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- First reviewJuly 19, 2008
- Last reviewJuly 19, 2008
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frankdogg's Reviews
Overall rating
4
/
5
Solid Film With Amazing Heath Ledger Performance
PostedJuly 19, 2008
frankdogg
from Los Angeles, CA
Christopher Nolan's vision succeeds once again with this installment of the Batman series, The Dark Knight.
This movie does a great job of keeping the same tone and feel as Batman Begins, but re-engineering it just enough with new wonderful toys and locations.
Heath Ledger's show-stealing performance as the Joker is something worth watching many times. His multi-dimensional portrayal of the psychopath gets you laughing one minute, and gives you chills the next.
Nolan's direction is superb, and his action sequences are beautifully shot. I think keeping the Dark Knight in PG-13 territory helped the film tremendously. Not only at the box office, but in tone. Some of the most gruesome and chilling moments have value added by leaving the actual act of violence off screen and leaving it up to your imagination. It intensifies the scenes and makes the Joker that much scarier. No makeup or visual effect can take the place of the imagination. Kudos to Nolan for the technique in a film era known for more shock value, regardless of if it helps progress a film's story or not.
There are only two places this movie fell short. The ending, and the balance between two antagonists. The ending isn't epic or extremely climactic, and when the credits begin to roll, you are left a little disenchanted. Disenchanted, but not disappointed with the film as a whole. One reason the ending seems flat is that Batman has a nice emotional arc through the movie, but physically never finds himself in any grave danger by the hand of his adversaries. They are completely out matched through out the entire film, including the ending, which left it a bit anti-climactic. Nolan does such a great job of getting the audience invested in Batman's character that some real peril for our hero would have been a one two punch.
Another factor is the balance between Joker's character and Two Face. Too much time is spent trying to get the audience to invest in the Harvey Dent character setting up the Two Face storyline and not enough time is spent with the Joker. When Ledger and his antics is on screen, it is pure fueled entertainment. The Joker as a character is much more dynamic and should have been explored just a bit more.
All and all, this is definitely one of the best movies of the year and deserves Oscar buzz for multiple categories this year. If there is one movie to see this summer, thus far, it is The Dark Knight.
This movie does a great job of keeping the same tone and feel as Batman Begins, but re-engineering it just enough with new wonderful toys and locations.
Heath Ledger's show-stealing performance as the Joker is something worth watching many times. His multi-dimensional portrayal of the psychopath gets you laughing one minute, and gives you chills the next.
Nolan's direction is superb, and his action sequences are beautifully shot. I think keeping the Dark Knight in PG-13 territory helped the film tremendously. Not only at the box office, but in tone. Some of the most gruesome and chilling moments have value added by leaving the actual act of violence off screen and leaving it up to your imagination. It intensifies the scenes and makes the Joker that much scarier. No makeup or visual effect can take the place of the imagination. Kudos to Nolan for the technique in a film era known for more shock value, regardless of if it helps progress a film's story or not.
There are only two places this movie fell short. The ending, and the balance between two antagonists. The ending isn't epic or extremely climactic, and when the credits begin to roll, you are left a little disenchanted. Disenchanted, but not disappointed with the film as a whole. One reason the ending seems flat is that Batman has a nice emotional arc through the movie, but physically never finds himself in any grave danger by the hand of his adversaries. They are completely out matched through out the entire film, including the ending, which left it a bit anti-climactic. Nolan does such a great job of getting the audience invested in Batman's character that some real peril for our hero would have been a one two punch.
Another factor is the balance between Joker's character and Two Face. Too much time is spent trying to get the audience to invest in the Harvey Dent character setting up the Two Face storyline and not enough time is spent with the Joker. When Ledger and his antics is on screen, it is pure fueled entertainment. The Joker as a character is much more dynamic and should have been explored just a bit more.
All and all, this is definitely one of the best movies of the year and deserves Oscar buzz for multiple categories this year. If there is one movie to see this summer, thus far, it is The Dark Knight.
Yes, I recommend this movie.
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