The Dark Knight

Holy unexpected rash of great movies Batman. For some reason this summer the film industry has really gotten their shit together and started releasing some fantastic films. And some crap ones, but there's always one slightly slower child. Iron Man was a fantastic comic book movie and Wall-E is one of the best movies I've ever seen. Indiana Jones 4 I personally thought blew, and blew hard. But anyway the point of this post is to discuss the Dark Knight.

For the like five people not familiar with the movie, it's a follow-up to the 2005 film Batman Begins, which was itself a reboot of the Batman franchise that died after the remarkably disappointing Batman and Robin 8 years earlier (I should note I had to look up dates on IMDB, I'm not that knowledgeable on my own). The new take on the series is a bit more serious and a lot less camp. It's also tied a bit more to reality. Or at least as close to reality as a superhero movie can get. Batman Begins did very, very well, so obviously a sequel was going to come.

And come it did. The Dark Knight is similar in tone to Batman Begins, but it pulls it off to a much better extent. Gotham seems more like a real city and less a comic-book city. The villains are definitely scarier and on the whole better developed. I'll get to Heath Ledger in a second, cause that's worth a whole paragraph. But the second villain (and I won't spoil it) is exactly what I expected he should be. The story has an excellent pace, and there is a lot of suspense in it. My knee was bouncing the whole time waiting for this or that to happen, cause I really believed that the Joker could do anything.

And speaking of the Joker, the hype was not over-hyped. I admit I walked into the movie thinking "Just cause he died doesn't mean we need to rave about him" but his performance was incredible, and exactly what I expected from the Joker. And thank god for not being bogged down with a back-story. It makes him scarier that he just appears. Heath Ledger did an absolutely fantastic job with the character, and this is the first time I was really sorry that he had died (in anything other than a "oh, that's kind of sad" sort of way. I'm probably one of only a handful of gays that hated Brokeback Mountain). He really does deserve all the recognition he's been getting. God, that pencil scene, and the nurse scene were two of my favorites, but the whole thing was incredible.

The other actors did a good job too, with the possible exception of Maggie Gyllenhaal. And I don't blame her, cause I think she's a good actress. I think her character was just sort of annoying (cause she sure was in the first film). Bale did an amazing job as Batman, minus the weird voice he uses when he is Batman. It's a little too growly. But you do believe the conflict that Batman has to go through. Aaron Eckhart was great as Harvey Dent. And if you know anything about Batman mythology, he pulls that off remarkably well too. I think it's less of a kept secret at this point, so I won't tiptoe too far around it. But if you are unaware, don't look it up. Anyway he did a great job showing Dent's optimism about the future. I will say, although I don't need to, that Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman both did a fantastic job. But again, when don't they. Freeman made "The Bucket List" watchable, which is saying something.

I do have a few problems with the movie, but they're more fanboy things than anything else. I didn't like how preachy it got in the last scene, although I think what Batman did there was important. I just didn't like Gordon's voiceover, I thought it was a little melodramatic and a little bit too long after the dramatic climax. My other complaint is that it was Gordon's son who was featured so prominently. I understand this version of the franchise will probably never introduce Robin or Batgirl, but I think it would have been a nice nod to the fanboys to have Barbara be in awe of Batman.

So since this one is breaking records left right and center, I'm sure they'll make a sequel. The real question is what will the sequel entail. I read a rumor that they would but Croc and Clayface in it. Personally I'm kind of bleh about that cause I don't think you could introduce either of those characters without falling into the ridiculous comic-book ideas reminiscent of Spider-man 3. I would love to see Catwoman done, cause i think there could be some interesting tension between her and Batman. I think a super-genius type Riddler might also be doable while still being serious. Penguin is just a joke, as is Mr.Freeze or Poison Ivy. Bane might be fun though.

So time for the ranking. I give Dark Knight 4 out of 5 stars. I really liked it, but I can't say it's one of my favorite movies of all time that I absolutely must buy as soon as it comes out on DVD. Definitely recommend going to see it though, if for no other reason than everyone else in America already has.