Joker??? I think not

Rating: 7/10 (29 December 2008)

Having grown up watching Bill Dozier's TV homage to the comic book hero, maybe I went into this with an unfair expectation of the principal villain in TDK. I wasn't looking for the howling Cesar Romero necessarily, but there was nothing even remotely wry about this film's Joker. Are we to believe this character is named the Joker simply because of the angle of his facial scars? I guess that might be enough for some, but I wanted the Joker to wield a devilish sense of humor as part of his arsenal of terror. Heath Ledger delivers a terrific psychopath, but a Joker he's not.
Relationships seemed amiss in TDK. Where was the genuine if frequently sarcastic warmth shared between Alfred and Bruce in Batman Begins? Did anyone really believe there was much passion between Rachel and Bruce in this version, despite a much better performance from Gyllenhaal than Holmes? Even the wonderful Morgan Freeman had little to do in TDK, other than monitor the preposterous-even-by-comic-book-cinema-standards wall of cell phone data from what... 30-million Gothamites? Yeah. That could work. Lt./Commish Gordon's interplay with Batman misses the mark as well, and I felt the Gordon family anguish was forced.
I've read some unflattering comments about Bale's performance. For me, he wasn't given much material with which to work. In Batman Begins, his character has far more dynamic range. TDK further quashes Bale's work by over-graveling his Batman voice to the point that only constipated anger can be effectively emoted.
At least Eckhart and Gyllenhaal were given some latitude to develop their characters, though I never fully surrendered my heart to their oft-stated love.
Complaints aside, for theater thrills TDK brings it home... outstanding production design, great effects, superb sound, and another great collaborative effort between JNH and Zimmer on the soundtrack.