Batman : The Dark Knight

WOW!
What a film.
The best I’ve seen this year and possibly the greatest comic book adaptation ever.

I don’t want to talk too much about the plot of the film, as its best if you seen this soon and as spoiler free as possible.

Let’s just say that even though it clocks in at over 2.5hrs, it never drags at any point.

Christian Bale once again dons the cowl and noises up the baddies of Gotham, ably supported by Butler Albert (Michael Caine), good cop Lt. Gordon (Gary Oldman) and technical wiz, Lucius Fox (Morgan Freeman). All characters are given ample screen time, allowing them to flesh out their performances and the film is all the better for it.

Much has been made of Heath Ledgers Joker and while comparisons with Hannibal Lecter are misplaced, he certainly brings a very convincing and very memorable baddy to the screen. Not as overly camp as Lecter or Jack Nicholson’s Joker. Ledger owns the screen with a real sense of barely restrained insanity. The Joker is a man with not hampered by morals or a conscience but he’s not crazy and because of that, he’s all the more terrfying.

Would we be talking about Oscar nominations if he hadn’t died? Well, I’ll let you make your own mind up on that one, but suffice to say, he’s as good as Nicholson was and you’ll be thinking about his unnerving performance long after the credits have rolled.

This is a comic book film from grownups; one that doesn’t shy away from showing you just what it takes to be the Caped Crusader. A thinly veiled metaphor for the war on terror, it poses the question, “How do you beat an enemy with not only nothing to lose, but one that only wants to spread terror?”. It’s a question that’s more relevant today than ever.

The inclusion of Harvey Dent (the brilliant Aaron Eckhart) as the D.A. is a master stroke. More than once he’s referred to as Gotham’s White Knight, able to be just as successful in the war on the criminals as Batman, but without having to hide behind the mask. It’s an interesting point and one that really hits home with Bruce Wayne, as he ponders just what he has to become in order to continue bringing his version of “justice” to Gotham.

I’m going to leave it there, even though there are pages I could write about this film. I’ll more than likely follow this up in the comments section a little later, once everyone’s been to see it.

I rarely watch a film more than once and almost never twice while it’s still in the cinema, but Batman: The Dark Knight gets that privilege as I can’t wait to go see this again.

Do yourself a favour; go catch this in the cinema in its full glory.

A true modern day classic