Back in 2003, When I first heard that they were going to revamp the BATMAN series, I wondered how the hell they were going to do it without making it look bad and cheesy like they did in the mid-nineties, with BATMAN & ROBIN and BATMAN FOREVER. To be honest, I didn’t think that BATMAN BEGINS was going to be anything great. It took me almost two weeks to see it in theater when it first came out. I remember I saw it with my wife while we were in Toms River, New Jersey taking a little vacation. When I walked out of the theater that night, I was blown away by what I just saw. BATMAN BEGINS is by far in my opinion the best superhero movie ever made. Now we have THE DARK KNIGHT, the sequel to BATMAN BEGINS. AS most of you know there is a lot of things going on with this film, such as Heath Ledger untimely death and how the role as the joker might of had something to do with it. But al is not lost, his performance in THE DARK KNIGHT has many critics yelling Oscar, and I’ll have to agree with them.
THE DARK KNIGHT takes place right after BATMAN BEGINS, The police with the help of Batman have the majority of Gotham’s criminals worrying about the crimes they commit and the money the mobs are trying to hide. However a new dangerous criminal is making waves in Gotham, a guy with no morals and no commitment to anyone. The ruthless Joker (Heath Ledger). The Joker doses not care about anything other than taking over the city, he’ll kill anyone in his way or anyone who it no longer needs helping him out. Meanwhile the trio of Batman, D.A. Harvey Dent and Lt. James Gordon are trying to track down and not only stop the mob, but the Joker as well. The mob, whom the police have a tight hold on have no choice but to join forces with The Joker if they are going to avoid the police. With The Joker in charge chaos reigns down on the city as The Joker has many people killed, and puts the lives of many others in danger. This forces Batman, Harvey Dent and Jim Gordon to have to choose between the people they love and the city the people of the city of Gotham, which in turn, turns the whole city upside down as The Joker pits the city against it’s self, and forces Batman to make some tough decisions.
I might have to go see this film a second or third time to really give the script a straight forward honest review. But upon first viewing I really was mixed about the script. I liked the story but to me it felt like Nolan Brothers and David S. Goyer really tried to cram in a lot of story in a two and a half hour period. Honestly each character shared a lot of screen time, but one can argue that the Joker got a lot. I honestly felt that Batman kind of took a backseat to the Joker in this one, and throwing in Harvey Dent/Two Face also took more away from the Cape Crusader. Granted that this film’s real focus was on the chaos that the Joker brings upon Gotham City, it’s so bad that it you can honestly compare the Joker to that of Osama Bin Laden. I don’t know if that was the writers intensions or not, but the film kind of hits you hard in some scenes where building are blowing up and a lot of people are dying. The dialogue is very well written in the perfect typical style of the characters. And in the end the story all comes together.
The acting is once again awesome. I can go on and on about Heath Leger’s performance but honestly you’ll all probably sick of hearing about it as much as I am, but in a nutshell; YES his performance is out of this world, and YES it is Oscar worthy. But you know what? I said that Christian Bale should of been nominated for BATMAN BEGINS for his performance as BATMAN, maybe not so much in this film, but he is still the best actor to ever play THE DARK KNIGHT. I hear that Bale will only do one more BATMAN film and that’s it. I really hope it’s just a rumor, because he’s better than Adam West, better than Michael Keaton and well do I really have to mention the others. Aaron Eckhart was great as Harvey Dent/Two Face, I was a bit skeptical about Nolan’s casting choice but then again I also questioned Ledger as the Joker when I first got wind of him being cast. Eckhart really took this part and ran with it. I also have to give credit to Maggie Gyllenhaal who took over for Katie Holmes as Rachel Dawes. Not only did I think she fit right into the role, but she had me thinking that Holmes never played the part in the first film. Gary Oldman character of Lt. James Gordon was the center of attention this film needed, without Oldman in this role there would of been no sense of humanity in this film. Oldman’s character speaks for us, the audience, in this film, and my god was worthy of an Oscar himself in this film. The rest of the returning cast, Morgan Freeman as Lucius Fox, Michael Kane as Alfred, Eric Roberts as Salvatore Maroni and even Cillian Murphy in his cameo as the Scarecrow were all great in their returning roles. The rest of the supporting cast was great, however I wanted to point out one performance that I found to be great among the supporting cast and that was Tommy ‘Tiny’ Lister who had a small scene as a prisoner on a boat. His performance and his character really stood out in this film as a sign of hope. I just had to add that in there, because I believe he deserves some credit for his performance.
As far as Production value and the rest goes, Nolan once again brings us a dark and gritty BATMAN film, the way BATMAN films were supposed to be made. Everything from the visual effects, costume design, make-up effects and overall set design were perfect. The bat mobile and costume are pretty much all the same, with maybe a few modifications, but everything seemed to fit just write into the movie. One thing that we do miss however is Wayne Manor, which is kind of mentioned in the film, but I’m guessing it’s in it’s rebuilding stages and might show up in the third film. For now Bruce Wayne lives in a penthouse apartment, and the bat cave is in an abandoned Wayne Enterprises building.
So, the question is; is THE DARK KNIGHT worth all the hype. I’d have to say yes it is. But as for myself I liked BATMAN BEGINS a little bit more than THE DARK KNIGHT. It’s still a very well made film that is worthy of all the praise it’s been getting. But for me I felt that BATMAN BEGINS has more of a personal feel than THE DARK KNIGHT. Still it is a great movie and is one that you really need to experience in a theater.
– Horror Bob
- Interview with J.R. Bookwalter - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Andrew J. Rausch - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Rick Popko and Dan West - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Director Stevan Mena (Malevolence) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Screenwriter Jeffery Reddick (Day of the Dead 2007) - January 22, 2015
- Teleconference interview with Mick Garris (Masters of Horror) - January 22, 2015
- A Day at the Morgue with Corri English (Unrest) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Writer/Director Nacho Cerda (The Abandoned, Aftermath) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actress Thora Birch (Dark Corners, The Hole, American Beauty) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actor Jason Behr, Plus Skinwalkers Press Coverage - January 22, 2015
