Dark and frightening with a towering and memorable antagonist - you couldn't ask for much more!

Rating: 9/10 (28 July 2008)

In 2005, director Christopher Nolan gave the ailing Batman franchise a successful reboot with the very well made 'Batman Begins', and of course it was very well received. A sequel was, naturally, always going to be on the cards and it's been delivered in the form of The Dark Knight; a film that follows on directly from the first film and manages to continue the story in a way that is interesting and at times frightening, and does it better than the first film did. Once again we focus on Gotham City. Things have started to change for the better as more and more criminals are being taken off the street. This is thanks in part to the mysterious masked marauder known as Batman; but police officer Jim Gordon and district attorney Harvey Dent are also partly to thank. However, things are plunged into chaos when The Joker enters the fray and begins to shake things up; specifically going after Batman. Batman soon realises he must stop The Joker and his wave of terror at all costs; but the battle may push him to his very limits.
Batman Begins was all about showing the creation of Bruce Wayne and Batman and my biggest problem with it was that the film really lacked a definite villain. Having got the character creation out of way, this leaves director Christopher Nolan free to explore other characters and areas of the plot, and it pays off very well indeed. There are a lot of different characters and elements to the story and things move very quickly; but the skillful way that the film is presented ensures that the important elements are focused on enough. The success of the film is thanks mostly to the fantastic Joker character and the director's willingness to take the film further than you would expect a comic book movie to go. The Joker is a thoroughly dark villain; a maniacal anarchistic psychopath who goes round forcing blades into people's mouths and blowing things up, and this gives the film a very dark edge. The tone of the movie is also very skilfully handled; Nolan portrays the efforts of the crime fighters in making the city a better place to live, so when things are actually plunged into chaos - we feel bad for the people living in the city - which is pretty impressive when you consider that Gotham City is a fictional place.
A lot of the hype surrounding this movie was due to the unfortunate premature death of Heath Ledger. I have to admit that I've not seen a great deal of his earlier performances but this last performance really highlights what a great loss his death was for cinema. Heath Ledger creates a villain that, while distinctively comic book; is also very real and frightening for that reason. He completely owns every scene he's in and this is a performance that will go down in history as one of the greatest antagonists on film. The rest of the cast is very good too. Gary Oldman, Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman all step into their roles from the first film effectively and provide good performances, while Christian Bale continues to provide the 'perfect; Batman; although for me he's even better simply as Bruce Wayne. Maggie Gyllenhaal replaces Katie Holmes as the love interest is even better in the role. She's not a natural beauty, but she was easy enough on my eyes and always convinces as a female lawyer. Aaron Eckhart is the biggest standout outside of Ledgar, however, with his turn as Harvey Dent. I wasn't impressed with him (or anything else) in The Black Dahlia; but here he hits the upstanding politician nail directly on the head and manages to make us care about his character.
Despite being based on a comic book, everything in the film is taken very seriously and the characters are one of the most important things about it. As you would expect, there's plenty of action and fighting too; and the two come into balance very well to ensure that The Dark Knight works as a complete whole. Naturally, all the hype surrounding the film does go just a little too far - but there's no denying that this is a definite triumph on the whole and deserves its place as one of the best comic book films ever made.