This is No Joke

Rating: 9/10 (20 July 2008)

Greetings again from the darkness. Christopher Nolan can now stake his claim ... the Batman franchise is HIS! Taking "Begins" to a whole new level of terror and psychology, "The Dark Knight" is unlike any previous adaptation of a comic book, graphic novel or super hero. This redefines the category. We have Nolan, Christian Bale and the terrifying performance of the late Heath Ledger to thank for this.
Nolan gives us wonderful visuals with Batman's effortless gliding through Gotham City, Bat Sonar and some pretty nice chase scenes ... including one with a stunning Lambo. His script delivers some classic lines from the Joker and multi-layers with Harvey Dent, Jim Gordon and even Luscious Fox. The fight scenes are not quite what we would hope, but the weapons are very cool ... by the way, who uses a School Bus as a get away vehicle (brilliant!!).
Bale seems even more comfortable in the cowl this time, though the lines are much more blurred between the Dark Knight and billionaire Bruce Wayne. Seems like half the characters now know his identity (ok, that's a slight exaggeration). Though Maggie Gyllenhaal's Rachel Dawes is far superior to Katie Holmes', I must admit that I am glad to see the love story between the ADA and the Bat come to an end. This guy is most effective on his own ... leave the girls alone! Now to the real story. No matter what you have heard or what you expect, Heath Ledger's Joker is more chilling and terrifying than you can imagine. The make-up, the movements, the hair, the voice, the tongue flicker combined to give me chills more than once. The closest villains I can compare this to are: Jack Nicholson in "The Shining", Malcom MacDowell in "A Clockwork Orange", Anthony Hopkins in "Silence of the Lambs", Billy Drago in "The Untouchables" and Alan Rickman in "Die Hard". I believe Ledger is even more frightening. Though we get a few glimpses and a quick scene with the mobsters, Nolan teases us for the first half hour or so before we get our first extended Joker scene. Needless to say, this is the main reason I will see this film another three or four times in the theater. It is screen magic.
Must offer a mention of Aaron Eckart's performance as Harvey Dent and subsequently Two-Face. He is exceptional in both ... as the White Knight of Gotham and then as the coin-flipping mad man. I am a bit worried that this may have been Two-Face's only appearance (though there is some hope). Michael Caine as Alfred, Cillian Murphy as Scarecrow, Gary Oldman as Gordon and Morgan Freeman as Lucius Fox are all back and this time joined by Julia's brother, Eric Roberts as the Italian mobster.
There are a few items to nit-pick ... like how I miss the Bat Cave (under construction at Wayne Manor), the whole mayor story line was a bit weak, some of the high tech stuff was a bit of a stretch and the 18 wheeler chasing the police vans was difficult to follow. All of these are minor and in no way diminish what Nolan, and especially Ledger, have delivered.