The Best Batman Yet
 Jan 21st, 2009
Advantages:
Fantastic performances by Ledger, Eckhart, Bale, Freeman, Oldman, Caine
Disadvantages:
None
Recommendable:
Yes
Detailed rating:
Did you enjoy it?
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Characters / Performances
Special Effects
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  Mcicp1981
About me:
Also write on dooyoo and ciao.com under the name mcicp19. To all those who voted the BNP into their ...
Member since:16.10.2008
Reviews:39
Members who trust:52
Review rated by 48 Ciao members on average: very helpful 
The Dark Knight is the latest Batman film to hit our screens, involving Batman's fight to save Gotham city from the Joker's crime wave, whilst also trying as Bruce Wayne to push Harvey Dent as the cities new major and finally be able to hang up his bat suit, and Dents eventual moral conflicts. Bale is a excellent Batman and Bruce Wayne, playing both characters to almost perfection, although my gripe with his Batman is the strange gruff voice he puts on for it. He seems completely at home playing the arrogant millionaire and you have to wonder how much of this is the character and how much is the person.
It's impossible to talk about this film without mentioning Heath Ledgers performance but as we've all heard countless times already about this I'll try to be brief. HL isn't a actor I previously thought anything good about and after hearing the hype about his performance I passed it off as another glorification of the dead moment, sort of like when a musician dies they sell a boat load of albums instantly. How wrong I was! From the opening moment he was on screen his performance was mesmerising and unlike anything he has done before. Having most of the best lines all the way through the film (not to mention my favourite magic tricks ever in a film) Ledger is almost unrecognisable, and plays true to the original comic book version of the Joker - a violent sociopath
who kills people and commits crimes for his own amusement not financial gain, a man who doesn't hate Batman, he almost views him as a friend and enjoys his battle of wit's with the DK. I've always been more of a fan in films of the bad guy rather than the hero hence I count films such as Old Boy, Scarface and Ichi the Killer among my favourites even though the main characters are not what you would call good or even sane people, so the Joker played into this perfectly. It was clear ledger put a lot of work into getting into character (he locked himself in a hotel room for a month) and I just couldn't get enough of him on screen, I actually left the cinema disappointed that the world will never get to see him play the Joker again as he was born for that role. One aspect of TDK I feel has been greatly over looked was Aaron Eckhart's performance as Harvey Dent. Eckhart is an actor I'd only ever previously seen in the excellent 'Any Given Sunday' and in a episode of Fraiser in which he was hilarious, so I did have a decent (if not a bit small) opinion of him and he delivered. Eckhart was able to bring so many layers and dimensions to the character that had ever been shown before either in the comics or tv/films. The more you see of him on screen the more you really believe in him and the fact he's so passionate about his beliefs and his cause. His portrayal of Dent in the second half of the film is brilliant and comes a very close second to Ledger's Joker, I really felt for him a couple of times in the movie despite the fact I was supporting the Joker's chaos. Eckhart seems to have a decent on screen chemistry with Bale and I felt in the scenes between them they bounced off each other well, equally so with Eckhart and Ledger.
The supporting cast are excellent, although it's difficult for them not to be when they include the likes of Gary Oldman, Morgan Freeman, and Michael Caine. I could waffle on for ages about how good each of these are but everyone knows these guys are top class and if your not convinced by their roles in this film I strongly suggest you look up some of their back catalogue of films. Maggie Gyllenhaal is ok in her role as the latest Batman interest but in these movies (sorry girls!) the heroin is a distant fourth in importance to Batman, The villains, and the supporting cast. You could probably cast any z-list female actress in this role and you wouldn't really notice much difference. Not that I'm saying Gyllenhaal is z-list but she's not exactly top of the food chain in Hollywood.
The Dark Knight has done a decent job of improving on a great movie in Batman Begins. At times during BB I felt the story was dragging a little and felt there were scenes that could have easily been cut from the movie. The DK on the other hand, which ran at just over 2 and a half hours, was such a good film at no point did I think it was dragging or that any of the film was pointless. If anything I would have liked the movie to have been longer and featured more of Eckhart and Ledger, although I understand why it didn't. I was surprised about the 12a rating the film received as it is quite violent and the Joker is not a character like in the television shows. I guess we'll have a few more kids growing up with a fear of clowns on our hands now! It should have been a 15, but that really doesn't bother me in the slightest if I'm honest.
The production is, as you would expect of any movie that costs this amount, fantastic due to the fact Gotham looks much clearer, whilst a quick research on why this is gets the quote from production director Nathan Crowlet, 'Gotham is in chaos, We keep blowing up stuff, so we can keep our images clean', enough said. The sets are fantastic looking giving the dark direction these movies have taken under Christopher Nolan, and the vehicles at Batman's disposal are absolute beasts. I especially loved the bike and the scene with the Joker.
There were a few errors in the film I noticed on my first watch, things such as the Joker's hair changing colour from shot to shot, his make-up going from thick to thin to thick, and after doing a little research there are several errors all through TDK. Are any of these enough to detract from the film? Not in my opinion, most are so small that if you are picking holes in the film because of them you'd probably already convinced yourself you weren't going to like the film before you saw it. The Dark Knight does have its draw backs for some, it'll be too long for many, and too violent for others, but for me it's a brilliant film highlighted by Ledger and Eckhart's performances.
Also posted on dooyoo and ciao.com.
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![The Dark Knight (2 Discs) [DVD] [2008]](http://picnica.ciao.com/uk/70065596.jpg)
by (15%):
21.02.2009 23:39
Certainly the best movie of 2008 hands down. I just loved the scene when the Joker's detonator doesn't blow up the hospital first time and he has to shake it to get it to work.
23.01.2009 20:19
Brilliant review of a brilliant film, I enjoyed The Dark Knight a lot more than I expected to :o) x
23.01.2009 16:04
Superbly reviewed. I so have to see this soon! x