Not a Masterpiece, not even close. Batman Begins reigns.

Rating: 7/10 (16 July 2008)

The following includes spoilers of the movie in order to review some of the aspects that stand out and those that are ludicrous.
In the past month, I've grown accustomed to changing the channels during TV commercial breaks and walking out on the previews at the movie theater, just to miss the trailers and TV spots of The Dark Knight. The goal was to watch this film as my parents and many people approached "Jaws" in the 70's: clueless regarding what the movie is about. I was somewhat successful. As a fan of Batman and Christopher Nolan, I was very convinced this movie would turn out to be a very good so if I would look for the clips of the usual summer propaganda, my rewarding experience would not be as great. Impatience lead me to buy a ticket for the premiere of The Dark Knight, but I left the theater only knowing that this wasn't no Jaws and certainly no masterpiece.
I liked that the movie is around 150 minutes and I could have stayed 6 hours if it were the case because the movie is visually stunning. The problem consists in the story of Batman as real person with the agility, money and technology. The adaptation of the renewal of the franchise was based on this "real" concept and it is the reason why special effects were totally minimized. But what happened when we got to see Batman with white eyes interlaced with shots of 3d modeling and the voice-over of Morgan Freeman like the super clichÃ© that that is. The idea of the bat sonar might have been an innovative concept but the way that it is explained to us does not work. You can even project that the Batman with white eyes is part of a marketing decision: the toy action figure. I would hope that the reason for it pertains only the conscious decision of the character Morgan Freeman plays, Lucius Fox. The ethical portrayal of Fox is key to the bat sonar, not the cool 3d vision of Batman.
The Dark Knight has skipped practical approaches that were presented to us in the first film. This one presents the Batman Headquarters, an underground one floor slick and clean space where the Batmobile has no parking except the dead center and where other peripherals are just an accessory to the huge space with fluorescent lamps as a roof. In no way this one- dimensional "replacement" place, where a fireplace is installed, represents the technological edge of the bat cave. Also, I felt the spirit of a really mindless blockbuster summer movie when I first saw the Bat motorcycle: pulled out from an engineering-impossible nowhere and turning against a brick wall as if it the proper way to turn the thing.
Where is the "real" concept in the third act of the film when the Joker somehow got to put a bomb, and a cell phone might I add, inside the stomach of a human being without anyone witnessing it? And didn't the Nolans and Goyer learn of the effects of multi villains from Batman Returns and Spiderman 3? Sure Batman is more than a good guy and the Joker more than a bad guy but then there is the development of Maroni, whose role seems to be to get bullied and tortured by everybody. Regarding Two Face, I interpret that Nolan attempts to make the same bridge "Empire Strikes back" made to tie the first and plausible third movie of his adaptation, but the development of Two Face in the third act was way unnecessary. I argument this by saying that at the ending of Batman Begins, Commissioner Gordon states that The Joker is a criminal that had committed a robbery and double homicide (check your Batman Begins DVD) and already in the beginning of The Dark Knight, the Joker is an unknown.
Speaking of the Joker, he is the real reason to go see The Dark Knight but not the only. Many people have dwelled on his posture and unique tone of voice, which by comparison makes Batman's voice an annoying and nagging shout that dropped the fear effect it had on the first film. Heath Ledger satisfied my expectations and he steals the movie because I couldn't wait for him to be back on screen when he is off. It's speculative that we say he will win an Oscar but certain he should deserve his nomination.
By the end of the film, I felt that after the hospital scene where the Joker walks away, they should have called it a movie. The philosophical aspects presented afterwards are redundant and should have been left for interpretation. That shot of Ledger in the nurse suit is so remarkable and powerful that would have been appropriate for remembering him, if the intention was to keep the Joker alive for another movie. Lastly, I emphasized on the "real" concept because after all Batman, is the only superhero in comics that a human being can possibly be if it were for the money and the desire.