Review of The Dark Knight (2008) by Rjsmoove — 19 Mar 2011

Where do I begin? The Dark Knight is not only the best sequal, its arguably the best comic book movie ever made. It picks up right where Batman Begins left off with the Joker's card in Gordan's (Oldman) evidence baggie.

There's not much that I can say about this movie that has not been said over and over again. One thing I can say is, if you did not like this movie at all then your taste is a little poor. Perhaps I'm not one to judge because I did like G.

I. Joe and Transformers 2. This film has so much more to like than the average comic book adaptation. Rather than focusing on setting up spectacular action set pieces like most movies of the genre, Nolan puts drama at the heart of this one.

We've all seen the original Batman, so there's no need for the Joker to run around Gotham with a tommy gun. Without saying too much, I'll say that the Joker has a much bigger agenda in this film than he did the first time.

From the start we are introduced to him in the midst of a well planned, and well choreographed bank heist. Definitely cinematography at its absolute best, thanks to Chris Nolan and Wally Pfister. We are meant to see just how intelligent the Joker really is, despite being the most qualified for a life sentence in Arkham Asylum.

Never have I seen an actor capture the essence of a character from literature as perfectly as Heath Ledger did with his. There has been much debate as to which actor was the best Joker. In my opinion neither came close to Mark Hamill's voice work for the animated series.

All jokes aside, the performances in this movie are beyond amazing. I honestly believe Heath Ledger would not have won Best Supporting Actor if he was still living due to Academy politics, but he more than deserved it, and I'm glad he won it.

All of the other actors did phenomenal jobs as well. Especially Aaron Eckhart as Harvey 'Two Face' Dent. My only gripe was Katie Holmes not returning for her role, but over a billion dollars later, thats her problem.

The plot of The Dark Knight addressed my only complaint about Batman Begins. There isn't anything I can think of in this movie that was unrealistic in the advanced world we live in today. The premise is believable, and the story draws you in and never lets you go.

I also have to mention the composer, Hans Zimmer returning from Batman Begins. The musical score in the two movies was another thing that I thought was damn near flawless. No spoiler intended, but the way it ended left so much to the imagination.

It appeared that the Joker would have had a guaranteed spot in the third movie, but now I think they should just leave that character alone. Chris Nolan has a large task on his hands for the third installment.

Topping this sequal will be a challenge. Lets just hope what happened with the Spider-Man franchise doesn't happen to this one. The Dark Knight was beyond anything I could have imagined. It's a film that will be talked about for many years to come.