The Dark Knight

Viewer Rating:HSP has rated The Dark Knight rating: 5 Star

Now the Oscars are out of the way, this movie picked up two & was nominated for three. One Oscar was for sound effects & the other was for the late Heath Ledger who played 'The Joker'. People may say he only won it because he is dead... well I beg the differ. I feel if he were still around he would have been up on that stage himself making his speech. This movie is now rated at number six of all time on the imdb website which is the place to go for information on anything to do with movies, TV programmes etc. Some people might think it's a bit early to place it that high & I don't think it's the best movie of all time but it's certainly the best Batman film to hit the big screen. It's long, it's dark, it's gripping, it's exciting & there is a few shocks thrown in for good measure. Christian Bale dons the outfit again & the only flaw I could find in his performance was his voice, once he was Batman. He sounded like one of those Gothic rock band lead singers, you remember when Finland won the Eurovision with Lordi singing Hard Rock Hallelujah.... that's the voice. Heath Ledger for me steals the show completely as The Joker. Just for his performance alone it's worth watching the movie. In preparing for this role he lived alone in a hotel room for a month, formulating the character's psychology, posture and voice, which was the most difficult to do. He started a diary, in which he wrote the Joker's thoughts and feelings to guide himself during his performance... and what a performance! Most of the old crew is back from 2005's Batman Begins. Michael Caine is Alfred, Bruce Waynes faithful butler & gadget man & Morgan Freeman plays Lucious Fox, the man who essentially runs Wayne Enterprises. He is a highly moral family man who tolerates his employer's activities to a limited degree. The only change in the main cast is Maggie Gyllenhaal as Rachel Dawes & not Katie Holmes. Holmes turned down a big fee when offered the part & said it was due to 'scheduling conflicts' but is not actually listed as working on anything at the moment... and the cult her husband is involved with is always looking for a few quid so they missed out there. Gyllenhaal does a good job & as a fan of hers it's nice to see her in this one. The storyline itself is typical Batman & crime filled Gotham City. The place is so corrupt you just don't know who you can trust & the Joker has his stamp on anything bad that's going on. You can't have a joker without having funny moments & his one liners are hilarious. I won't give anything away but wait till you see him in the hospital scene when "two face" wakes up.... my sides are still hurting. The soundtrack is great too, right from the intro we have that familiar Batman dark hum in the background & throughout, the music is excellent. The effects & cgi all work great as there's never a dull moment here. It's action packed & thrilling for all 2 & a half hours & you will probably have to watch it 2 or 3 times to take it all in. It is now in my DVD collection & has had a couple of airings since Christmas... Really brilliant stuff... Well done to the makers!

Review published on the 25 February 2009 01:24