Movie Review: The Dark Knight
Jul 19th, 2008 by Matt
Heath Ledger delivers a performance for the ages as one the most twisted villains in movie history.
What follows is a spoiler-filled, stream of conscience review for the film The Dark Knight.
The Dark Knight, sets a new bar for comic book movies. With Ironman, The Hulk, and now this film, Hollywood is starting to realize that you do not need to treat your audience like children when making movies based on comic books.
Heath Ledger steals the show as The Joker. Hands down, this is the most memorable performance for a villain I have seen since The Silence of the Lamb, and frankly, I think Heath did it better. The pencil trick was brilliant and hilarious and shocking and twisted and I really wish there were more moments of that kind of magic in this film. If I have one major criticism it would be that there was not enough Joker.
Heath Ledger isn’t the only actor worth mentioning, Aaron Eckhart and Gary Oldman both deliver such a compelling performance, that frankly, Batman could have not even played a role in the film and I wouldn’t have missed the caped crusader at all. On top of that, Christian Bale’s performance was really kinda dull and his “Bat voice” was, in mine and especially my wife’s opinion, laughable.
The story itself was really quite surprising. I was not expecting this tale of a brilliant detective trying to out think an equally brilliant villain who is constantly one step ahead of everyone. It was intelligent and reserved in many ways and I was surprised to see it play out as it did. I think the story is going to make this a very polarizing film. People will either love it for its quiet moments or hate it because of them. I saw many children in the audience and I am not sure they would have liked this film. This isn’t Spiderman or X-Men. This is a subtle film that takes its time and speaks to the audience in a very mature manner.
The film was great, but I do have some criticism. I felt it was just a bit to long. Although I never thought that it lost momentum, I do feel that some tightening of certain scenes could have only helped. Also, Two-Face played a MUCH larger role in this film than I was expecting and I don’t really feel it was necessary. His story is compelling enough that it could have been saved for the next film and The Dark Knight would have had the added benifit of being and additional 20 minutes shorter.
Also, the sonar phone device used in the end of the film was terrible. It was awkward and unrealistic and it seemed to have only been thrown in as a commentary on illegal wire tapping and the conversation that Bruce and Lucius had about the device was just very preachy and did not belong in this film.
That being said, Christopher Nolan has shown himself to be a brilliant director that really understands and trusts his audience and knows what makes Batman movies great. I hope he stays with this franchise because I am excited to see what he comes up with next. This film has set a new standard for super hero movies and every other director looking to make a comic book film has now had their job made much harder for them.
Also, I am very sad to see the Tumbler go.
I really didn’t like the film as a Batman film. Although Batman made his appearances, this film had almost nothing to do with Batman at all. It seemed to me that they did a great job of building the dark world of the Joker, and threw in Batman as an afterthought. Batman had little to no emotional reaction to anything going on around him. Possibly because the villians went after everyone else but Batman, and all so he would unmask himself. I assume this was so Batman couldn’t hide himself any longer, and they could destroy him. That’s kinda dumb because they never seem to have trouble meeting up during the movie anyway. Bale’s performance was horrible, which didn’t help matters. Heath Ledger gave an awesome performance, but even that was hard to enjoy knowing how things turned out for the actor. In the end I thought it was all quite depressing and pointless.
I thought this movie was bloody brilliant. Finally a Batman film that isn’t afraid to get down and dirty. The only thing I thought it could have done to finally bring the dark Batman to life would have been the killing of the Joker. From a logic stand point I’m sure they wanted to possibly bring Heath Ledger back for sequels. But the idea of Batman just chucking him off the roof would have brought that movie just that much closer to Frank Miller’s “Dark Knight.” I enjoyed this film far more than the first.
As a side note, I just read that it has grossed more in 6 days than Batman Begins did in its entire run.
Yeah this movie rocked! Nice review Matt, but the only thing that you forgot to mention is that it wasn’t in Gotham anymore…. I didn’t realize that they changed the story to be set in Chicago. Otherwise, excellent film, and yeah I second that the pencil trick was pretty bad ass!
Hey Yeti, It was still Gotham. They just shot it in Chicago and I think, Toronto. (at least the last film was shot in Toronto) The two cities smashed together make Gotham.
On that note, I wanted to see more matte work done to the city to make it a bit more unique. A bit more Gotham-esque. Perhaps a giant statue or two, or a super tall Gothic cathedral.
EDIT: Doing some research, it looks like all the exteriors were Chicago. Perhaps some of the helicopter shots were Toronto Composites.
Agreed, this film was amazing. Ledger really lived up to all the hype. Yeti, I was also distracted by how little they disguised Chicago — for anyone that knows the city it would be distracting. Also, the whole “cellular sonar” was laughable, at best. This is definitely a film I would see pay to see twice in the theater.
You just witnessed our generations Godfather part 2. Yes, this movie had really nothing to do with Batman because were introducing the yang of ying. This movie was the setup for what was to follow in movies to come. Heath’s performance was unbelievable topping Jake, his joker IS Miller’s vision. Bale was good as Wayne bad as Batman. I started to laugh at the end when he was doing the Batman voice.
No, Toronto at all in this film, sorry do some more research. Majority of this film was shot in Chi-town that’s a given and also Hong Kong is a given. The rest was shot in the UK, home of the visual effects house DNeg. DNeg did majority of the work, if not all. This was suppose to be a modern Gotham not the Gotham we know in the past movies. Why would we introduce gothic architecture when it wasn’t in Begins? I agree about the wire tapping sonar gag, very stupid.
Visual effects side note because it’s my thing. The practical effects in this movie ie the flipping semi, the armored truck chase and hospital blowing up were all done on set and crazy good. The miniatures and cg work was insane except for Dent’s face, that was really bad. The invisible effects were off the charts. You will not find a movie like this that has seamless visual effects. Unless you hear or read what was done practical or post you will not know. This movie was unbelievably beautiful in IMAX. You are not doing this movie justice in a normal theatre. The establishing shots in Chicago and Hong Kong are breath taking. You fill like you are in a ride, all I can say is WOW! just amazing in IMAX. They used the only 10 IMAX cameras in the world for this movie and destroyed one. Of course they used other cameras on this film and because of the different aspect ratios. People were worried about the final product in IMAX. Well you couldn’t see any jumps, again flawless effort by DNeg
My only problem was the edit, as I see it, they had 2 choices for the ending. Which sadly because of a death is really 1 ending.
A. End with the joker falling to his death, we have introduced 2 face for next movie. DO a voice over of Batman being a target of Gotham blabla cut to Gordon with an axe hitting the bat light. End it
B. Keep Joker alive laughing while hanging upside down cut to black, bleed the laughter into the voiceover, same thing for 2 face and Gordon with a axe. End it.
With the death of Heath, I only see A. as the option. Both of those endings could have easily been done. You can not tell me they didn’t have the time or ability to add a cg joker completing the fall to death. I understand working with the imax res can be very expensive blabla but come on. There was no need for the 2 face crap at the end, it added nothing to the story. You had all this build up with the revenge of 2 face and Batman vs. Joker. They had a opening for the next movie. I guess they already started to work on the next movie with Riddler or Penguin. It is really sad that Heath passed but they did have options for the edit and we would never have known. The Joker in the nurse’s outfit summed up Heath’s performance for me, funny, memorable and leaves you wondering what if.
Yeah, I believe Batman Begins had the fanciful Deco styled Metro lines running into Wane Tower. I enjoyed the slightly skewed reality they presented in that film and would have enjoyed seeing more of that in this film as well.
There is a difference between Deco and Gothic. I agree I would have liked to have seen that style we saw in Begins but in an interview with Nolan he talks about wanting a modern Gotham we can relate to. Begins was a typical comic book movie with the alternative reality and Dark Knight grounds you in ours.
There is a difference between Art Deco and Gothic architecture? I had no idea.
You guys are dorks.
Just worry about getting sun on your legs. That big shiny thing in the sky is the sun, I know it’s crazy but vitamin D is good
All right boys, no fighting.
I really enjoyed the movie, but I did find myself checking the time and wondering why the Joker was still blowing things up. I felt that the acting was great (and yes the bat voice is not my favorite). My ideal ending would have been right after the Joker killed Rachel/created Two Face. I felt like that moment had so much emotional weight and it was the peak of the action. So here’s my ending…Batman saves Dent, Rachel dies, Joker escapes, Batman catches Joker, Bruce visits Dent in hospital which leads into Two Face for the next film. Throw in some dramatic voiceover at the end and the movie is now about 45 minutes shorter. However, I did find the blowing up the hospital scene with Heath dressed in drag hilarious.
That is my initial reaction…but I’m going to see it again for a second look.
My legs have seen sunlight for the first time in 14 years! the whiteness of them is reflecting a soft glow around my body as I walk down the streets. As a result, Ukrainian women are giving me a wide passage.
Batman saves Dent. . . but why? Didn’t he tell Gordon he was going after Rachel? I thought he did, and they never explanied this at all. I assume a Joker plot, but it was never explained, and I was a bit confused for a bit. . .which happens more than I’d like to admit.
As far as I could tell, the Joker lied to him intentionally to get him to save the wrong person. It all makes sense in Joker’s twisted world. He wanted Rachel to die and to tear down Dent (the “best” of them). His goal was to prove that even the best can become “freaks.”
…which is why I was lead to believe that the detonators for each boat actually detonated it’s own boat… or both boats… or none.
I had no clue what would happen actually. Makes for good suspense.