Huh? Joel who?

Rating: 10/10 (21 July 2008)

The Dark Knight is The Godfather Part 2 of comic book movies. Seriously, It is that good. With Batman Begins British director Christopher Nolan, Mostly known at the time for low key indie dramas Memento and Insomnia, Delivered an impressive if not altogether accomplished rebirth of the caped crusader, Thus banishing any memories of the Joel Schumacher atrocities that barely passed for Batman movies. As good as it was Batman Begins only hinted at the great things to come and The Dark Knight certainly does not disappoint. One of the few complaints with the 2005 movie was the not to impressive action scenes, This has thankfully been ironed out for the sequel. There are some truly pulse quickening action scenes here that never feel shoehorned in just to excite the action junkie crowd. You get the feeling that Nolan has grown in confidence and experience in directing a big budget Hollywood movie. Then there are the actors. Christian Bale is just superb as the still very much troubled Bruce Wayne who is beginning to feel the burden of trying to keep Gotham from the grip of the mob. Aaron Eckhart is also superb as the Idealistic District Attorney Harvey Dent whose desire to rid Gotham of it's crime leads to his devastating and heartbreaking destiny. Beautiful Maggie Gyllenhaal does good work even if her charchter is given short shrift and Michael Caine? Well it's Michael Caine, Always brilliant. Then last but not least there is Heath Ledger. His version of The Joker is hilarious and utterly terrifying at the same time, A perfectly nuanced performance that completely obliterates any trace of the man we saw in movies like Brokeback Mountain or Casanova. If you didn't know any better, You'd have a hard time believing that it was him in that movie.