We found ourselves squirming...

Rating: 7/10 (24 June 2012)

While most of our favorite action movies run well over two hours ("Aliens," "The Abyss," "Terminator 2" and "Leon: The Professional" run about 2 1/2 hours and "Red Cliff" runs 5 hours), my wife and I found ourselves squirming about 2 hours into "The Dark Knight". Both of us felt the movie should have ended after the first climax, at approximately 1 hour, 55 minutes. One of my big problems with the movie is Christain Bale. Bale makes a bland Bruce Wayne and, when he disguises his voice as "Batman," his harsh whisper is barely intelligible. While Heath Ledger was brilliant as "The Joker," he still seemed to be channeling Jerry Lewis as "The Nutty Professor". While Gary Oldman gives a fine, restrained performance as "Lt. Gordon," I much prefer his over-the-top performances in "Leon: The Professional" and "The Fifth Element," and I felt frustrated wanting him to "cut loose." Other than Ledger, the most memorable performances come from seasoned pros Morgan Freeman and Michael Caine and the wonderful, underrated Aaron Eckhart. The movie is simply much too busy, not given the action sequences enough set-up time for full impact.
Nonetheless, given the wonderful production values and fine performances of the supporting cast, I give "The Dark Knight" a solid "7".