u l t r a m o o k i e

I had started a lengthy review of The Dark Knight, but it was getting too long.  So, I figured short and sweet:

Go see it!

The Dark Knight is one of the best movies of this summer, if not the year.  It certainly tops Iron Man as the best comic book based movie.  And The Dark Knight is like The Empire Strikes Back — in that the sequel tops the original.

• Yes, Heath Ledger is excellent as The Joker — he is much better than Nicolson’s Joker.  This Joker is not about doing evil just for the sake of doing it.  This Joker does evil to test people.  He tests each and everyone’s morality and he has fun doing it.  This Joke understands the dicotomy between himself and Batman.  Whether Ledger should get the Oscar, I think he’s earned it with this performance.
• Christian Bale continues to show what a great actor he is.  His Wayne/Batman is a lot better than Keaton’s in that Bale fits the role better.  Keaton was certainly good as Bruce Wayne, but he did not have the physique to make Batman a menace to the bad guys.  Bale is awesome as Wayne and has the physique to make us believe that he can kick the living crap out of anyone.
• Freeman and Caine are also great in the film.
• I like the replacement of Katie Holmes with the stronger actress Maggie Gyllenhaal.  Gyllenhaal brings more to the character of Dawes than Holmes could ever dream of.
• I am on the fence about Aaron Eckhart as Harvey Dent.  The Dent story is the main storyline of the film and Dent is a key character.  While Eckhart is good, I don’t think he was as great as the part calls for him to be.  On the other hand, I can’t think of anyone else that could play Dent better.
• The Dark Knight has a very dense plot structure and really warrants multiple viewings.  I am glad that Nolan and his brother did not dumb down the script just because this is a “summer blockbuster”.
• If you thought that Batman Begins was lacking in action, Nolan makes up for it here in The Dark Knight.  The Dark Knight is crammed with action and it is all realistic — the use of CGI is held to a minimum and stunts are done real-on-reel.  This way of shooting stunts with a minimum of CGI adds a grittiness, excitement and depth to the stunt sequences.  Kudos to Nolan for going this route.
• The bank heist that opens the film is one of the best shot on film.  Ever.  It rivals that of the bank sequence in Heat.  It was exciting and tense.  And the sequence highlights the way that The Joker thinks and schemes.
• The score is again done by Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard.  It is pretty easy to hear which composer did which parts — Zimmer the drum-heavy action stuff, Howard the quiet stuff to drive emotions.  It works, but it is not up to par with what is still the best score for a Batman movie:  Danny Elfman’s original score.

So, there you have it.  I loved The Dark Knight.  It is the best Batman film made, it tops Batman Begins and makes Burton’s two Batman films look rather cheery.  (I overlook the Joel Schumacher Batman films because of their suckage.)