COUNTDOWN TO THE DARK KNIGHT RISES
Batman Begins had redefined the movie Batman, and in a good way. However, it hadn't set the box office alight (making about $20 million dollars less than Superman Returns in the USA). However, with strong DVD sales, excellent critical response and word of mouth, a sequel was commissioned. One would also hope that the executives also recognised the talent of Nolan, and the team he put together, when it came to green lighting a sequel.
One of the things that The Dark Knight does that seperates it from other Bat movies is it solves the costume problem. Whilst the costume of the comics would never translate to the big screen what we have had have been unweildy looking rubber suits (granted, at least we didn't get lumbered with an awful looking biker-superhero costume like Daredevil). Finally Batman is given a suit of armour that is functional.
Heath Ledger seemed a left field choice for the role of the Joker. However, here he is a force of nature. Chaos personified. Ledger is brilliant in the role, eclipsing Nicholson. It will be a long time before anyone will try and top this performance. The Joker steals the movie from Batman, though when the protagonist is introverted and his antagonist a extrovert it is hard not to steal the film. The scene where the Joker has his head out of the car window, Ledger looks so alive that it saddens the audience by his untimely death.
Maggie Gyllenhaal takes over the role of Rachel Dawes. And whilst she is marginally better than Holmes, the character still suffers from being slightly underwritten.
Bale, Caine, Freeman and Oldman are as good here as they were in the first movie. Eckhart is, pardon the pun, the heart of the movie and perfectly captures the journey of Dent from white knight to the revenge crazed, deformed Two-Face.
As much as Gordon looks like he has walked off the pages of Batman: Year One, Two-face looks like the living embodiment of a Tim Sale drawing. The use of CGI, very rare in this movie, instead of make-up gives us a more realistic look for Two-Face and completely eclipses the Batman Forever version. However, he is an underused villain that doesn't get the coverage he requires to be a credible threat.
Although it needs Batman Begins to exist in the first place, it does not feel like a sequel. Some of that is to do with the fact that Gotham feels more like an actual city in this movie than it did in Begins. However, some of the elements set up in the first movie seem to have been overlooked in this movie. This is both a flaw and a plus point. The movie also builds upon the idea of escalation mentioned by Gordon to Batman at the end of Begins
The influence of the comics is once again there for all of the fanboy's to see. Once again drawing from Loeb/Sale's Long Halloween as well as the 1970's era where Bruce and Alfred gave up Wayne Manor and moved into a penthouse in the city. The character of the Joker is informed by his first appearance way back when together with the brilliant Killing Joke by Moore and Bolland.
Once again Nolan's directorial brilliance is complimented by the genius that is Pfister. Both create a living, breathing Gotham City that you feel would not be out of place on the East Coast of America. Long may they continue working together.
One of the flaws of this movie, of which there are very little, is that there are too many moral quandries at the end of the movie, which could have been trimmed. Oh, and Batman's voice. It has been said on a number of occasions, it sounds awful. Whereas it was gruff in Begins, in this it is like Bale is garggling gravel.
The Dark Knight is not a superhero movie. Spider-Man, Superman, Avengers and even Batman Begins are superhero movies. This is a crime thriller than just so happens to have a guy in a Bat costume and clown at its centre. It is well written with spectacular photography and direction, not treating the audience as idiots like a lot of blockbusters do.
Final Rating: 5/5
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