Rating of
4/4
Welcome second movie.
Jrmovielover - wrote on 06/16/13
The Dark Knight
Christopher Nolan and gang are back with their long awaited sequel to their 2005 hit Batman Begins. Begins was a surprise critical darling and extremely well made. It was shocking considering it was the first attempt at Batman in 8 years. Overall the first run at Batman on the big screen turned out to be a failure. No one expected Nolan to follow up his comic book debut with an even better film. It was unheard of for a sequel to better then its predecessor especially one on such a high level. Nolan proved us all wrong.
Turning this into a crime drama was one of the best ideas Nolan could have had. Delve further down the well of realism and bring more into the batman world. It's much easier to get behind a superhero when there is a since of realism to his or her story. The crime aspect made it more intelligent for those who believe effects and super heroes are dumb. The writing was amazing. The whole middle act was stellar and everything that happened just blew your mind. You never expected any of what happened to happen so when it does you are left with an empty feeling inside. Finally the ending is a little bit cheesy with Gordon's dialogue to his son but it went well with what was happening. Also I forgot to mention that there is complexity to the issue of making batman give himself up for the sake of Gotham. He would be protecting people but they would also lose their protector. All three acts were well done and pulled off with a finesse that only Christopher Nolan could have. I especially like it that Batman's fate is unknown as of right now and opens anything up for the third movie.
The acting in this film may be the most phenomenal ensemble performance ever pulled off in a comic book adaption, especially with the performance of the late Heath Ledger. His performance was not only one of the best turns at a comic book villain but one of the best turns at a villain ever. Christian Bale is serviceable as Batman and captures his pretty boy image well but not the physical intimidation batman is suppose to have. Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman are the same level of good as they were in the first. Gary Oldman however is asked to do a lot more with Jim in this movie and pulls it off well.
Finally I have to point out the effects. The most noteworthy of which is when an 18 wheeler gets flipped over onto it's back. That was really amazing. More notable and exciting scenes include the hospital, robbing of the bank, and the factory/warehouse explosions.
