Dark Knight Review

What about the Michael Keaton Batman? Dark, but humorous with Tim Burton behind the lens.
Can we forget the Joel Shumacker Batman's (Batman Forever, Batman & Robin)? With the nipples on the bat suit and robin costume.
Well, all of those have taken a backseat with the new, Christopher Nolan version, the sequel to Batman Begins, The Dark Knight...and boy is it pitch black!
The setting is this. Batman has been cleaning up the streets, while the police have been trying to find the menace, the Joker (the late Heath Ledger). In that time, DA Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart) has taken over, and become the "White Knight" of Gotham, and is putting thugs and mob bosses in court and convicted.
Also in that time, Bruce Wayne has been running Wayne Enterprises, but has a void in his life left by Rachel Dawes (Maggie Gyllenhal). Wayne finds out that Dent and Dawes are quite smitten with one another, creating a love triangle in the film. But that is just one conflict hidden behind the crime drama wrapping paper and interwoven in this action packed, philosophical mind bender that has been presented by Nolan and the cast.

The action is top notch (and was shot in IMAX). From taking on Yakuza guards in Hong Kong, to the Joker driving a semi, to a SWAT team filled building, The Dark Knight is at no loss for action.
But the film isn't all about action. The action is equally dispersed between pivotal scenes in which the tension is so tight you don't even need a knife to cut it.
The acting I thought was very good, the strongest performance coming from Ledger. Imagine

Bale plays Wayne well, but sometimes overdoes the Batman "gruff" voice. Gyllenhall is 10,000 ways an improvement over Katie Holmes. Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman fill their roles well, and play them perfectly.
Really, this isn't a typical comic book movie. Now flashy, CGI opening with fancy pictures and titles. This movie just starts. It isn't corny, hokey, or any other synonym of the sort that has come associated with comic book movies in the past few years.
This is a crime/mob drama that is portrayed using comic book characters. It doesn't sound different, but once you see Dark Knight, you will experience the difference.
The run time of 2.5 hours I thought would be an issue, but it was 2.5 hours that flew by in 12 minutes seemingly. The film ended and I wanted even more.

I give Dark Knight a 5 out of 5. This may be the best movie of the year, and is the best movie of the summer.
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