Movie & Reviews
The Dark Knight: One of the year’s most anticipated movies more than delivers.
By Nick DeRatto
Jul 23, 2008 - 11:30:26 AM

**** 1/2 out of five

When it comes to The Dark Knight, there really is only one thing to say.

Go see it. Now. Don’t do yourself a disservice and wait for the DVD. Scrounge up $10 and get to the theatre immediately. You’ll thank me later.

Following the success of 2005’s Batman Begins, Christopher Nolan continues with his reinvention of the franchise, delivering what is easily the best Batman film to date. Set shortly after the first film, Batman (Christian Bale) once again returns as an enforcer of vigilante justice intent on taking down the mob rule in Gotham City. As Batman, with police Lieutenant James Gordon (Gary Oldman) and new district attorney Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart), begins to successfully clean up the city, the mobsters hire the Joker (Heath Ledger) to eliminate Batman. With the Joker pledging to kill people each day that Batman doesn’t reveal his identity, Batman wrestles with himself to discover whether he does more harm than good as the caped crusader.

Probably the most hyped movie of the year, The Dark Knight takes everything that worked well for its predecessor and ramps it into overdrive. Everything about this movie is fantastic, from the storyline and the characters and their development to the action sequences and film direction. Simply put, the whole package is nothing short of amazing.

While Nolan deserves plenty of credit for creating such an entertaining movie, the real tour de force in The Dark Knight is Heath Ledger’s performance as the Joker. Easily his best performance, Ledger dives fearlessly into the role, creating what is possibly one of the best and creepiest villains ever. Even with such a strong cast, Ledger overshadows the rest, making audiences count down the seconds until he reappears. Jack Nicholson may have been the definitive Joker for nearly 20 years, but there’s a new king in the castle now.

Helping to make this interpretation of the Joker such an amazing villain was Nolan’s decision not to delve into the Joker’s origins, keeping audiences from connecting with the character or feeling any sympathy for him. He is a loose cannon, a psychopathic maniac whose only real goal – as Alfred puts it – is “to watch the world burn.” Nolan will have trouble topping himself for a third movie.

Nolan does just as excellent of a job with the rest of the film’s direction. Each of the characters are fleshed out more fully, especially as Bruce Wayne continues to wrestle with his own role as Batman. There’s also much more action to be found here; with much of the origin and inner workings of Batman developed in Batman Begins, Nolan has room to let the action take center stage without sacrificing any of the character development. Though The Dark Knight runs at just over two-and-a-half hours long, the movie never slows; if anything, you just want more.

For such a hyped blockbuster, especially one based on a comic book, there are surprisingly few flaws to damage the shiny exterior. In all, there are really only two points that could have used a bit of improvement: Bale’s voice as Batman was a bit forced and off-putting at times and it would have been nice to see a bit more of Scarecrow (Cillian Murphy). However, neither of these flaws detracts the least bit from what is easily one of the finest comic
adaptations ever.

Why are you still reading this? Get to the theatre now. It’s going to be a long wait for the DVD.

The Dark Knight has a runtime of 152 minutes and is rated PG-13 for violence. It was viewed at Commonwealth 20.

nderatto@villagepublishing.com | 751-0421



© Copyright by Village Publishing LLC