My own self

The Dark Knight is the recently released sequel to 2005's Batman Begins, the movie that (thankfully) rebooted the cinematic Batman-franchise and did so so well that I rewarded it a 9/10 at the time. The hype and anticipation to both the movie in general and the inclusion of Heath Ledger as Joker in his last completed performance before his premature death in particular have been sky-high, superseding even the hype of Iron Man earlier this year. Crazily enough, this movie, too, merits the expectations.

The movie is on the long side for a superhero movie, clocking in at two hours and thirty-two minutes, but the only way you notice that in the movie is because of the suspenseful plot twisting and turning and keeping you guessing, making you excitedly go "oh my gods, we're still not at its denouement?" Because that's one of this movie's biggest strengths - the incredible ability the plot has to snare you in almost from the get-go and keep you enthusiastic all the way through.

The choice to go a more realistic route with the franchise was the core decision at the heart of Batman Begins' success, and the decision is not only followed up here, it is topped. With the exception of the inclusion of one thing that was quite bothersome and rather pointlessly heavily science fiction, this movie is more grounded than even its predecessor. Which is ironic, as its villain and its themes are on the whole more lofty and flashy.

A splendid job of keeping the movie grounded in realism is done by Gary Oldman as James Gordon, an amazing piece of casting I hold to be as brilliant as any of the more high profile ones, and more than some. The middle-aged cop in his out-of-fashion glasses, trench coat and moustache is amazingly enough so cool that sometimes, you forget all about this Bat-guy and you're rooting only for Gordon. When all the other characters are bigger than life, James Gordon provides the feeling of everything else being real. He's the alibi with which your suspension of disbelief is bought, and let me tell you, they could not be offering you better currency.

The movie, however, is not about Gordon. Nor, really, is it about Batman, or at least not his character. No, it's about the consequences of Batman, where the first movie looked into the causes of Batman, this movie is flooding over with the results. Good and bad alike. And indeed, the good result and the bad result are the true main characters of this movie: Harvey Dent, newly elected District Attorney, the honest, legal crusader against crime who could only come about in a Gotham cleaned up of the worst of its corruption by the Batman, and the Joker, anarchy, chaos and gleeful tragedy incarnated, representing the underworld's reaction to a new type of foe.

Aaron Eckhart is Harvey Dent in the film, and he does a stellar performance as the posterboy for the decent idealist who is strong enough to make a difference in the world. The character's ramifications on Batman's psyche and motivations is as interesting as his general role in Gotham, and indeed most of the focus on Batman in this movie deals with his internal issues insomuch as they are affected by the rise of Dent to the central stage.

As for Ledger... I'm quite impressed. If not for the hype preparing me for this being excellent, I'd probably be floored. I was damned certain I'd never ever say this, no matter how good he was, and yet here I go: I think Mark Hamill needs to scoot over and let Heath Ledger sit next to him on the Throne of Joker Interpretations. Because wow. He brings the psychotic, he brings the gleeful, he brings the random and the intricately planned at the same time, he brings the tragic, the scary, and even the silly. Alright, so I would have loved it if he could've had just one or two more truly silly moments to spice the movie up, but I get that they wanted to keep to the dark tones as much as they could. Everything is here, from the Joker's multiple-choice origins to his ultimate desire to force Batman to kill him, and not vice versa. Everything that makes this character great is in this movie, and I never thought that could be pulled off in a live-action adaption of him. My hat off to Ledger and Nolan both. (I don't own a hat, but I'm going to buy one now just so I can take it off.)

Rachel Dawes is, annoyingly, recast due to Katie Holmes' having scheduling issues. Tragic. Not because Maggie Gyllenhaal does a worse job - she truly doesn't - but because the character is not based on the comics, and her entire personality is thus based exclusively on the backstory she's given in Batman Begins. Having a new face and voice on the actress in the sequel does not help with relating to the character, and she ends up feeling rather flat and two-dimensional. Still, Gyllenhaal does a very good job out of it and is very memorable in several scenes. The character's arc in the movie, though a little too reactive and damsel-in-distress-like, is still worthwhile and she has tremendous influence on several of the rest of the main characters throughout the movie, bringing a dynamic that would not be there without her.

Morgan Freeman and Michael Caine are back as Lucius Fox and Alfred Pennyworth, and they still do a very good job at it, though they're both cut rather short in the movie. Still, they both get at least a couple of memorable scenes. Freeman is a little sabotaged by being tied closely to the annoying inclusion of a pointless sci-fi-object that brings you out of the story a little, but he's Freeman, so he makes it work. And Caine brings the snark, boy does he ever. You'd think a movie with the Joker wouldn't need additional comic relief, but gods bless Alfred Pennyworth and his dry sarcasm.

As for the background characters, I'll just say this: Heroes' Thompson, Lost's Richard, Angel's Holtz and Prison Break's Mahone. It's not that there's actors I know from TV-shows that's good about this, it's that they're all so damned awesome actors I know from TV-shows.

The movie's inspired by but not based on Jeph Loeb's brilliant The Long Halloween, primarily in the relationship between Dent, Gordon and Batman, and it clearly shows, in very good ways. Of famous Batman-books, I could also see a good bit of Miller's Year One and Moore's The Killing Joke, but I'm sure there were also other big influences. They also made Batman's detective-skills a little more apparent than the last time around, but still far, far too little for my tastes. He's the greatest detective in the world, people! It should show. Not so much a complaint as a hopeful little sigh that they'll make it yet more present in a later installment.

I believe that concludes what I have to say without spoilers about this movie, except for the final rating. So, if you want to stay unspoiled, skip ahead to the final paragraph.



I'm really, really torn, now, about the expectations for another installment. Of course I want one, and they're likely to make one as much money as this one's making, but A. would the same people be back behind and in front of camera? and B. could they really match or top this? If the answer to either of those two questions is "yes", I'll be happy, if the answer to both is "yes" I'll be ecstatic. Still, they'll be dealing with difficult issues surrounding the villain. The Joker survived the movie, hooray, but, alas, Heath Ledger has passed away, and bringing the character back with a new actor would be very difficult, especially after this performance. I mean, the movie suffered under the actor-change in the relatively minor and insignificant Rachel Dawes, if they'll recast the Joker, I'm not sure the gain could possibly be worth the pain. Two-Face was used beautifully in this movie, but was apparently dead (though I guess there was a tiny bit of room for leeway) at the end of it, which is too bad, as the character totally had at least one movie of being the main villain in him as excellently as he was done here. So, if they find some way to believably bring him back, I'd be happy. So much unharvested potential. Lastly, I'd like to make an insignificant complaint - how on Earth did Harvey manage to make that double-coloured suit between scenes? That's just silly and unlikely, people, and not worth the admittedly awesome visual of seeing him in it. If you're going to only use Two-Face for a single afternoon's worth of story, you can't have him get his own super-villain-wardrobe out of thin air. One or the other.





All in all, I'm blown away. The movie is near as perfect as I can imagine any Batman-movie ever to be, and it is without hesitation I give it a 10/10.