Posted July 17, 2008 - This is the movie of the summer.
“Dark Knight,” the latest installment of the Batman franchise that hits theaters on Friday, has all the elements that a good graphic novel thriller needs. All of the actors deliver great performances. The plot—while over the top—is engaging. And, when you see it on an IMAX screen the action is so intense that you feel like the caped crusader is going to sweep into the audience and grab you up.
Starring Christian Bale—hands down the best actor to slip into the bat suit; Heath Ledger, who is a sure shot to become the next posthumous Oscar winner for his performance as The Joker; Maggie Gyllenhaal as Rachel Dawes; Aaron Eckhart as Harvey Dent/Two-Face; Morgan Freeman as Lucius Fox; Michael Caine as Alfred Pennyworth and Gary Oldman as Lt. James Gordon, “Dark Knight” truly lives up to its name.
It is the darkest and arguably the best of all the Batman films. Director Christopher Nolan has done the DC Comics franchise proud.
The plot is fairly simplistic in the beginning. The Joker has been terrorizing Gotham City by jacking banks and killing anyone who gets in his way. Batman joins forces with Harvey Dent, the city’s new hot shot district attorney, and Lt. Gordon to stop the madness. The joke, however, is on them as their wily nemesis clowns them each time.
About midway through the film some of the characters flip their respective scripts and become even darker and tragedy ensues.
It’s not all doom and gloom though. Batman’s alter ego Bruce Wayne does get his mack on with Rachel and a few other beauties. And Ledger provides much of the film’s comic relief when he’s at his gangsta best. Much of the buzz about “Dark Knight” has revolved around his performance and rightfully so. The Australian actor who died earlier this year of a drug overdose was nothing less than perfect throughout.
Ledger set the bar so high that all of this franchise’s subsequent villains will need pole vaults to reach the bottom of his feet.
“Dark Knight” is a bit on the long side but unlike other films that go beyond two hours you don’t feel the clock ticking in this one. The only time I actually looked at my watch was to determine the time that the first brother (Michael Jai White) was taken out.
He lasted 30 minutes.