The Dark Knight

This is a movie that would likely be up for awards... except that it is about a man who dresses up as a bat and fights crime. While Ledger, deservedly, may get a nod for his unreal depiction of The Joker, I doubt the film will do well in any other category come Oscar time. Which is a shame.

This is a dark, adult crime story about three people who all are trying to clean up crime in a crime-ridden city. One is breaking the law to save the city, while the other two are trying to uphold the law even against an anarchic psycho and a conglomerate of mobsters. In no particular order, one of the three is nearly killed, the other is severely injured and turns to evil, and the last allows himself to become the hunted in order to preserve the city's new-found hope and rejuvenation.

If that story were directed by Scorsese and starred DiCaprio, Crowe, and Washington, you would be talking about a sure Oscar nomination and probably multiple acting, writing, and direction nods. But, this story is "from a comic book" and therefore it may not get anything.

The acting is very strong. The all-star cast gives you everything you expect. Bale is once again strong as a mostly affable but also playboy-ish Bruce Wayne and also excels as the grim, gritty, angry Batman. Eckhart and Gyllenhaal are great additions to the strong supporting cast of Caine, Freeman, Murphy, and Oldman, who all do incredibly with their roles (as they did as well in the first). And then there is Ledger. Heath Ledger is incredible, creepy, sardonic, and more than a bit scary as the Joker; he plays him like Charlie Chaplin's Little Tramp if the Tramp wanted to light a fire and watch the whole world burn to ashes. Or the Little Tramp as played by Alex DeLarge. He is magnificent, and it makes it that much more tragic that this actor cannot be around for the next movie and take this character somewhere new.

The action is, again like the first film, predominantly real effects over CGI. This helps the believability of everything. There are a lot of explosions and fight scenes scattered throughout the film, plenty of guns and wackiness, and one scene of cross-dressing that will make you laugh.

The script is, as I mentioned at the opening, a very strong crime story interlaced with the theme of good versus evil. The Joker is, in essence, anarchy incarnate while Batman breaks rules for the "greater good." The Joker proves that it isn't "evil" we fear so much as the loss of normalcy and routine in our lives. Batman is struggling to bring normalcy and routine back to Gotham City by taking out the overabundant criminal element. Gordon (Oldman) and Dent (Eckhart) are trying to champion justice and the law to provide hope to the people of Gotham City.

This film is dark. It is a very strong PG-13, which I think should really be a an R. The violence is pretty extreme and, while it does not actually show much of the gore associated with the criminal acts depicted, I think any children in the 5-12 range would be disturbed by the incredibly dark story, the gore that is shown, and the emphasis on violence and anarchy depicted by The Joker. My nephew is a very sophisticated 10, and I would not take him to see this movie if he asked.

Most movies have three acts, generally corresponding to a beginning, middle, and end. This movie has four acts. Without trying to spoil anything, one character is turned to evil by the Joker and goes on a rampage, creating this fourth act. I felt this would have been better serviced being presented in full in a third film. However, the storyline for this is shoe-horned into the end of this film, and is primarily what pushed The Dark Knight to a full two and a half hours running length. Do not mistake me-- the story is good, well-acted, and makes sense to tell here, I just felt it could be even better as the beginning to, or entire film for, the next Batman movie.

Nestor Carbonell plays the Mayor of Gotham. While he does a fine job in the role, my wife and I were both a little put off by the intense amounts of eye liner he was wearing. It was noticeable and caused us to giggle a little at him after awhile

I felt the movie had a bit of an over-reliance on gadgets this time around. I realize that Batman is all about "the wonderful toys," but this one felt a slight bit forced. While the bat-sonar was an interesting idea, its use in the finale was a bit off-putting to me and took me a bit out of the story.

Like Iron Man earlier this summer, The Dark Knight is proving that if you a) keep close to the original source and give the "fanbois" what they want and b) get strong acting to go with a strong story you will get a movie that all audiences can enjoy, fanboi and uninitiated alike. I expect this movie to get at least $300 million this summer because of this combination.

I would rate this a solid A on my scholastic grading scale. The acting, general story, wonderful effects, and Ledger keep bring it to a solid A. The length, overly dark story elements, reliance on gadgets, and fourth act keep it from the A+ it should and could be. Anyone who likes a good crime drama, superhero story, or gangster movie will find this to their liking.