A Worthwhile Batflick, At Last!

Rating: 9/10 (30 July 2008)

This film is an unaccounted miracle of the 21st century; namely, it's a franchise film that doesn't want to be a franchise film. Sounds impossible? You bet it does. I would not have believed it had I not seen it myself. The late H. Ledger as Joker: faultless. This is, admittedly, the Frank Miller batman, and so it will not appeal to a certain number of people who desire bubblegum batman, and I admit that my personal favorite Joker is still Mark Hamill's from the animated series. This one's a little gritty for my taste. But that's the idea, and it's achieved brilliantly. Any die-hard Nicholson fans who are crying foul simply because Jack played it 18 years ago are just being foolish. Harvey Dent is equally wonderful and Eckhart is every bit as big as the task. Oldman is masterful, as always, making cinematic mountains out of his molehill role. I will say one thing: though Bale's performance is otherwise fine and dandy, we need to talk him out of this "batman voice" of his. It's just silly, and it took me out of the film more than once. Also, there are scenes in this film which seem a trifle too busy, and it's easy to get lost if you're over 20, and use a slower attention span than a hummingbird has got. But this film deserves praise if only for the fact that it's not just a batman movie, in the same way some batman comics (ex. The Killing Joke) are not just comic book fodder. This is a great, popcorn-munching good time, but it's more than that. It's psychological, its got levels, and it wants to be one great action movie, whether you like batman or not. And it does exactly what it intends. Marvel, look out-- a few more like this and DC will be ruling the theaters soon enough.