Suberp movie in every sense but could have been better

Rating: 9/10 (7 October 2008)

First of all I usually dislike movies about comics , superheroes and Hasbro toys all the time (my only exception on this subject is awesome "V for Vendetta") When I was a kid I used to watch most of them my mouth open and mind closed. If I was still a kid I would continue to do so. But I am 27 now and most of comic book inspired big budget movies (and that equals almost all of Hollywoods investment efforts in every year unfortunately to milk cash from comic book markets) seem silly , childish and pointless. It is the difficulty of transferring a comic books contents and subjects to big screen I think. They are completely different media and art forms with usually different type of audience. If you can reflect integrity of comic or a novel in a film it is great (and rare) but if you can notmeh another fiascoThey might make money but in cinematic sense and art form they are massive failures
But Batman Begins and now its sequel The Dark Knight are not. They are one of the these rare examples which one medium of art was successfully transferred to another. I think the producers and director Christopher Nolan were aware of one fact since the first time they took over Batman project. They are producing a movie , not a comic book imitation and it shows on screen. A comic book adaptation but not a look-a-like or rip off..They are making a unique type of creation , in their own form and style. Almost all of dialogue , characterization and story has good drama , consistent within itself and seem easily to connect most of the time. The characters are not over-sized , overacted and hyped clowns. There is no rushed attempts of bad humor. Editing is fairly good but it could be a little bit better. (Some sudden changes from one scene to another or one location to another is too abrupt.) Production values are again in high quality. But of course you can not accept anything from a high budget box office production anything less nowadays of course. A blockbuster or box office hit or a comic book adaptation expected hit should be entertaining at least and laziest way to accomplish this is special effects , action ,explosions and CGIThe Dark Knight have them but in a suitable level nothing more nothing less. They are just icing on the cake as it should be.
As I mention other aspects like story , drama , themes , characterization and acting which both entertain you and raise the level of respect to the people who involved to this project. Batman Begins was about Bruce Wayne and his story , his journey or better description start of his journey. It was about two themes. Fear and justice. Overall story this time is conflict or crash of two different ideologies. Order (Batman) vs Chaos (Joker). Usually decent and professional lead Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne (he is still very good here make no mistake) takes a step back lets excellent Heath Ledger to take the lead as Joker with a performance of his life (in every sense) Joker is gripping , intense , witty , scary , quite insane and very unpredictable. He does not give a damn anything , he only has an agenda of chaos in fact he is an agent of disorder just for sake of itJoker is trying to make a point and for this he lets nothing back. At the end you even understand and get a few points he was trying to make.Maggie Gylenhaal is a little bit uninspired as Rachel Dawes this time but last sequences of her character make up for that. Gary Oldman and Michael Caine are professional actors as usual become one with their characters as Police Commissioner Gordon and Bruce Wayne's butler/confidante Alfred. Another fine acting performance is displayed by Aaron Eckhart as tragic District Attorney Harvey Dent.
One last thing that gripped me is the ending. It is not lily white (as usually expected from comic book adaptations) where villain is dealt and threat is over. After dust settled you realize story of Batman and the characters involved in Nolan's universe evolved advanced. Damage has been done. (in a way Joker won) Story progressed forward. It didn't return to status quo. It didn't go backwards. It might be depressing for some but hey it is life. This version of Batman is much more adult oriented and that is why it is so gripping and thrilling. Of course it is not at level of classics like Godfather or Shawshank Reedemption that would be ridiculous. But Batman Begins is one of the best comic book adaptation movies of all time..