Movie Review:  The Dark Knight (2008)
     Director:  Christopher Nolan
     Cast:  Christian Bale, Morgan Freeman, Aaron Eckhart, Heath Ledger, Gary Oldman, Michael Caine, Maggie Gyllenhaal
     Plot:  Following the events of Batman Begins, Bruce Wayne (Bale) must continue to done his cape and cowel as Batman, as the criminals that he's fought so hard to put away for good turn to a new villain: The Joker (Ledger).  Aided by his butler Alfred (Caine), the new police commissor Gordon (Oldman), and his father's mentor Lucias Fox (Freeman), Bruce begins to take the criminal underworld apart bit by bit, but the Joker has another plan.  One that involves the attempted assassination of the city's mayor!

Meanwhile, Bruce's life-long love interest, Rachel Dawes (Gyllenhaal) has entered into a relationship with hot young district attourney Harvey Dent (Eckhart) - both having sworn to also unravel the criminal underworld, but from a more legal standpoint.  Putting himself out there, Dent makes himself a target by the mob - and anyone who's read the comics knows that he doesn't come out on top for his actions. 

The Dark Knight was herald as the biggest blockbuster movie of the summer (after the disappointment that was Indiana Jones 4), and unfortunately I feel that the movie was over-hyped.  This isn't to imply that the movie's not good or worth seeing - because it certainly is - but it's just not as good as everyone wants you to think it is. 

The first piece of buzz that you've no doubt heard about is the performance of Heath Ledger as the Joker.  I've never been a fan of Ledger, and his performance in this flick was about on-par with what I thought it would be.  The guy doesn't break any new ground in the psycho-department, but he doesn't add any of the fun or "Crown Prince of Crime" persona that fans of the comics and animated series have come to expect from the character.  In fact, the character is so under-played in the movie, it doesn't surprise me that they didn't give him his own flick - which is what a more theatrical and menacing Joker would deserve.  The second issue that I had with this character was the execution of his "master plan."  The Joker, while a criminal mastermind, didn't really think in terms of strategy in this flick - everything he did was tactical, and therefore came off as random and not connected.  When he reveals his big plan - what he's been trying to do all along - at the end of the movie, it doesn't feel like a reveal.  It feels like a cheap attempt for the character to justify his actions to himself.  Or another blunt lie, which is not uncommon for him to tell in this movie. 

For me, the movie was stolen by the subtle acting brilliance of Aaron Eckhart - who masterfully displays the decent into madness that Harvey Dent faces during his transformation from Harvey Dent into Harvey Two-Face.  And the special effects for the character were top notch!  I was not expect that level of detail and gore - it really makes his character tragic, and his situation seem almost acceptable.  And also destroys any hope that you might have for the character to ever recover from his injuries - both physical and psychological.

The second hype is the story.  While the trailer makes it seem like an action flick (and it is), there's just so much going on in the movie that it starts to get a little silly.  Especially when they start trying to throw curve balls at the audience and move forward with the characters believing the events before the audience is truely ready to accept them.  It's difficult to go into specifics here without saying any spoilers, but let's just say that some "plot twist" is put in for shock value and I spent most of the movie asking the question, "Why did you do that?" instead of moving forward with the characters in this roller coaster of an imbroglio (look it up). 

While many Hollywood movies follow two trends currently (one being the trilogy, the other being that the center movie is the only one connected to the third flick), I'm hoping that the new Batman franchise will break this rule and go for four flicks.  However, that would be difficult to do, as they're swimming through Batman's rogue gallery at an olympic pace.  Since Nolan has said that he's trying to keep the series based in reality (which eliminates several villains, including Clayface, Mr. Freeze, Poison Ivy, Killer Croc, and many more), I'm hoping that the third or fourth flick bring it back to the first one with the use of Talia - Ra's Al Ghul's daughter and love interest to Batman.  It would be awesome to show Batman going outside of his bubble of Gotham City to try and stop her from bringing back her father in the Lazaurus Pits. 

And if you have no idea what I'm referencing here, then you clearly need to read more comics or watch more cartoons.

Chances are, the next flick will feature some safe villains, like Catwoman or The Riddler.  Which wouldn't be a bad thing, but again - don't go through the rogues so quickly. 

Overall, The Dark Knight was a fun summer movie that had a great villain performance in it - just not the villain you thought it would be - and is totally worth seeing.  Just go in with a clear head, ignoring all the hype that you've no doubt heard from your friends and family about the flick, and you'll be just fine.  Of course, if you haven't already seen the movie by the time you read this review, then you're probably not much of a movie-goer anyway.  ;)