The Dark Knight in a dark world

Rating: 9/10 (18 July 2008)

Well I have finally seen The Dark Knight and it was well worth the wait. This is a movie about a character that everyone thinks that they know, however the movie blows our pre-conceptions out of the water. Now this review has no spoilers so it is safe to move on!
First things first, this is NOT a feel-good movie, I did not leave the cinema on a high knowing that all is well in Gotham. If you are expecting a comic book style movie like recent Spider-Man's or Iron Man you may be disappointed. This is not cartoony, this is a world where things are really wrong and a guy dressed in a black bat suit is not going to make everything all right. Whilst the movie is a story-in-one you can see that this series is (should) be continuing on from here, where to I don't know.
Gotham City is dark and unsettling and it makes you wonder why anybody not involved in crime would want to live there anyway, these people don't know what they want and everyone is in the grip of the city's depressing surroundings and out of control crime.
The characters are brilliant and really make this an adults movie. Christian Bale is terrific as Bruce Wayne/The Batman and plays both roles as extreme polar opposites of each other. The suit is more realistic than ever and it's upgrades are expressed in the movie rather than Batman just appearing in a new fangled suit for no good reason other than to sell a new action figure. Hopefully Bale continues in this role for some time to come.
Aaron Eckhart is superb as Harvey Dent, this is a real role, not tacked on and in fact a major story line through the entire movie. Harvey Dent is someone who you want to win the war on crime but like most everything else you watch this character with a sense of dread.
Gary Oldman, fantastic, Jim Gordon is portrayed in a different way to the previous incarnations from other movies. Here is a dedicated police officer who takes us on a wave ride of highs and low's as his chases criminals and provides real depth to the role. Jim Gordon is a hero and at one point in the movie he provides the audience (at least me) with goosebumps and a slow nodding of the head in agreement.
Maggie Gyllenhaal is good in a role that is really going nowhere, no fault of hers, just Rachael Dawes, even if she wanted to has no real power in this world. As a sidebar, she walks all over Katie Holmes.
Finally, Heath Ledger, was he even in this movie? I saw nothing but the Joker every time he was on the screen. It takes something special for an actor to remove anything of himself from a movie and have audience believe they are watching the character, not them acting. And, what a character, this Joker is unstoppable, unremitting and unrelenting. There is a point during the movie when you realise that there is nothing anyone can do to talk him out of his behaviour, whether by negotiation or through threats, this guy literally has nothing of value at all to lose. This is the homicidal Joker that I remember from comic books that has previously never risen above pure campyness (is that a word?) you know what I mean.
In closing, this is a movie that is provocative in it's story telling, brilliant in bringing it's dark world to life, and finally does not give the impression that everything is going to be all right. Check it out for yourself.