Let Me Tell You About These Scars

Rating: 8/10 (18 July 2008)

Being the Batman fan that I am coupled with all the hype surrounding Christopher Nolan's sequel to Batman Begins, it's only natural that I was a little disappointed in The Dark Knight. Before you read on, please know that this review is by no means looking to slam the movie. I ended up thinking it was quite good, but the few faults it had kept me from thinking that it was amazing.
There's been a lot of talk about how The Dark Knight transcends the super-hero movie genre and has more in common with movies like The Godfather II and The Departed as opposed to the rest of the super-hero movies out as of late. When comparing a new film with the works of Scorsese and Coppola - much less one that has little similarity to either director's body of work - there is obviously going to be a bit of let down due to how high the bar has been raised. Once the movie started I quickly realized that it was not a gritty crime epic, which was kind of disappointing. It is, in fact, as super-hero movie. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Of course, there is nothing wrong with super-hero movies - I just happen to love gritty crime epics. On the flip side, this is probably the darkest, grittiest comic book movie to date (yes, even more so than Sin City - easily), and probably won't be surpassed as such for a long time.
As the movie swings into gear, we see Batman running around in his clunky Bat-Suit from Batman Begins, which is thankfully shelved for a much better improvement twenty minutes in. Aside form being a bit too fragmented in its design, the new Bat-Suit is great, especially since it allows Batman a wider range of movement, thus allowing him to give thugs a much more severe ass-kickin'. My only problem with Batman, which also happened to be my only real complaint about the movie, was his voice. Obviously Christian Bale had to alter his speech so there'd be some sort of differentiation between Bruce Wayne and Batman, and of course Batman's voice needed to be menacing and darkbut it ended up just sounding kind of silly. It seemed like Batman had a really sore throat and was in desperate need of a lozenge. Fortunately, he didn't have too many lines - most of his character development was seen through physical action. Bruce Wayne ended up carrying most of the weight in terms of dialogue, which is fine since Christian Bale had Wayne's character down perfect. His balance between the facade of the care-free playboy and the burdened hero struggling to find his place in society and among his loved ones was seamless.
The highlight of the movie though, without a doubt, was The Joker. If there is any bit of hype you buy into about The Dark Knight, let it be about how powerful Heath Ledger's performance is. His presence on screen was devastatingly intense. Before each entrance he makes into a scene, you can feel the tension bear down on you as you're waiting for the $%^! to hit the fan (which is in part thanks to the one bit of the score that Zimmer and Howard got right: The Joker's theme). Whether slithering around in the shadows or pushing his way on screen by force, Ledger's portrayal of The Joker maybe one of the most dynamic depictions of a movie villain I've ever seen. While most of the Joker's time on screen is drenched in morbid humor, there are a few instances in which his actions are quite unsettling  and even borderline disturbing. I also appreciated the Nolan Brother's subtle nod to Moore's The Killing Joke by establishing the Joker as the unreliable narrator.
The supporting cast also did a very good job. The replacement of Katie Holmes with Maggie Gyllenhaal did wonders for this movie compared with its predecessor. And in another positive step away from Batman Begins, Gordon's role took on a more serious tone, which resulted in a much more solid performance from Gary Oldman. Eckhart fit the part of the Harvey Dent very well - playing equally to his calmer, noble emotions juxtaposed against his vengeance fueled campaign for "justice". I only wish his make-up involved less CGI. Chris Nolan's decision to ditch Goyer as a writer in place of his little brother Jonathan, really stepped up the quality of the film's dialogue and gave us a much more water-tight script. Even at 2 & ½ hours though, I wished the film would have been longer. I felt myself wanting to know more about the smaller characters like Salvatore Maroni, The Chechen, & Detective Ramirez. And while the Scarecrow was by no means a pivotal character in the film, I wish he would have had just a little more screen time  not to mention all of the pseudo-Batmen. I really wanted to know the details of their back-story.
Overall, The Dark Knight is a great film. Unfortunately its few flaws keep it from cashing in on its full potential, leaving it just short of phenomenal. Ironically, I think it's the best comic book movie to date.
-Wess