You Don't Mess With The Zohan

You never know quite what to expect with an Adam Sandler film, or more accurately which Adam Sandler is going to turn up. There's the serious Sandler of the excellent 'Punch Drunk Love', the solid Sandler of 'Click' and '50 First Dates' or the silly Sandler of 'The Waterboy' and 'Little Nicky'. Unfortunately whichever Sandler does turn up it's likely that Rob Schneider and his unique brand of humourless comedy will be close by. In the form of The Zohan, Sandler is unquestionably in silly mode, a format which has yielded mixed results for him in the past. It's usually a question of whether he toes the line or just goes all out, both can be successful but the middle ground is dangerous territory.

The Zohan is the greatest Israeli counter-terrorism agent the world has ever seen, his arch-nemesis is The Phantom (John Turturro), a Palestinian terrorist. Following a showdown between the two, Zohan fakes his own death and travels to New York to follow his dream of becoming a hair stylist and making the world ''silky smooth''. Renaming himself Scrappy Coco, the only job he can find is in a Palestinian salon on a street divided into Palestinian and Israeli businesses. Trouble surfaces when Zohan is recognised by a cab driver Salim (Schneider) threatening Zohan's new-found success.

Unfortunately with Zohan, Sandler has ventured too far into the aforementioned middle ground, as ridiculous (in a good way) that The Zohan is the constraints of the storyline stunt the comedic potential. Sandler is used to playing this sort of role and unsurprisingly becomes The Zohan with ease but the bland supporting characters leave a lot to be desired. Emmanuelle Chriqui is perfectly fine as the token hottie/love interest, Turturro's diluted version of Zohan is solid and even Schneider isn't as terrible as usual. But they're all just there, underdeveloped and uninteresting characters that only serve to highlight that this is all about The Zohan. There are some genuine laughs garnered from the Israeli but all too often these are the start of a long baron patch, the next laugh arriving with a sense of relief rather than satisfaction.

Where Sandler does earn some kudos is in his sensible handling of a potentially dangerous subject matter. The Israeli conflict is not an obvious source for comedy but the 'war is stupid, why can't we all just get along' message is conveyed well and any jokes made at the expense of the warring parties are thankfully far from offensive. This may be the film's saving grace, there is at least some thought behind the madness and it's commendable that a mainstream comedy should even attempt to tackle such a heavyweight issue. It would have been far easier for Sandler to pump out another vanilla comedy like last year's 'I Pronounce You Chuck and Larry', the next target surely must be to make a comedy with a message...that's actually funny.

Verdict: It's not great but Sandler's made far worse in his time. However, it's unlikely to be rivalled as the Israeli conflict comedy of the year.

The Dark Knight

Whether it be due to Heath Ledger's tragic death, suggestions of a posthumous Oscar, box-office records tumbling by the day, assault allegations made against Christian Bale, the protracted viral marketing campaign or maybe because it is the sequel to the hugely successful 'Batman Begins' - there can be no doubt that 'The Dark Knight' is the most talked about and most eagerly anticipated film of the year. The level of hype has been intense and although ultimately 'The Dark Knight' can't quite live up to the (arguably unattainable) levels of expectation that have been created...it doesn't fall too far short.

We return to a Gotham City much changed from the one we left in 'Batman Begins', the mob are beginning to fall thanks to the efforts of our masked vigilante hero, it is very much a city at a crossroads. Bruce Wayne is hoping that his cleansing of Gotham’s criminal underbelly will soon be over so that he can hang up his cape and hand over crime-fighting duties to the new District Attorney, Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart). But in their desperation the mob turn to the mysterious Joker (Heath Ledger), a fearless anarchist who thrives on the existence of Batman and provides him with his toughest test. The Joker operates outside Batman's comfort zone, Gotham's noir daytime turns stereotypes on their heads as Ledger's villain terrorises in a light that Batman will never stray into.

Director Christopher Nolan has created a complex beast; an action movie with ideas. So in amongst the motorbike chases, truck flipping, buildings exploding, bank robberies and murders there is a genuine sense of intelligent filmmaking and a complexity that is notably lacking from it's contemporaries. The word 'hero' is not a straightforward term and Nolan plays on it's ambiguity as he questions as to whether Batman is inadvertently creating more problems than he is solving. Is Batman the hero that Gotham needs, wants or deserves? As well as citing Michael Mann’s ‘Heat’ as inspiration, much has also been drawn from the various Batman graphic novels. Ironically this is a film which has been hailed by critics as less a comic book movie than a 'crime thriller', when actually it is one of the most heavily influenced by it's source material.

The lead characters are also carefully constructed - in what could effectively be described as a battle of the masked freaks. In 'Batman Begins' crime created Batman, in 'The Dark Knight' Batman has created crime. The characters of The Joker and Batman are carefully balanced and their symmetry is superbly crafted. Inevitably Heath Ledger does steal the show, his performance is irresistible and every bit as iconic as his Brokeback role. It's not so much that he overshadows Bale, far from it, but his screen presence is electrifying as he creates possibly the most charismatic criminal ever to grace our screens. Perhaps the most fitting tribute one can place upon his performance is that he not only matches Jack Nicholson's execution of the same role, but renders it almost forgettable.

But this is very much an ensemble piece (which is precisely why we should be talking about Ledger for Best Supporting Actor, not Best Actor) and Bale displays once again why he is to Batman what Connery is to Bond. He suitably encompasses the three sides of the character, Bruce Wayne's playboy pretence, the real Bruce Wayne and The Dark Knight himself. Aaron Eckhart most notably is superbly cast and hasn't had the credit he deserves for the role, while Gary Oldman returns in usual fine form. The weakest cast member from the predecessor, Katie Holmes, is gone and has been replaced in the role of Rachel Dawes by Maggie Gyllenhaal. I had high expectations for the actress whom I am usually a great fan of but sadly she disappoints in unsuccessfully trying to recreate Holmes' character whilst also attempting to make the role her own.

Despite a running time of over two and a half hours the plot never lags and despite brief spells of incoherence Nolan's story arc pushes all the right buttons. However, it's not all plain sailing. There is a severe lack of emotional depth in the characters which is highlighted most clearly after a key twist towards the end of the second act, in this respect Nolan's ideas got the better of him. The social experiment sequence also seems misplaced and unnecessary which unfortunately weakens the impact of Batman's final showdown with The Joker. And on a slightly different note, whoever was responsible for Batman's voice needs to go to their room and think about what they did, because that grating voice was simply excruciating. I shall not however sign off on a sour note. It is a fantastic film. It is a fitting epitaph for Ledger. It does deserve the box office and critical success. It is the greatest comic book movie made to date.

Verdict: Everyone should and probably will see it. Not perfect by any means but wonderful nonetheless. The prospect of another sequel would be mouth-watering, Johnny Depp as The Riddler anyone?