Review of The Dark Knight (2008) by Conrad S — 07 Jan 2017

There's a reason this is heralded as the best Batman movie, even the best comic book movie, and it's not just because of the late Heath Ledger's wonderful performance. While that is indeed the highlight of the movie, the truly effective attributes are the subtleties in the background.

The cinematography in this film is wonderful, a constant movement of the camera gives it a feel of naturalism. It's also very impressive how they kept this feature subtle, never moving to the point of distraction.

Character intent is also done brilliantly through visual and auditorial hints. In the scene where Gordon enters Dent's office, there is no chair on the opposite of the desk. This showcases Dent's inability to face problems and his distaste for opinion based justice, favouring instead what's 'fair.

' The score also adds to the naturalistic feel of the film, by using a lot of minimalistic music, it gives just the right amount to trigger the audience's emotion and therefore involvement. So while all the technical aspects are wonderful, how does the acting hold up.

Well, Heath Ledger bathes in everything that makes the Joker who he is, Michael Cain and Morgan Freeman both understand their place as the emotional anchors that keep Bruce down and Aaron Eckhart does a good job of playing the Harvey part of Two-Face.

Unfortunately, Christian Bale, with his utterly ridiculous voice, and unemotional portrayal of Bruce Wayne does let it down a little, The writing also seems to misunderstand the character of Two-Face, in the way that they forget he is psychologically Two-Faced, the real base of his character.

Despite these problems, The Dark Knight is still an incredibly involving and powerful movie, and the best Batman has to offer.