Christian Bale, Gary Oldman, Michael Caine & Company reprise roles in what proves to be Heath Ledger tour-de-force & swan song!

Rating: 10/10 (20 July 2008)

HERE, at long last (about 2 ½ Days) is our long awaited review of the latest Joke book to Celluloid adaptation, THE DARK KNIGHT (Legendary Pictures/Syncopy/DC Comics/Warner Brothers Pictures, 2008).
IT is surely one Film, indeed a truly singular sensation of a Film, which has come out into general release so highly heralded and praised. We cannot find any Movie Critic anywhere who didn't give it the old "Four Star-Don't Miss It-Best Picture of the Year" treatment.
THESE are areas in which we heartily concur; for we have just this very Sunday afternoon, gone to nearby suburban Hodgkins, Illinois for a viewing at the Shopping Mall Quarry 14 Cinemas; our first viewing, but surely not our last. The movie lives up to all of the hype and praise that has been heaped upon it.. Doubtle$$ thi$ will tran$late into Top $helf, Big Time, Box Office Bu$ine$$. There should also be serious consideration for THE DARK KNIGHT as Best Picture Oscar contender; as well as the late Heath Ledger's having a great shot Oscar for Best Supporting Actor.
ADAPTATION from the medium of the Comic Book and its more pretentious and newly found cousin, the Graphic Novel, is what we wish to take up in our dissertation/review/diatribe(?); for you see, Schultz, it is the main area of concern and bone of contention, with this and any and all comics adaptations to film & TV.
BATMAN by Bob Kane, of course, has been around ever since the feature's initial appearance in National Comics Publications' monthly publication, Detective Comics, number 27. His coming on the scene about a year after the same company's Action Comics # 1 premiered Jerry Siegel (Writer) & Joe Shuster's (Artist) SUPERMAN. These events were followed by Fawcett Publications' CAPTAIN MARVEL in the monthly Whiz Comics. Soon we had a veritable deluge of super characters from publishers such as Timely* (Sub-Mariner, Human Torch and Captain America), MLJ** (Shield, Wizard and Black Hood), Quality Comics (Plastic Man, Blackhawk and Will Eisner's The Spirit) and Fox Features (The Blue Beetle).
IT was in this initial period that the character of Batman was early on established as being a dark and avenging denizen of the night. This shouldn't be rocket science, Schultz, as most all bats (except the fruit eating ones of Southeast Asia, are in fact, nocturnal in their habits. Ergo, any guy who has "Bat" as a descriptive part of his name or title, must be active during the nights and do his catching up on his beauty sleep while the old Sun is high in our daytime skies. This trait was most consistent during the earliest times, when "The Batman" was still a sort of freelancing and outlawed vigilante type. As he became an accepted, even official member of the Law Enforcement community, his appearances were as frequently set in daylight as in the late P.M. to early A.M. time periods.
OUR film is set in this period and even to its conclusion, it is so; as Batman is still seen as a sort of wanted, extra-legal, independent criminal destroying privateer. If one remembers that at the conclusion of Director Tim Burton's BATMAN (Gruber Peters/Polygram/Warner Brothers, 1989) Batman was already an accepted part of the Gotham City Police Department; the beautifully crafted fade-out being a fine and memorable iconic image with the Caped Crusader's being perched on a high ledge of a great skyscraper while watching a very clearly visible Bat-Signal.
AS for their treatment of the Joker, himself, we must vote this as a split decision. It was okay as far as the white faced GREEN HAIRED freak's being a sociopath of the worst ilk. In the his very first appearance in Batman Comics # 1, Spring 1940, Joker's occupation was established as a contract killer and definitely one who was indeed very happy in his work. But, from we sit, this characterization of the Joker has missed the boat in trappings; although certainly not in the personality.
THEY certainly got the behavioral and anti-social attitudes of a homicidal maniac down pat; as was demonstrated most admirably right from the opening hold-up sequence. The production crew did a fine job in continuing Joker's bad reputation as a nasty, insanely ego-maniacal, cruelly motivated career criminal leader.
THEY seemed to ignore totally the old Joker modus operandi of having "theme crimes" and giving out clues to Batman and Police Commissioner Gordon; as was a long standing practice in the comics, the Batman TV Series (1966) and the Batman Feature (1989 again). There is just no mention of any sort of these "colorful" crimes, whatsoever.
OVERALL, this is a fine film. It meets two basic criteria to which all should be held. First, it is fine for the non-comic book crowd. Secondly, it can definitely stand on its own as an independent and self-reliant story; a definite Must See!
AS for Batman and Me, we've been old friends ever since the Summer of 1957, when this 10 year old discovered 2 comics books:World's Finest Comics, No. 90, dated Sep/Oct '57 and the second comic was Batman Comics No. 110, September, 1957; which was a real watershed of comics stories and a great primer for any new Batman reader. It contained three 8 page stories. They were the cover featured "The Phantom Batman", in which an all too common freak accidents rendering him temporarily physically metamorphosed. The other two stories were much more interesting and informative. The middle story, "The Secret of Batman's Butler" gave our first in depth look at faithful Alfred. But it was the opening story which was the best. In "The Crime of the Month Club", we were introduced to the Joker and his Criminal Shenanigans.
FROM that moment on, I knew that I wanted to be Batman.
POODLE SCHNITZ!!