Dark Knight Review

The Dark Knight had to have been one of the most anticipated movies of all time. It was a big budget summer action flick, it was a sequel to a critically acclaimed box office smash, the previews looked amazing and everyone was already raving about the late Heath Ledger's role as the Joker. I had to fight through crowds of people to see the movie (it was sold out almost everywhere) and I am left with only one word after two and half hours of this movie, which never dragged by the way:

Intense

This movie is intense. It is fantastic, dark, gripping, action packed and intense. This is a Batman movie, but the Batman/Bruce Wayne character is nowhere near as interesting as Ledger's Joker and Aaron Eckhart's Harvey Dent.

Let's start with the Joker. Ledger's Joker moves Jack Nicholson's Joker to the backseat. It doesn't matter that Nicholson was portraying a more cartoonish version of the Joker, Ledger is that fantastic. He is well worthy of all the hype he has received, and his scenes are what makes this movie great. He is a brilliant, evil, disturbing and believable villain. He will have you laughing at scenes that aren't funny. He will make you shudder as you think, "Could there really people like this in the real world?". His performance is not overrated, it will be his role of a lifetime. It is a damn shame he won't ever be able to reprise it.

Aaron Eckhart plays Gotham District attorney Harvey Dent. Dent is referred to as the "White Knight" in the movie, balancing Batman's vigilante way of justice with his own, law abiding ways. He is someone even Batman looks up to. I cant remember in a superhero movie where an average person manages to rival the hero in terms of heroic acts. Oh, but here is the beauty of Dent: He is Gotham's "White Knight" but he isn't perfect. Heck, watching the Gotham PD and Dent try to rid the city of mafia and the Joker would be an interesting enough movie, but we also happen to have Batman in it!

This movie is dark, disturbing and at times cruel. The good guys don't always win in this one. And, this doesn't give anything away, I left the movie with the same feeling I got after watching The Empire Strikes Back, I guess the good guys won, but it sure didn't feel like it.

Grade: A