The Dark Knight Review

There are no spoilers in this review.

PLOT: Batman and James Gordon join forces with Gotham's new District Attorney, Harvey Dent, to take on a psychotic bank robber known as The Joker, whilst other forces plot against them, and Joker's crimes grow more and more deadly.


THE GOOD: Writing and directing. The first thing that I have to praise about The Dark Knight is the wonderful work by director Christopher Nolan. He is truly one of the most gifted directors of our time. In my opinion, he hasn't made a bad movie yet, and that carries on with The Dark Knight. Co-written with his brother, Jonathon Nolan, as well as comic book to movie writer David S. Goyer, Nolan and team have taken the mythology of Batman and have turned it into a successful franchise -- not only in pure entertainment terms, but technique as well. If Warner Bros. ever considers a different director for the job sometime down the line, that is the day the WB makes a huge mistake and Batman will suffer a terrible fate.

Heath Ledger. Every time the Joker appeared in a scene, I got chills. Ledger takes the Joker to a whole new level; it's a Joker that we've never seen before on the big screen. A mix between No Country's Anton Chigurh and A Clockwork Orange's Alex is the best way I can describe Ledger's take on the crazy clown. If this man doesn't get an Oscar nom for this role, I don't know what will.

Hopelessness. One thing that impressed me was the ability of the movie to make me feel hopeless. To a point where it felt like there was no possible way that the good guys were going to win (and do they really even win?). This feeling of hopelessness was an incredible achievement for Nolan and Co. and deserves a hard look at. A movie hasn't made me feel like that since Revenge of the Sith.

IMAX. I was fortunate enough to see the movie in IMAX at the Pacific Science Center in downtown Seattle. The place was sold out as was everywhere in this country. Watching DK in IMAX is a totally different experience in itself. Before the movie started, an announcer reminded us that six scenes were shot using IMAX technology (70mm film, instead of the traditional 35mm). What this meant was six scenes took up the entire 6-story screen. Over 20 minutes of the movie was shown in this format. As much as I loved the action sequences in IMAX, it was much more impressive to see the aerial shots of the city. My friend Brian commented that every time an aerial city shot appeared, he leaned back because he literally felt like he was standing on the edge of a tall building. I agree. The picture is perfect. Chris Nolan is a huge fan of IMAX technology and I'm sure that we're both hoping the success of DK ($155.3 million opening weekend) will encourage studios to look at using it in more feature films. If you haven't seen the movie yet, or you have but only in a traditional theatre, go see it in IMAX. You won't regret it.

Cinematography. Tons of scenes stood out for me in terms of visually pleasing material. Nolan deploys the circling camera technique to enhance the feeling of craziness, disorder, and panic. I noticed this technique used at least three times in the movie because watching it in IMAX was a bit dizzying... in a good way. There's also the beautiful aerial shots that I already mentioned, and the action sequences that must have taken months to coordinate.


THE BAD: Maggie Gyllenhaal. I've never enjoyed Maggie in anything. I especially didn't care for her character in this movie which is a shame. It's not her fault though. Katie Holmes didn't give her very much to work with in the first place.

Gadgets. Yes, Batman has always had you-name-it on his utility belt, but it's getting to the point of ridiculousness. Granted, it hasn't gotten to the point of Shark Repellent Bat Spray, but it's heading in that direction. Lots of influence from James Bond here, which is fine, but it's going a bit too far. Lucius Fox has turned into Q and Bruce into Bond. I have to say that I didn't care for the cell phone sonar thing. I think that's what set me off on this.


THE END: The majority of the reviews are right; The Dark Knight is the Godfather II of the Godfather series. It is far superior to Batman Begins and is right up there with WALL-E for best film of the year. It is one of the best comic book movies I have ever seen. It's currently #1 on IMDb and at 94% on Rotten Tomatoes. I plan to see this movie at least one more time in theatres, and many, many more times for years to come. Go see this movie now!


DISCUSS: How much did you like (or dislike) DK? What did you not like about the movie? Do you plan on seeing it again in theatres? Where do you rank this on your top comic book movies list? Movie of the year list?? Best movies ever list???