Not a masterpiece at all

Rating: 5/10 (31 July 2008)

Saying The Dark Knight is the best Batman is inept because Christopher Nolan do not respect the mythology of Batman and recreates one of his own. The best Batman to me is Batman Returns, the second Tim Burton with Danny DeVito. The Dark Knight has very complicated plots with a big mess of a story (just a good excuse to blow a maximum of cars and buildings), is very self conscious (one of those films that try to explain you everything with dialogue instead of showing it) and sometimes terribly shot. Heath Ledger is a great and sordid Joker but sometimes the camera moves so much you can appreciate his acting. Two Face and Scarecrow are underused and do not have enough gadgets. They're also very realists just like Gotham City (not very Gothic here) and that leads to little imagination. The Honk Kong scenes reminded me of Lara Croft. Bruce Wayne is introspective and moody in the comic book, here he is a bit too happy and cocky. Batman's voice is absolutely ridiculous.
The Joker is an amazing character, nihilist, unpredictable and absolutely mad. The acting is very good, especially the actor playing TwoFace and Eric Robert)
Although some of the framing and the camera movements are really ugly by moments, most of the cinematography is beautiful especially the night scenes. (Grey, Black and lots of mirrors everywhere).
It's good entertainment for sure, the action scenes are breathtaking, the CCI and the make up incredible but I wouldn't place The Dark Knight among masterpieces like The Godfather, Citizen Kane, Pulp Fiction or Star Wars. Funny thing is the Batman costumes still looks like Michael Keaton! What Batman needs is someone like Roberto Rodriguez.