Directed by:
Christopher NolanCinematography:
Wally PfisterCast:
Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Aaron Eckhart, Michael Caine, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Gary Oldman, Morgan Freeman, Cillian Murphy, Eric Roberts, Ritchie Coster (more)VOD (5)
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Christian Bale and director Christopher Nolan reunite following their blockbuster success with Batman Begins! This time, Heath Ledger joins the cast as The Joker, and Aaron Eckhart stars as Harvey Dent in anall new adventure of The Dark Knight. With the help of Lieutenant Jim Gordon (Gary Oldman) and new district attorney Harvey Dent (Eckhart), Batman sets out to destroy organized crime in Gotham City forever. The three enjoy early success, but they soon find themselves prey to a rising criminal mastermind known as The Joker (Ledger), who throws Gotham into anarchy and forces Batman ever closer to crossing the line between hero and vigilante. (Warner Bros. Home Entertainment)
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What Nolan sketched in Batman Begins leads to absolute perfection in this film. The scheme of the struggle between good and evil is dissolved, and Batman definitely loses his mythical essence and becomes a truly dark figure of a cursed outcast. Definitely the darkest comic book film ever, mainly thanks to Ledger, whose Joker is a brilliant materialization of elusive and indestructible evil. The only weakness is the somewhat overwhelming plot, which loses a bit of pace between the two climaxes. I salute the way Nolan was able to turn a comic book film into a captivating and raw thriller in the best tradition of M. Mann, Coppola or De Palma. In my opinion, The Dark Knight is truly one of the best Hollywood movies. Edit 2012: after my "obligatory enthusiasm" subsided, The Dark Knight lost a bit of its gloss - nothing has changed for me about its qualities, but there is something about its coldness, brilliant calculation and bulletproof planning that prevents me from losing myself in the film... The character of Harvey Dent also still seems as wooden and flexible to me as is required for the perfect trick at the end. Ta-da! I’m giving it one star less.
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The powerful puppeteer Christopher Nolan unleashes a tragedy of unknown proportions, from robbery to fateful resolution, not allowing the heroes to catch their breath, shattering the boundaries of the characters' psyche, and yet, comic book enthusiasts all over the world scream with excitement, staring wide-eyed at the screen and slowly suffocating by the black thread of the story. Gotham is engulfed in darkness, perhaps less venomous than when the Batman began, but all the more unpredictable, treacherous, and chilling. The mad laughter can be heard not only from Arkham Asylum but also from banks, mafia hideouts, and all other places where it is not advisable to be heard. And it brings confusion and fear. Therefore, rise again, Dark Knight, spread your wings and fly to the aid of those who may succumb to disbelief and confront your eternal enemy.
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Far too obviously, a remake of Heat, in a dark comic book-type vein with numerous freaks in latex suit like in a cheap sex shop. Not that I want to dampen the mania about Ledger’s performance, but he doesn’t outshine Bale, Oldman, and especially not Eckhart. In fact they work like spotlights that make it possible for him to cast a shadow. Proof of this can be seen in all scenes where they appear on screen together. That said, after seeing Heath’s Joker, Nicholson’s would hang his head in shame, going home in tears to take off his makeup knowing that he isn’t anything more than a ridiculous clown. The changes as against the last movie are for the better. Maggie is just wonderful, the action easier to follow, stylization (of the city and the secret monastery in the mountains) has gone and even the duo of composers no longer seem as if they are pulling from opposite ends of the same saw. But while certain aspects of the first Joker have been overcome, this does not apply to the movie as a whole. It just doesn’t come near Nolan’s best ever movie because the departure from the psychological and a full focus on characters toward “eye-candy" action (of course, I mean in terms of Nolan’s movies) is rather a disappointment. Why sideline the central character of The Dark Knight? The born-again Batman stood and still stands on intimate scenes like the one in the interrogation room. And not how delightfully he eliminates dozens of gangsters using sonar. Almost as if the authors were rejecting everything that set them apart from similar genre movies. ♫ OST score: 5/5
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Turning a comic book adaptation into a fatal drama of almost classical proportions? Only Nolan can do that. I would consider the most problematic part of the story to be perhaps only the beginning (which is not so much the fault of the film itself as my unpreparedness for what the ride has in store for me), when the viewer is forced to jump on and swim for a while in an inflated plot that rolls forward like a tsunami, but once you tune in to the right wave, you are in for a delightful experience. The biggest plus of Nolan's film is the fact that the action on the screen is always one step ahead of your expectations and ideas, in other words, that it is constantly and continuously surprising (the Joker's stunts, the outcome of the dilemma on the ferries, etc.). And the Joker? Whenever he appeared, I would shit little bats with bliss (I would make a bedtime story out of his dialogue with Batman at the police station). Heath……And the Oscar goes to…
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Hans Zimmer spent three months searching for the right tone to express the Joker's mad, insidious and evil nature. Together with Heath Ledger’s performance, the monotonous motif, which sends chills down one’s spine, is as powerful an aspect of the film as everything else combined. A few years ago, Warners hoped to revive their half-dead comic book icon. Nolan delivered. As his success assured him that he was going in the right direction, this time he decided to push things even further, bring us to our knees and become not a king of comic book adaptations, but of noir crime dramas with comic book roots. For Warners, this film is a bandage on the financial wound inflicted by Speed Racer and will rank among the company’s most important feature movies. The Dark Night is even more dynamic, polished, dark and epic than Batman Begins.
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![The Dark Knight - Photos](http://image.pmgstatic.com/cache/resized/w663/files/images/film/photos/157/876/157876547_7a9a82.jpg)
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