The Dark KnightWow. This film blew me away. It was incredible. Hyperbole be damned, I will sing the praises of the Dark Knight until I am blue in the face. This film was not only the best movie of the summer, it's my contender for film of the year. It's that good. It's so good that it deserves an Oscar, multiple Oscars in fact. It's riveting, breathless entertainment that lasts for 2 and a half hours and seems like maybe an hour, tops. It never lulls, it never lingers, it's fast-paced and recklessly exciting. In fact, it made me feel uncomfortable throughout the whole film....because you're never certain of what's coming next. It's an intelligent spectacle worthy of critical evaluation, and I simply could not help myself from writing about it immediately after my first viewing.
As much as I believed this film was about Batman and Bruce Wayne, I know now that Batman Begins was Bruce's film. The Dark Knight is actually a reference to Harvey Dent and what he eventually becomes. It's Harvey's story through and through, and by god in Heaven in Aaron Eckhart didn't pull off this character flawlessly. His transformation from shining beacon of light in a corrupt city to the murderous, scarred Two-Face is absolutely convincing. He really invests in his character with a passion so compelling that you never question his motives or his eventual fate. It's all sold to us hook line and sinker with a carefully crafted skill that is usually only seen in art-house features, not a summer action-film based on a comic book character. The emotional complexity in this film is underscored by a non-stop adrenaline-kicking hyphen-inducing pulse-pounding rhythm that constantly demands your complete attention. And you'd be hard-pressed to find a wasted moment or an unnecessary line of dialogue throughout the entire feature.
I loved the way the fight scenes were choreographed in this feature. None of that quick-cut bullcrap from Batman Begins, this time you can feel the punches and the wounds that Batman inflicts on the thugs. And the Joker was wildly entertaining. He was a psychopath in the truist sense, motivated by something altogether unknown to most people. Not lust for power, wealth, or control. His desire to perpetuate entropy was not rooted in a logic, and thus cannot be understood by the logical mind. So I won't even attempt to grasp his machinations. What I do understand, however, is what a remarkable performance Heath Ledger brought to us cinephiles. Never again will anyone question who the true Joker is, Heath owns this role like no other person ever could. He's not just mad, he's amusing and truly sinister. I can't even recall a villain I've been more on-edge around. Whenever the guy was on the screen, I was on the edge of my seat....heart in my throat, clenching my fists. He was the most unpredictable soul-less and enjoyable bad-guy in Comic Book Movie history period!
While the film was mostly concerned with Harvey Dent, there was ample room for the other key players. Everyone was note perfect, and I won't bother elucidating my feelings on how well Morgan Freeman was cast as Lucius Fox, or how tremendously likable and benign Gary Oldman made Commissioner Gordon. What I will say, however, is that my biggest fear (that the continuity from Batman Begins was needlessly marred by the replacement of Katie Holmes by Maggie Gyllenhaal as Rachel Dawes) was completely unfounded. Not once did I even notice that this character wasn't played by the same actress as the previous film. Maggie made me not only believe in Rachel's conflicted feelings, she almost made me care about Rachel as a character. That was something Katie Holmes never did in Batman Begins.
Bruce Wayne....Batman....man, that poor altruistic son of a gun, this movie really kicked him in the balls, repeatedly. His pathos and anger never consumed him, though, and he took the fall for every mistake he made and then some. By the end of the film, you'll feel worse for him than you do for any of the characters that died by a considerable margin. And even Alfred was interesting, since he was allowed some history which simultaneously added depth to his character while remaining relevant to the events of the film.
This is up there with Spiderman 2 for me as the best comic-book film ever made, and it may very well hold that title exclusively upon repeated viewings. The Dark Knight is about as close to perfect as you can hope to expect when you're adapting a comic-book to the big screen. Let us pray that Christopher Nolan's vision doesn't fade the way that Sam Raimi's did....because that would truly be a tragedy.
Rating: A