The Dark Knight (2008, PG-13)

A universally acclaimed superhero action movie, the Dark Knight feels not as a sequel to the previous Batman Begins, but rather as an overlong crime drama that has its feet in the wrong places.

More successful both critically and financially than its predecessor, the Dark Knight has received universal acclaim from critics, Batman fans and ordinary people alike. 

            Starting where Batman Begins left off, Batman is the protector of Gotham City.  But a new criminal mastermind is about to unleash himself upon Gotham City.  The Joker, played brilliantly by Heath Ledger, launches Gotham into a state of anarchy.  The cops, led by Commissioner Gordon, team up with Batman to bring the Joker down.  Gotham City, led by the new District Attorney Harvey Dent, work hard to resist the Joker’s evil schemes.

            Heath Ledger gave arguably the best performance in the movie, but gone are the Joker’s old tricks and jokes.  Now he spends the movie randomly killing people for no apparent reason, other than to lure Batman into unmasking himself.  The Joker has seemingly stolen the spotlight.    

            The British actor Christian Bale returns to the role of Bruce Wayne, the multi-billionaire who is secretly Batman.  Bale is the best actor to portray the hero yet.  Michael Keaton was a blunder as the hero, Kilmer brought the level up but still not to full expectations, and Clooney was just plain ridiculous.  Bale portrays Wayne just right and spot on, a hero with his own inner demons.

            Michael Kane and Gary Oldman reprise their roles; both are splendid.  Maggie Gyllenhaal and Aaron Eckhart are new to the show as Harvey Dent and Rachel Dawes.  Gyllenhaal’s performance was average, while Eckhart was very convincing as the fallen hero Dent.

            The Dark Knight is without a doubt a technical achievement.  The action scenes are memorable, and the first half of the story line is enthralling, made with profession.  The second act of the movie is substantially not as good as the first half, being completely dominated by an endless stream of action.  By the time the credits finally do roll, expect to be exhilarated and overwhelm with exhaustion.  The violence, the action and the length never lets up.

            At 2 ½ hours (150 minutes), the Dark Knight also outstays its welcome by a longshot.  When it got to about 130 minutes, I felt seriously tired and a little exhausted--and I realized that I had 20 more minutes of more action to go.  What I guess I'm trying to say is that the Dark Knight could have been shortened seriously easily to 120 minutes, while probably increasing the overall quality of the movie itself! Instead, director Christopher Nolan has to include another half hour of action and stunts.  

            This is not a bad movie, but I cannot acclaim it.  Christopher Nolan is rapidly becoming a very good director, and his reputation is soaring high.  With the Dark Knight, easily his most successful and popular work, he has established himself inside the ring of memorable directors.  Scorsese, Stone, Spielberg, Hitchcock and the Coen Brothers are a few to name inside this ring. 

             The Dark Knight has become a phenomenon.  Too much of a phenomenon at that.  Here is a dark and haunting movie that is a triumph of tragedy over the decent comic book style of movie it should be, and a rousing technical achievement over plot line.

Dark, brooding and violent, the Dark Knight had too many ups and downs.  It's not a bad movie.  It's just a seriously overrated one.  Not only that, but I didn't feel like I was watching a Batman movie either.   

                                         ***/5