Not a Classic - But Superb it is

Rating: 8/10 (28 July 2008)

In these times you better keep your negative thoughts about The Dark Knight for yourself, if you have any. The movie is by far the most anticipated one of the last decade, is breaking record after record and the reviews are excellent. Oh, yeah, and the Joker is in it. Those who dare to not participate in the hype are bashed all over the place. Unfortunaly, I feel somehow responsible to warn future-viewers that this film is NOT a classic like is mentioned by most. On the other hand, this movie is superb and a ticket more than worth.
Warning: some may consider what I will write as a spoiler from now on, but I'll try to minimum the risk of passing on information that will ruin your experience.
I think it will come as no surprise that the acting in this movie is more than fine. Christian Bale puts on a very intense Bruce Wayne, tortured by the situation he finds himself in. His presence as Batman did not cleaned Gotham City, but also attracted new garbage in the form of a Clown, who calls himself an Agent of Chaos. And chaos spreads over the City, and it's getting worse and worse. However, Batman stands not alone in his fight against the Joker. Help arrives in the form of a new District Attorney: Harvey Dent, who is played by Aaron Eckhart.
In an outstanding performance, Aaron Eckhart is believable as 'The White Knight' of gotham, fighting a war against the mob, with such a spirit that it seems almost insane. When the situation doesn't improve, Harvey Dent gets in a conflict with himself, just like Batman. With different outcomes.
Help also arrives in the form of Lucius Fox, played by Morgan Freeman, the good cop James Gordon, played by Gary Oldman, and the loyal butler Alfred, played by Michael Caine. There performances are solid as ever, but are all outplayed by Heath Ledger in a masterpiece of acting as the Joker. Forget the Jokes. He does magic tricks with a pencil instead, blows up a lot of things, but even more scarier, he attacks the human nature. He brings up moral dilemma's, he tries to make people forget their own principles and he succeeds in panicking a whole city.
And all of this is filmed in a beautiful way, candy for the eye, together with a thrilling soundtrack that provides a non-stop feeling of excitement. Why is this, then, after all, not a masterpiece? Some say this film IS The Joker, I say The Dark Knight is like The Joker: intense, sometimes a bit of fun, duality, a moral dilemma, fascinating, exciting, but also sometimes rushed, not easily to understand, and chaotic.
The plot is intelligent, but has a lot flaws in it. Those will not ruin your joy, but it is a sign that when the movie ends you cannot come up with a detailed summary of the storyline. Intriguing scenes: check. Terrific performances: check. Great action: check. Plot line: uh...not that the plot line is bad at all, it just all happens so fast you can not think about it. Characters die and the next moment you're in a car chase, people are thrown out of the window but what happens inside will stay a mystery etc etc. This movie is about what happens to people when they find themselves confronted with chaos (what would you do? ) and as a result, the film itself is sometimes as chaotic as the Joker himself.
Want to hear something good? You want to see the movie again. Not for the Joker alone.
PS. English is not my language, I hope you will forgive me my possible incorrect spelling.