 player models, especially those in wilder colours such as orange or pink; others are immediately taken by the sleek shape of the player and what they see as a very well-finished shell. I belonged to the latter category; the first time I caught eyes of the iPod Nano 4th Generation, I was utterly sold. In fact, my original plans to try to save up for a 32GB iPod Touch were completely shelved after I beheld this gorgeous gizmo. What captivated me was the Now Playing Screen; while the Classic range of iPods features the usual titles on one side and the album art on the other, this range of Nanos has the album art take up virtually the entire screen, allowing for it to be displayed in its full glory. The crisp graphics certainly made the Now Playing Screen even juicier; it makes all the effort of setting album art for your songs absolutely worth it.

One cannot deny, of course, that the capability of the new iPod Nanos to detect its orientation is also a very fascinating and attractive feature. It allows one to watch videos in a fuller resolution, it makes it more convenient to watch videos or use the Cover Flow option since you can hold the Nano either way, and it’s cool to play games by tilting your iPod around. Not that the iPod Touch and iPhone don’t have these options, but the portability of the Nano is, of course, a plus. It is a pity that one can’t download applications onto the Nano, but I guess that is the trade-off for keeping the trademark click-wheel. In my opinion, however, it is not an entirely unreasonable trade-off; the fact is, many hardcore iPod fans (such as me) love the click-wheel to bits and cannot fathom not having it on their iPods. The fourth generation of iPod Nanos is hence perfect because while it maintains the use of the click-wheel, it manages to incorporate the full album art display of the iPod Touch and iPhone and still maintain its portability as a Nano as well.

The only real qualms I had about the new iPod Nano was the fact that when I dropped it on tarmac once, part of it was scratched off because of the jagged surface of the ground. The chipped-off bits were tiny but still suggested that the shell was somewhat less resistant to damage than one would expect from a chrome exterior. What this really means, however, is that you should take better care of your iPod Nano, keep it away from roads, and to buy a plastic cover if you are an utter klutz and need some iPod armour anyway.

I also had slight problems with the fact that it is rather hard to find good accessories for the new iPod Nano. I did find a handful of silicon cases and skins, but I am yet to find any leather holders or stick-on skins. Perhaps this will change with time, but if you must have these accessories you might want to hold your purchase until these frills actually get a more widespread release.

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Remember the Titans (2000)

In recent times, with seen many films come and go that follow the same “inspirational film” formula. From Drumline in 2002 to The Great Debaters just last year, these films all serve to inspire all of us in one way or another, usually by portraying an underdog team/individual overcoming all odds. However, what some people don’t realise is that all these films root from this one unique film: Remember the Titans (2000).

Remember the Titans (2000) is a Disney film which was released 8 years ago, yet till this day it is still an extremely popular film. It is set in 1971, a period when racial strife was at its highest. Yet despite this fact, T.C Williams High School in Alexandra Virginia is finally desegregated, causing Whites and Blacks to have to go to the same school and tread the same hallways. Herman Boone (Denzel Washington) is then hired to be the coach of the school’s football team, replacing former head coach Bill Yoast (Will Patton) who then takes up the offer of becoming assistant head coach after some hesitation. The newly formed football team is made up of both Blacks and Whites, which then results in many disagreements and even brawls. However, coach Boone brings them to a camp and it is there where, through forceful methods, he finally gets the team to bond together and look past each other’s skin colour. However, when they return from camp the best of friends, they then have to deal with racial tensions back in their hometown. Despite all the problems, including coach Boone getting a brick thrown through his house window, the team manages to go through an entire season undefeated and finally clinch the championship.

While the story may seem too good to be true, the film is actually based off the true events that took place at that time. That’s probably the best thing about the plot, that the characters and events that occurred are mostly real. This helps the audience relate with the characters, especially at the end of the film as it goes on to explain what happened to each individual after he left the school right before the credits roll. The events themselves make for a great Hollywood storyline as well, even though a large part of it was probably rewritten for Hollywood’s sake. However, the very fact that the team could go from fighting among themselves to playing an entire season undefeated is inspiration enough for any average person. You won’t find many plot holes in this film either, since it’s not all that complicated anyway, but it’s a good thing that the plot is easy to keep up with since the audience will be better able to appreciate the film.

The actors themselves do a great job of portraying the characters as well. From Denzel Washington playing the role of a strict coach who never lets up on his team, to Ryan Hurst and Wood Harris playing individual White and Black players on the team who manage to capture the overall problem of racial strife at a personal level. You can really feel the frustration of the players when their forced to play with people of a different race; you’ll feel the strong bond of friendship between them once they get over their indifferences; you’ll feel their elation by the time the climax of the film is over. . Even the supporting characters such as coach Boone’s wife and children do a great job when they’re required to do their job. Also, even when there are so many members on the team, their each given their own time to shine, allowing the audience to be able to relate with all of them instead of only one individual. Director Boaz Yakin has done a great job by trying his best to give all characters a decent amount of time onscreen so that the audience relates with the team as a whole.

This was probably one the most popular and successful Disney movies and was the reason why we see so many of these “inspirational sports films”, so much so that they might as well have their own genre. The original team of ‘71 have even set up their own website and the 71′ Original Titans Foundation is now a non-profit organisation which is “dedicated to helping High School Students pursue post-secondary education”. There, you’ll also find an FAQ which addresses the various discrepancies between the film and what really happened all those years ago.

For those of you who haven’t watched this film yet, there’s absolutely no reason for you to not try and grab a DVD of the show as soon as possible. I’m pretty sure next to anyone will enjoy this film, even families could watch it together if they wanted to. With all that being said, just remember to watch Remember the Titans (2000).

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Jazz has been experiencing a revival lately. Numerous artists are responsible, but none so much as Michael Bublé. The name is likely to be known even among those who do not ordinarily listen to jazz. Bublé’s pop-jazz renditions of the classic standards has reintroduced famous jazz pieces back into the mainstream, and some even bigger than they were back when they first came out.

Call Me Irresponsible (2007) sees a continuation of Michael Bublé’s contemporary renditions of jazz classics. Generally, the album is an excellent demonstration of what makes Bublé so popular. The opening track, a cover of Frank Sinatra’s famous “The Best Is Yet to Come”, is tastefully performed; Bublé’s vocal dynamics, ranging from the soulful opening to the jubilant ending, are skilfully executed. It is evident from the title track - made famous by Frank Sinatra, as well - why Bublé is so popular today: Bublé’s smooth, sultry vocals in “Call Me Irresponsible” with its playful lilts portray the bad-boy persona of the song with finesse, but the upbeat and well-structured instrumentation accompanying him ensures that a young audience which grew up on the likes of Backstreet Boys and Britney Spears are not lost on complex rhythmic changes or lengthy improvised solos. Bublé’s light-hearted rendition of “I’ve Got the World On a String” has got just the right swing feel, and is bound to make anyone happy.

The album, however, is not just about upbeat music. Many of the tracks prove that Michael Bublé is a master at sentimental music too. The more pensive and soulful tracks such as “Me and Mrs Jones” and “Always On My Mind” display an expressive and emotional side to Bublé that is seldom heard in his earlier albums. “Me and Mrs Jones” is movingly rendered; Bublé’s vocals brim with emotions, and show that he has grasped very well the inner turmoil of the song’s persona who is involved in a relationship with a married woman.

“Call Me Irresponsible”, unlike many of Michael Bublé’s previous albums, does not contain solely of covers. There are two original songs in the album, “Everything” and “Lost”, both of which Bublé himself had a part in writing. “Everything”, in my opinion, is the better of the two because its feel-good melody and admittedly sweet lyrics are far more memorable and captivating. That is, of course, not to say that “Lost” is bad; in fact, it is well-composed, and has a set of powerfully heartfelt and emotional lyrics.

Towards, the album lapses into quieter and slower music which may or may not be able to hold the attention of an audience accustomed to a fast-paced, hectic life, but that does not mean that the tracks are not worth a listen, of course. The bonus track, a cover of the classic “Love”, is a great song to end the album with not only because it is a familiar tune, but also because Bublé’s haplessly-in-love rendition of the song is captivating to listen to and creates a happy ending to the album’s musical ups and downs. Overall, Call Me Irresponsible (2007) is a testimony to the talent of Michael Bublé and to his pivotal role in bringing jazz back.

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Abercrombie & Fitch (commonly referred to as ‘A&F’) is an American clothing company that specializes in producing fashionable sporting apparel and is considered an international designer label. It is a globally renowned brand of clothing, featuring their iconic men’s polo T-shirts with their trademark moose logo. A&F has a distinct style and cut and has termed their own apparel as ‘Casual Luxury’.

The brand operates three flagship stores and a whole multitude of smaller branches. The three flagship megastores are located in Fifth Avenue (New York City), The Grove (Los Angeles) and Savile Row (London). There are plans to open a new international flagship store in Tokyo in early 2009.

The distinctive features of Abercrombie & Fitch clothing is the graphical humour and unabashed jibes at certain parts of the American society. This drew mixed reactions from consumers in America, some being outraged at how sports or minority were being ridiculed; some adored the slapstick humour and blatant insults dished out. As a result of all the hype, A&F was labelled a brand pandering to the ‘white, American pretty boys and girls’ and is ‘all about sex, something this country is so cynical about’.

This generated much criticism for A&F, with many groups such as religious and minority groups boycotting the label. One example occurred in November 2005, when Abercrombie & Fitch launched a T-shirt that read ‘Who needs brains when you have these?’, in a blatant reference to large breasts and dumb females. The Women and Girls Foundation of Southwest Pennsylvania launched a nation-wide ‘girl-cott’ of the store in response to the undermining of females. Eventually the company stopped production of the T-shirts, however, it left much negative publicity on the brand.

Gradually, the theme and styles of Abercrombie & Fitch clothing evolved. Less emphasis is put on loud and shocking designs on T-shirts, but rather more focus was put into improving the materials and cuts of their clothing. The iconic Abercrombie polo tees feature their distinctive muscle-fit and trademark stripes, made of high-grade sueded cotton. The moose logo is embroidered in most designs and they come with unique double-layer velvet neck taping.

Most complaints are that the A&F label is grossly overpriced. Also, there were many comments that A&F is racist, not employing minority sales personel and models. Yet, we still do see A&F using black and Asian models and sales staff, especially in New York.

Price, I feel, is a big deterrent for potential consumers. I refer to, not only the retail price, but also the absurb shipping costs A&F levy on overseas shipping. As A&F only have international outlets in London and Canada, most international buyers would have to pay for the item, as well as the shipping fees, which is more expensive than the item in most cases.

Basically, Abercrombie & Fitch is your trendy, upscale teen store but its successful branding sets it apart from others. You will definitely find the clothes to be of good quality, with exceptional materials and workmanship. The styles appeal greatly to the mainstream consumers, my personal favourite are the Muscle-fit and Classic-fit for men’s polo T-shirts. The trademark sueded material from A&F makes their clothing supremely comfortable to wear, even in the humid conditions in Asia. Even without physically entering the Asian market, it has already successfully carved out a niche for itself. Thus is the success of the branding of the label. Price aside, I do hope that Abercrombie & Fitch would expand further into Asia, as the styles are exceptionally trendy and fashionable, and spare me the agony of paying for shipping.

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For some strange reason, sequels have always been notorious for being lousy successors to the original work. Be it video games, movies or even books, plenty of sequels have been known to not live up to the original work. Plenty of sequels share on thing in common: they’d always be inferior to the original piece of work in one way or another and unfortunately, that formula holds true for Ocean’s Twelve (2004).

For those who don’t know, Ocean’s Twelve is the very aptly titled sequel to Ocean’s Eleven, a 2001 film (which I reviewed on this site previously) about how eleven men managed to pull of a heist, making all of them millionaires. However, the moment this film begins, Terry Benedict (Andy Garcia), the man from whom the original eleven stole $160 million from in the previous film, is on the hunt for Ocean’s eleven, eventually tracking all of them down one by one. He even goes so far as to detonate a bomb placed in Rusty’s (Brad Pitt) car as a warning. In the end, Benedict asks for all $160 million, plus $38 million interest and the eleven come up short by $97 million. Hence, they have no choice but to go back to their old ways, stealing valuable items to pay off their debt, but since their too “hot” to work in the United States, they travel to Europe in order to continue with their dirty work. However, as they are about to steal the world’s oldest stock certificate from an eccentric old man, they realise that they’ve been beaten to the document as it has already been taken by another thief who left them a message through an MP3 player. Soon, they discover that it was the Night fox (Vincent Cassel), a legendary European thief, who beat them to it. After which, the Night fox reveals that he is partially responsible for them being lured to Europe as he then proposes a challenge to the eleven: both them and the Night fox will attempt to steal the Corronation Egg within a week, if the eleven win, the Night fox will pay off their debt to Benedict. Hence, the team accepts the offer since there’s no other way for them to raise $7 million in a few weeks, which leads to even more twists and turns in the plot.

While the plot might seem quite interesting, it actually makes for a pretty boring movie on the whole. Most of the movie shows the team discussing rather than putting their plan(s) into action, which was more of what we saw in the first film. In fact, it almost feels as if the action is about to pick up when the team tries to steal the document and you’re on the edge of your sea, then when you realise it was all for nothing, you just sink back into your seat, getting bored with it and the rest of the film just doesn’t redeem itself. The plot is just sloppy with a lot of plot holes, like how the team suddenly got released when they were arrested by the police, and it just stinks of lazy writing on the whole. Not to mention the climax is practically non existed since there really isn’t much to get excited about even in the later parts of the film. By the time the movie ends, you’re probably stunned by the fact that the film simply ended the way it did, then you’d probably wonder why you wasted your time with it.

Still, not everything about the film is bad. If there’s one redeeming quality about it, it’s the acting. The original cast is back from the original film and they put on a great show here even with a broken plot. The ensemble cast still do a great job of portraying a team of professional thiefs who know what they’re doing every step of the way. Not to mention the few scenes in which we actually see the team in action are pretty exhilarating, such as one scene in which they need to raise a building to gain a clear shot through a window in the second floor. These scenes are what made the first film so great, it’s just unfortunate that the filmmakers and writers failed to see this, or else this could have been a great, if not better movie as compared to the original.

Still, Ocean’s Twelve (2004) didn’t do that bad in the box office, in fact it was a commercial success in comparison to other films. However, when you compare it to the original Ocean’s Eleven, it fell below expectations. If you were a fan of the first film, I’d suggest you don’t waste your time on this one, since it really is nowhere near as good as the original film was. Unless you’re a real die hard fan and can’t wait to see what happens to the team after the original film, this film might be worth a rent.

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The number of opportunities for meeting new people slowly diminishes as age catches up with you. You find your usual group of friends deviating from your life, one at a time. Your favorite hang-out haunts become boring. Day in day out, your interaction is only with the same people at work. You find yourself socially stranded in the sea of loneliness. What do you do next?

If you find yourself facing any of the above problems and want to make a change to your social life, try out BunchOut.com.

BunchOut.com is somewhat similar to a dating service. If you are raising an eyebrow to that thought, pause for a moment and allow me to change your mindset. You do not go on one-to-one dates with users of BunchOut, unlike some dodgy dating websites. Truthfully, I had that first impression when the BunchOut Kuala Lumpur version was launched in January 2008. After dwelling deeper into the concept for a month, I think this website has good potential. Come, follow me to the journey of discovery with BunchOut.

BunchOut.com at present, spans 6 locations around the world; San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles, London, Singapore and last but not least Kuala Lumpur. Locations will grow when the listing of groups reach to 20. Now, how does this listing work and most importantly how will the listing work for you? Let’s tackle the former question first.

A city needs to have 20 group listings to launch - a pioneer batch of people get on it first, so it will be populated and useful by the time other people from the same city sees it. In a simpler context, you create a listing for your group(s) of friends. This listing will get you in touch with people you want to meet. How? Simple, just hit the “Contact Them” button when you browse through the listing that you like and then, you initiate a contact point with that group. However, the party on the receiving end can choose to ignore the call.

So, now, how does the listing work for you? The keyword is “group”. I’m sure you may have heard of meeting criminals and other shady characters via the Internet. It is indeed a scary world out there. However, by going out in a group of friends, you lower this risk. I’m not implying that there’s no risk at all. There’s risk to everything you do. So, an arranged outing with a new group of friends, this I refer to as a “friendly outing”. Imagine the worst scenario, you meet a group that was out of your expectations with no common interests, you can always flee the scene with your friends. A harmless and most polite way to excuse yourself is to leave with a group. Since a city requires 20 groups to exist, you’ll still have 19 groups to meet if the first one does not meet your expectations. Whoever has had the complaint of meeting new people, surely had not heard of BunchOut.

Next, another discovery about BunchOut.com. As defined by the founder of BunchOut, “BunchOut is a list of interesting groups of people in your city!” Finding the right people who share your passion and hobby is like finding a needle in the haystack. Finding like-minded individuals in today’s hectic society is no doubt a considerable challenge. For instance, you may like a variety of extreme sports, thus you need to join a specialized club/organization that organizes such events to meet people. Where on earth do you find the time to do that? It is definitely not impossible but extremely cumbersome. BunchOut.com creates the opportunity for you to meet this interesting group of individuals all in one place. Best of all, it is free!

So, whatcha waiting for? Start BunchOut’ing now!

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Media gadgets powerhouse Logitech does not seem content to manufacturing mice which work on the standard 2D surface. With the addition of their new top-of-the-line MX Air to their mousing arsenal, Logitech has opened an entire niche in the mouse industry. The unique selling point of the Logitech MX Air Rechargeable Cordless Air Mouse is that, well, it works as well in air as compared to being used on a table surface.

The Logitech MX Air is a gyroscopic mouse. This means that, other than being used in the standard way, the MX Air can be lifted off the surface and be used to control the cursor on the screen like a laser pointer. This is most certainly targeted at home theatre entertainment users. The MX Air has a sleek and futuristic design, which looks nothing like conventional mice. It has a touch-scroll which has replaced the conventional scroll-wheel, extra multimedia buttons and is fully wireless.

I had some misgivings regarding the touch-scroll strip which replaced the scroll-wheel. It makes use of a technology called inertia scrolling. Sliding your index finger along the strip will allow you to scroll documents, achieving the same effect as rolling back on a scroll-wheel. However, as you flick your finger faster on the touch-scroll strip, it accelerates your scrolling speed exponentially. This causes some inconvenient scrolling of web browsers and documents sometimes, although I would admit, it is a very classy feature.

The four extra mouse buttons are self-explanatory – Back, Select, Play/Pause and Volume. These are basic entertainment and multimedia mouse functions, perfect for that Home Theatre PC (HTPC) to watch Blu-Ray movies or stream online video content. The Logitech MX Air is fully wireless; all that is required is for you to stick a USB receptor into your computer. The signal strength is strong - I had no problems operating it even at distances of up to 7-10 metres. The MX Air is equipped with a rechargeable battery and comes with a very stylish charging stand.

The mouse makes use of mechanical gyroscopes in the air, meaning that even if you tilt the mouse sideways and move it up, the mouse will still register a horizontal cursor movement. This is definitely a very considerate feature and will reduce the disorientation while in midair. The myriad of functions and controls that the MX Air possesses can only be fully explored once you have the mouse and start to experiment on it yourself. For example, holding down the Volume button in midair and then traversing the mouse sideways will adjust the volume. This is a power-packed addition to Logitech’s growing family of versatile mice.

One important fact to bear in mind before deciding to buy this is that, while the whole concept of gyroscopic mice is very attractive and very appealing, the MX Air will take some getting used to. A user of standard mice will find it disorientating once you lack that sense of security that the solid table gives you. Apart from this, this mouse also commands a very exorbitant price tag of approximately US$120-140.

If money is of no object to you in securing an attractive and functional mouse for that HTPC, the Logitech MX Air Rechargeable Cordless Air Mouse will be the perfect choice for you. This Wii variant of the mice fraternity is a very handy device which would complement a HTPC very well.

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Hellboy is not your average superhero. Unlike the others (think Batman, Superman, Spiderman), he actually detests his ‘occupation’ as seen from his wry humour and sarcastic quirks. Yet these are the traits that made him so well-liked when Hellboy first hit the silver-screen in the first installment. Contrary to the first, the sequel - Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008) - actually had many fans anticipating excitedly for the official release.

The main prong of the storyline is this – a rogue elven prince openly defies his father’s orders and goes on a crusade to awaken the fearsome, legendary Golden Army to wage war on the human race. Prince Nuada had long held the makeshift truce between the mystical kingdom of his father’s and that of the humans in contempt. He deeply resented the atrocities meted out to the world by humans and their insatiable greed. Hence, he returned from a self-imposed exile to invoke the long-lost mechanical Golden Army, an unstoppable force of destruction. It is up to Hellboy and the Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defence (BPRD) to stop his nefarious plans and restore balance to the world.

Other than the main storyline, there exist several sub-plots. The sequel to Hellboy explores romantic relations between some of the major characters. Most significantly, the story develops the relationship between Hellboy and Elizabeth Sherman, with Liz even bearing him children. Another unlikely love-struck character is Abraham Sapien, the aquatic empath who is usually the brains behind BPRD operations. He develops a love interest in Princess Nuala, twin sister of their adversary, Prince Nuada.

This sequel made a marked improvement from the earlier installment in the aspect of variety of creatures. Audiences would be introduced to malicious ‘tooth fairies’, goblins, trolls and all sorts of mythical creatures, borne from the imagination of director Guillermo Del Toro. The myriad of characters would dazzle you, not just by the quantity, but also the intricate details about each of them. My favourite would be the Angel of Death, sporting wings with numerous watchful eyes. You could see much thought had been put into designing such characters.

I must also applaud the performance of Ron Perlman (as Hellboy) and Luke Goss (as Prince Nuada). Ron Perlman was his usual sardonic self which made for heaps of laughter and entertainment with his blatant disregard for authority and sarcastic one-liners. I particularly liked Luke Goss’ portrayal of Prince Nuada. Although scheming and treacherous, the character seemed so convinced that he was doing the right thing. His fearsome demeanor was made all that more fearful, brought forth by the intensity of his iron will to fulfill his aims at all costs. It made me respect Nuada to a certain extent.

As mentioned, this is not a simple comic-book superhero film. Laced with wry humour, I am sure that adults would be highly entertained by this show. Coupled with some above-average visual effects,  Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008) would be a good selection at the cinema.

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Adobe Dreamweaver (formerly known as Macromedia Dreamweaver, but was acquired by its competitor Adobe Systems in 2005) is perhaps one of the most popular web development applications. Despite changing its name and company, it still remains as one of the strongest competitors in this field of programming. Adobe has quite a number of products that are specifically made to help in designing web pages such as Flash and Fireworks but Dreamweaver has to be the most ideal one for customising your own webpage. It is pretty simple to use and hence, could possibly be an appropriate choice for people to start off with - to learn about website designing from scratch using Adobe Dreamweaver.

Adobe Dreamweaver provides several templates for those who just started. It simplifies the entire process by providing such stuff and only requires the user to input several basic designs to kick start the webpage. For those who are already used to HTML and want to start from a blank sheet, there’s always the choice of an empty page, fully equipped with the basics to start anyone off.

Don’t worry if you have no idea about HTML, simply because of the very fact that Dreamweaver allows several views to the webpage, either in the design style (which is an easy way to view the webpage) or the HTML view (purely HTML data that would seem impossible to understand for someone who has absolutely no experience in it) and also, the mixed view. I would recommend you to use the design mode, since it is the easiest to play around with and you can actually see what you did to the elements of the page, unlike the HTML mode with, in order to make amendments, would require one to punch in the right data at the right place with the right codes, a hefty task for anyone.

Being a product of Adobe, it has the ability to incorporate the various functions of other Adobe products such as Flash into Dreamweaver. For example, if you need to edit a video inside the page, Dreamweaver allows the function to automatically import the video into Flash in order to facilitate video editing. Flash videos could also, vice versa, be imported into Dreamweaver to be added into websites, a function that I doubt other similar programmes could compete with.

Adobe Dreamweaver allows non-coders like myself to design our very own website. The simple layout of the webpage design allows movements to the slightest of details, by simply dragging the mouse across. It also allows previews in many other web browsers like Mozilla Firefox apart from the standard Internet Explorer. This function is triggered on once the browser is installed. The flexibility allows users to test out browsing through the various browsers and to find adapting issues such as add-ons like players, which some browsers may not have already incorporated into their systems.

All in all, Adobe Dreamweaver allows users without coding knowledge to play around and create a website they can call theirs, one that could fulfill many’s dream of having their own website to boast about.

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With Heath Ledger’s high-profile passing recently, The Dark Knight (2008), being his ultimate performance, has drawn much praise even before the movie officially opened to the public. There were strong calls for him to be awarded an Oscars Award posthumously. Predictably, I carried great anticipation and expectations when I stepped into the cinema on the opening day. As I pen this article hours after the end of the movie, I truly believe that this is the best adult superhero movie I have ever watched.

Recently, I declared ‘Iron Man (2008)‘ as my favourite superhero movie. Never did I expect myself to change my mind after so short a period. In my opinion, ‘The Dark Knight’ was an unprecedented success among all the superhero comic character-based films and the main causal factor is (close, but not Heath Ledger) the plot.

In the sequel to Batman Begins (2005), Batman teams up with Lieutenant Jim Gordon and new District Attorney Harvey Dent to establish the caped crusader as a symbol of fear amongst the underworld criminals of Gotham City. However, the emergence of a violent and ruthless schizophrenic psychopath known as The Joker has thrown the entire equilibrium into complete disarray, engulfing the whole city in anarchy. I sat enthralled, watching how an incorruptible city hero (hint, not Batman) transforms into the very scourge that he had sworn to eradicate; how a man can be so blinded by insanity that there is total disregard of decimation of innocents around him, just for the sole sake of watching Gotham descend into anarchy; and how a man made the ultimate sacrifice of shouldering the blame and wrath of an entire population for the greater good of the city.

Calling this movie an ‘emotional roller coaster’ would be an understatement. ‘The Dark Knight’ possesses many political themes and is an intellectual show in its own right. The main characters of Bruce Wayne/Batman, Harvey Dent/Two-Face and The Joker were well-developed, invoking the appropriate emotions from viewers in the right circumstance. Viewers will feel empathy and pity for Harvey Dent, frightened and disturbed by The Joker and feel grieved for the sacrifices Batman makes, all of which are known only to himself, Alfred and Lieutenant Gordon.

If the superb plot is not enough of a pull factor for you to watch it, then consider the stellar performance of Heath Ledger. This is spoken from the bottom of my heart, and not stemming from the sympathy for the deceased Ledger. Rumour has it that the reason for his collapse and breakdown was because of over-immersion in his character. True or not, we will never know, but one thing I know for sure, is that the acting industry has lost a star. His portrayal of the deranged criminal known as The Joker was so vivid that it is on a totally different level than Jack Nicholas’ version of The Joker (which was already a decent performance). Frightening, unpredictable and seemingly oblivious to reason, he was the most fearsome depiction of a criminal that I have seen on-screen. If an actor can make you hate a character as if he was real, then the actor has definitely achieved his objective.

This film is certainly not perfect – the epilogue far too stretched and made the movie feel a little artificial. However, this show is definitely impressive. With a storyline firmly anchored in ‘reality’, coupled with a superb cast (and by ‘superb’ I mean talented actors who fully bring out the flavour of their characters and not uber-rich superstar folk) and peppered with explosive and heart-racing action sequences, The Dark Knight (2008) is a must-watch movie for all.

Why so serious?

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