Dark Knight Reviewed!

So I figured it might be about time i actually reviewed a movie, and i chose the blockbuster summer hit The Dark Knight.

First of all i gotta say that this movie really delivers! The story, while less straight forward than Batman Begins, actually takes a look more at the way "The Batman" affects the citizens of Gotham city. Gotham has gotten used to Batman's presence and is viewed as a deterrent as he could be there whenever a crime happens, and most would rather not take their chances. The story greatly features district attorney Harvey Dent who has put away many of the city's criminals. Many of the remaining mobsters are concerned about getting put away and decide to rely on a Hong Kong businessman, who believes that he is outside of the Batman's jurisdiction. After being proven terribly wrong, the remaining mob bosses take up the offer of the mysterious Joker to kill Batman. After a seemingly successful capture of the Joker, Batman is forced to choose between Gotham's hero Harvey Dent and Rachel Dawes. Batman saves Harvey, but causes him to suffer from horrifying burns on half of his face. Harvey sees the horrible world of the insanity of the Joker and feels that Lt. Gordon is responsible for not getting to Rachel in time. Batman must defeat the insanity of the Joker and the crestfallen and misguided Harvey, now Two-face.

The movie might disappoint some in its lack of hand-to-hand combat that the first one featured prevalently, but the action is still there. Featuring some of Batman's new gadgets and vehicles, the audience is treated to one of the most entertaining chase scenes in years. The things the Bat-cycle (Bat-pod?) can do are really impressive and just fun. There is less Batman in this movie as Bruce Wayne does a great deal of his investigation of the Joker's activities. Unlike the 1989 Joker, The Dark Knight's Joker brings back the chaotic darkness of the original comic, Alfred puts it best "...some men aren't looking for anything logical, like money. They can't be bought, bullied, reasoned or negotiated with. Some men just want to watch the world burn" Two-face's roll in the film is less as he is mostly in there as Harvey Dent, but he sets up the fantastic ending as well as being a true beacon for Gotham City, The White Knight.

The performances in The Dark Knight are some of my favorite of the year. lets run down the cast list: Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Aaron Eckhart, Michael Caine, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Gary Oldman, and Morgan Freeman. How could it not be awesome with that? Morgan Freeman is fantastic in everything he does and is always a good performer. Maggie Gyllenhaal takes the place of Katie Holmes as Rachel Dawes and personally I feel she does a better job and is much more real. I'm pretty sure that until he played two-face, Aaron Eckhart basically played himself, but we can feel for him and understand how far he fell when he transformed. Bale and Caine reprise their roles as Bruce Wayne and Alfred and do it beautifully. Of course The Dark Knight features the penultimate performance of Heath Ledger. Ledger's Joker is the dark, insane, chaotic evil character that he was when he was introduced. I'm quite sad that we will not see him in this role again, and unfortunately the Joker's fate is left literally up in the air. I would hope that they don't try to replace him for a future film, but it is possible for an equally good performance.

So now its time to actually rate the movie on my scale! woo! so lets see: good solid cliche-free storyline + Fantastic performances by the entire cast + good action sequences... add this all together and you get...

a 9.5!

The only and only reason that this did not get a 10 is that i would have like to see the hand-to-hand combat. I would also like to see some hints at what might be to come in terms of villains, but that's no reason to dock it. This functions as a stand alone Movie and not merely a sequel and that's what makes a good sequel, this is something that Hollywood truly needs to learn.