The Joker and that Bat Person

Gotham City is experiencing yet another crime wave at the hands of the mafia and the Joker, who are intent to turn Gotham into a free-for-all for criminals. New District Attorney, Harvey Dent, is determined to get to the bottom of matters, along with James Gordon and Bruce Wayne, who leads a double life as Batman. Some progress is made, but the Joker keeps turning up and thwarting their every move. Can Batman rid the city of the menace that the Joker has become? Or is the Joker's psychopathic nature finally going to turn the tables on Batman and law enforcement in Gotham for good?

The first thing that stands out with this film is that it should have been called The Joker and not The Dark Knight. As the Joker, Heath Ledger really does take over the film. I have been critical of his acting in the past (I didn't think much of him in A Knight's Tale, for example), but here he is fantastically evil and menacing. The make-up, I must admit, does help - it is no doubt carefully but messily applied and turns the scars at the edge of his lips into one big red smile. However, it is his whole body language and the way that he moves his mouth that makes him so successful in his role. He manages to lick and smack his lips in such a way that he seems really psychopathic, and, although I'm used to watching portrayals of evil nutters, this one was up there with the best of them. His death has no doubt increased sales and popular acclaim for the film, but I think the praise that he has garnered is unreservedly deserved. What a way to go out.

I was also slightly disappointed with Maggie Gyllenhaal as Rachel - Howard Dent's girlfriend and the love of Bruce's life - although that is perhaps a little unfair - women characters in boy's comics do tend to be pretty nondescript and that is exactly what she is. A shame, because I think she is a very fine actress. No doubt it will do her CV a lot of good though. Aaron Eckhart as Harvey Dent is good, if a little too perfect at the beginning. He really begins to get in the swing of things towards the end though and his wonderful two faced look is a joy to see (that's sarcasm - it's disgusting). Gary Oldman is also good as Gordon, although I wish he'd got rid of the annoying moustache! As it is, I didn't recognise him until I saw the credits at the end. Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman are highly billed and so deserve a mention, but to be honest, they weren't really on-screen for long enough to make a deep impression on me.

You've probably heard about the violence in the film whether you've seen it or not and there is a lot of debated about whether 12A is an appropriate classification. I don't have children and don't intend to dictate to parents whether or not their children should be allowed to watch this. However, I will say that it is incredibly violent and I am someone that watches horror/thriller films on a regular basis - some films classified as 18 contain less violence than this. I think they have got away with the low classification because much of the violence doesn't show the end product - for example, when the Joker shoves a pencil in someone's head, we don't see it go in or the messy bits afterwards. Personally, I think showing the gore might have been better and more off-putting to children than not - the way it is portrayed in the film it seems almost too cool. Anyway, my point is, educate yourself about the film before you decide whether anyone under 12 should watch it.

There has been much talk about the Nolan brothers' screenplay and how good it is. Not knowing much about previous films or the original Batman comics, I don't know how accurate it is, but I will say that for the first hour of the film, I enjoyed the screenplay. Unfortunately, for the last part of the film, I found it less enjoyable, but how much of that was a decrease in the quality of the screenplay and how much was the drawing out of the plot I am not sure. I personally don't think it was all that wonderful - certainly not the extraordinary quality that I had been expecting from critics.

The DVD can be pre-ordered from play.com, but there is currently no mention of price.