Over-hyped but solid blockbuster which is well-worth viewing

Rating: 7/10 (5 August 2008)

I was really looking forward to seeing this film and, as a summer blockbuster, it certainly doesn't disappoint. If you are looking for well-executed action (though some of it is confusingly edited) solid acting from a good cast and unnerving tension then this certainly is the film for you. Chris Nolan proves to be skilfully adept at maintaining nerve-wracking tension throughout the second half of this film and I was genuinely not sure which characters would still be alive at the end, something which is no mean feat considering the formulaic nature of most modern blockbusters. The overwhelming feeling of dread which pervades this picture has been skillfully created by a director who has managed to seamlessly integrate an excellent sound-track with dark but beautiful cinematography and unusually committed performances from an ensemble cast, the strongest of which coming from Heath Ledger, who manages to invest the Joker with a surprisingly malevolent presence for a summer film.
Unfortunately, much of this is undone by a script and story which fails to support the hard-work of both the director and cast. Whilst the film purports to explore deep and disturbing issues relating to madness and heroism, the script isn't half as clever as it thinks it is. Yes, the Joker is vividly painted as an unnerving agent of chaos who's objective is to reveal the dark underbelly of human nature, but the scriptwriter is denied the opportunity to fully explore the questions raised by this character because of the wham-bam demands of summer action movies. The audience is instead subjected to a series of gruelling hostage situations which, whilst effectively intense, are too numerous and unrelenting for the director to explore the psychological effects these scenarios have on the rest of the cast, thus depriving the Joker of much of his potency.
Added to this is a ridiculous story which simply fails to adhere to logic or reason. Yes, the Joker is meant to be a criminal mastermind, but even he does not have the power to read the future and many of his schemes are simply impossible to execute. SPOILER The most improbable story development has to be the revelation that the Joker planned all along to be captured by the police mid-film and has already devised a means of escape. The Joker simply has no time to come up with his alternate scheme of taking both Harvey Dent and Rachel Dawes hostage any plausible explanations made by fans of the film for many of the plot-twists and turns simply hold no water. SPOILER
For a film that prides itself in translating the Batman mythos into a recognisable reality the implausible story only serves to remind the viewer that, despite all of the skill that has gone into developing The Dark Knight, this is only a summer blockbuster after all and it is certainly not the dark masterpiece that many have claimed it to be.