Close, but no cigar

Rating: 8/10 (10 August 2008)

Ah yes, this well-spoken piece of film. Lets see if I can express my feelings about it in a readable way. Here I go;
First things first, there are two things I want to get clear before discussing the movie. 1) I haven't seen any Batman movies at all. I myself don't reckon it makes much of a difference to my opinion on this one, but just saying. 2) I am not going to discuss whether this movie is 'good' or 'bad'. Looking at the strictness of the IMDb ratings, this one probably deserves an 8. Keep in mind that whatever comes next, this movie is definitely worth seeing; you wíll be entertained.
Alright, that said, where do I begin? I suppose mentioning that Heath Ledger's role as the joker is beyond stunning is a good start. I've never really bothered with Batman, and such I only knew "The Joker" as "The bad guy from the Batman universe". To me, Heath has given the Joker a face. His performance is far beyond 'good'... The Joker is shown to the viewer as a somewhat insane, psychotic criminal who is still believable. I'm not sure why, but I like the character. The Joker leaves a mark.
Aside from that, I really enjoyed the tension in the movie. Most of the time, it was hard to guess what was going to happen next... You are kept wondering about what's up throughout the whole movie, and there was actually only one major plot change that I was able to predict (by knowing the length of the movie). Of the maybe 6 or 7 major plot changes, that's a fairly nice score.
Last, I have to mention there's precisely the right amount of explosions in the movie. It was close to being a Hollywood special-effects show-off film, but the movie strayed far enough to avoid becoming one.
Alright; having spilled the good parts, lets get onto the bad aspects of the movie.
First of all; why did Batman sound like a German pornstar? I realize a 'voice changer' would be part of his usual equipment, but the 'new' voice that came out of him was just... odd. It might be personal preference, but I reckon it didn't really fit him.
Second, what's up with Harvey Two-face? Is there any real reason why he went 'bad'? Either I'm missing something in the story or it's just plain weird... The only reason for him to turn his back on Batman was that the Joker killed his girlfriend. If he had any sense of logics left he would've killed the Joker when he got the chance, rather than turning bad for such an awful reason.
Third, there's a bunch of odd goofs in the movie. At one part Batman hides Dent in a building the Joker infiltrates, and later jumps out of the window to save his 'girlfriend'... Leaving the Joker in the building to find Dent. Beats me why he didn't actually do so. Then there's the part where the Joker seems to have an endless supply of TNT, dynamite, and army-bazookas. Sure, it's a superhero movie, but at least Batman's powers are explained trough his suit. Absolutely no reason is given as to why the Joker manages to fill up half the city and two giant boats up with explosives without anybody noticing or him running out of bangbang. And then I'm not even mentioning the fact that all the clowns seemed to be loyal to him for absolutely no reason; one of them even stops another Mafioso from preventing the Joker burning a pile of money, the only thing that would explain why the Joker has these over-loyal employees. Oh, and I almost forgot to mention the joker somehow manages to take a knife with him into custody. Are the policemen totally stupid or just incompetent? This, I suppose, is what breaks the movie for me. It's a superhero movie, sure. But the superhero is fairly realistic. Everything else in the movie is not. If you think twice about everything that happens in the film, you just start rubbing your chin and wondering why half these things are possible.
In the end, I'm still feeling twisted about this movie. By all means, go watch it, it's good. Just not worth number one in a top 250. Even though I reckon about 200 movies in the top 250 are overrated, this one shouldn't be on number one. The film is a movie which gets several aspects right, but not perfect. If you think the psychological aspect of the story is good, go watch Fight Club. If you think the fights and plot were what makes the movie worth a 10, go watch the Borne trilogy. If you think the tension was good, go watch Hitchcock.
The Dark Knight is like a Ferrari; very enjoyable to play around with, but not the most amusing thing out there unless you're a fan of the brand.