The Dark Knight reviewed.

There is another post from today one entry back, check it out and note. The entry referred to there will be up soon. Thanks!

Now before I get into this, I want to say that I didn’t get into a lot of depth because I don’t want to ruin the movie for anyone. There are no spoilers, just opinion on the film.

The Dark Knight

So this is the single most anticipated movie of the year. Perhaps the most anticipated movie since the finale of the Lord of the rings series. Much like that film, this one delivered. First let me explain my theory on Superhero movies. If you want to have a successful franchise based around a superhero you have to follow a simple formula. Spider-Man and Batman followed it and from what I can tell Ironman is too. Sadly the latest Superman did not, but I know what they were trying to accomplish but that doesn’t let them off the hook. Here’s what I think, a hero is only as strong as the villain he faces. So in your first movie you have to have the hero versus himself. You have to see him struggling with who he is and who the world needs him to be. Then once you have this cemented then you move onto the sequel where your hero battles a real enemy. So with that being said I am basing my review off of this movie as a sequel and overlooking the lack of back story.

Writing:

I think it is a great idea for a director to write a film if they can. In this case Christopher Nolan wrote this with his brother Jonathan Nolan. They drew on a few different story lines from the comics to put this together (The Long Halloween”, “The Killing Joke”, “The Man Who Laughs” to name a few) and I think they did a fantastic job. They intertwined five different characters and made sure that each one was equally important to the story line. Harvey Dent and Jim Gordon are as important as Batman and The Joker. The character of Rachel Dawes also plays a pivotal role in the film and ties in nicely with the others. The dialogue is top notch and, other than feeling like a comic book at times, never crosses into the cheesy side that so many comic movies do.

So for the writing of The Dark Knight I give: 24/25

Why not just make it 25? I wanted more Joker. Simple as that.

Acting:

The acting in this movie is first rate. Christian Bale portays Batman/Bruce Wayne and does a fine job, though he is not the focal point of as many scenes as one would think. He doesn’t have to do nearly as much “acting” as he did in Batman Begins, I’d give him a B+ for what he did though. Aaron Eckhart was fantastic as Harvey Dent and did a great job pulling off the “good guy”, I give him an A. Maggie Gyllenhaal brought back the roll of Rachel Dawes that Katie Holms ruined in the first film and delivered an average performance and deserves a B. I’d give her a higher grade because she did a good job, she just didn’t have that many big scenes. Michael Caine (Alfred Pennyworth) and Morgan Freeman ( Lucius Fox) both do great jobs in their supporting rolls and both deserve an A. Gary Oldman tunes down his normally over-the-top performance to play Jim Gordon and does a great job earning him a B+. But the one that everyone wants to know about is Heath Ledger as The Joker. As you know this was his final “full” film (he has a movie in production but did not finish filming his scenes and they are being finished by a group of A list actors) and he went out on a high note. If you can imagine Jack Nicholas as The Joker and then add in Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lector , you can perhaps understand the seriousness of this roll. Ledger brings being a comic book villain to a new level. He is wicked and evil yet absolutely brilliant. It is a shame he will not be around to reprise this roll because I think we have witnessed one of the all time “best” bad guys ever put onto film. A++, Oscar winner for sure.

For the acting in The Dark Knight I give: 24/25

Why not 25? There were too many characters involved in every scene to really be able to stand out sometimes. For instance anytime Heath Ledger was on screen it seemed that people were having trouble keeping up with him.

Directing:

Christopher Nolan does a wonderful job capturing Gotham City and the feel of Batman. He filmed for of the big scenes in IMAX and it shows with the scale of the film. He never let the story line get away from him and did a great job pacing out the action to keep you involved.

For Directing I give Christopher Nolan: 23/25.

Why? Because there were a few scenes (the final action scene for instance) that move so fast that it may be hard for some people to follow. I had no problem following it, but I can see how someone would.

Overall Feel:

I think The Dark Knight will be remembered as, not only the new standard for comic book movies, but also a true epic film. It had everything we wanted and more and never disappointed.

For overall feel I give The Dark Night; 25/25.

That give us a score of 96/100. A truly great film. Don’t wait to see this one on DVD, see it in a theater where you can experience this film the way it was intended, larger than life.