The Dark Knight

Written by: Christopher & Jonathan Nolan
Directed by: Christopher Nolan


2008 is the summer of the superhero. And boy what a summer it is. Writer/Director Christopher Nolan (see:Memento) is back with the sequel in the new and improved Batman series.

The movie starts with an awesome bank robbery by Gotham’s newest villain The Joker (Heath Ledger). Batman (Christian Bale) fighting off some imposters and a known foe, The Scarecrow (Cillian Murphy reprises his role). The media still doesn’t know if they like or loathe Batman. And Bruce Wayne is still rich and still running his parents business with the help of Lucious Fox (Morgan Freeman), and his right hand man Alfred (Michael Caine).

He still has his eyes on Rachel Dawes (Maggie Gylenhaal replaces Katie Holmes), but she has her eyes on the city’s district attorney Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart). Harvey Dent is a hands on kinda guy. He wants to help Jim Gordon take down the mob. He really wants to clean up Gotham. Bruce Wayne likes him. Thinks that he would be good for the city and maybe there will be no need for Batman.

The Joker, on the other hand, has no rhyme or reason to his madness. He wants to help the mob take down Dent, and get rid of Batman.

After that the plot gets a little more intricate. It is not complicated, but the movie is 2.5 hours. So they really fill up the time, but I didn’t get bored at all. There’s a few twists. A few uncertain deaths, as always. A new suit, thankfully with no nipples (see: George Clooney’s run as Batman). And a few hints at another piece of the franchise…at least I think so. At one point when Lucious is helping Bruce into the new suit, Bruce asks if the suit will stand up to dog attacks. Lucious says “a dog…maybe, but for sure a cat.” And then there’s this little creepy guy who works for Wayne Industries who thinks he knows the identity of Batman and he’s good with numbers. Riddler perhaps???

Christian Bale is still a good Batman. He gets a little heavy on the Batman voice once he’s in costume though. I like Maggie Gylenhaal over Katie Holmes any day. She has this scene where her and the Joker square off in a party. And Maggie just looks like she might swing on him. I can’t see Katie Holmes pull off the new, stronger Rachel Dawes.

Aaron Eckhart just seems like he’d be a cool guy to hang around. So he plays a good, persuasive Harvey Dent. And when an accident scars half his face, he gets into the Two Face role pretty well too (you did know Two Face was in this one right? It’s pretty obvious because as soon as he gets on screen he’s flipping a coin to make some decisions).

And the guy everyone wanted to see was Heath Ledger as the joker. Dude is scary. Plain and simple. Before when I thought of the Joker, I thought of Jack Nicholson ripping down art to a Prince soundtrack. Even on the cartoons (the 90s version of course. I didn’t fool around with Batman Beyond) the Joker was a little off, but not scary. Heath’s Joker is scary. A complete psycho path who thrives off the sheer terror he can put into people. Nolan did a great job with the writing for him. There is no clear origin on the Joker. And that just adds more to it. You can’t predict someone like that. No idea where he came from or what he wants or anything. And that crazy ass half done clown makeup just tops it off.

The only bad thing I could think of was the sound. At times the music was too loud and I couldn’t understand exactly what was being said. Especially if Bale was using his Batman voice. But that’s really about it. Apparently Nolan shot some of the intense action sequences with an IMAX camera…so I might go check it out again in IMAX to get the full effect…if I can ever find a showing that still has some available seats.

Internet fanboys (and girls) will tell you that The Dark Knight is the best thing since whatever was best before sliced bread. Yes this movie will make you laugh, jump, gasp, and sit straight up in your seat (dude drives a BatPod…half motorcycle, half amazing). So it is good, but again, it is no IronMan .