Release Date: July 18, 2008
Studio: Warner Bros. Pictures
Director: Christopher Nolan
Screenwriter: Jonathan Nolan, Christopher Nolan
Starring: Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Aaron Eckhart, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Gary Oldman, Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman
Genre: Action, Crime


Review by Peter Veugelaers ©2008

Compared to the Batman franchise of the 80s and 90s the current series takes Gotham City into grittier terrain. Batman Returns (1992) was criticised for taking the Caped Crusader story into darker territory but that’s nothing compared to director Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight the sequel to Batman Begins (2005).

The first hour of Dark Knight is about money laundering and fraud involving the District Attorney played by Aaron Eckhart. It’s a tad hard to follow. It sets up the last hour-and-a-half, thankfully, and introduces us to the late Heath Ledger’s portrayal of The Joker, a truly magnificent and memorable performance. Ledger delivers juicy lines with pent-up relish, albeit a kind of eerie send off from this planet but maybe his performance is the only reason to see this movie.

The Joker’s psychopathic Satanism is a mission with a sense of justice which sees he gets things done and blown up. When he doesn’t get his way his underlining raison d’être is to terminate which means Batman/Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) gets under his skin as the Bat tries to stop this one trick pony.

Dark Knight borders on the self-important to the extent of misfiring. Christian Bale’s Batman speaks gruffly, intended to sound tougher than he actually sounds, like he’s had an unshakable cold for three days, there’s something unusually weird stuck up his throat like the funny looking wart on someone’s cheekbone. Amusing, to say the least, and not that plausible and authentic for a Batman (although Batman is supposed to becoming even more authentic in his identity).

Mid-way through, the plot turns progressively skin-tight as the pressure mounts tangibly then releases somewhat as a let-down into the cerebral centre, then rises again but not as tense as first impressions of the second-half.

Old timers Michael Caine as Bruce Wayne’s assistant offers some pleasant comic relief in the form of witty one-liners but Morgan Freeman is underused as Batman’s applied scientific adviser and expert and is conspicuously dry and reserved in the role.

As Dark Knight wallows mercilessly in everyone’s lack my immediate impression of this is its nerve gratingly and sometimes surprisingly booming graphic violent content, a dark, intense, brooding experience which tends to overshadow the cerebral thought.