Wow, was that cool or what?! Christian Bale etched his name as the greatest Batman of all time so firmly in stone that it's just ridiculous to try and make an argument for anyone else (sorry Adam West fans, but it's true...). BYU grad Aaron Eckhardt makes Utah proud with his superb portrayal of Two Face, and the rest of the veteran cast - including Michael Caine, Gary Oldman, and Morgan Freeman - give fantastic performances from top to bottom. The one weakness - again, I might add, since this was the low point in the first film as well - was the casting of Rachel Dawes character, this time played by the bland and woefully unnattractive Maggie Gyllenhaal, who should have had an easy time bettering the performance of the talentless Katie Holmes but somehow didn't. Holmes may be a dismal actress, but at least you wouldn't feel horrified and ashamed if you woke up next to her after an all night drinking binge. Gyllenhaal IS a better actress than Katie Homeless (I'm predicting the future here), but that's a little like saying a kick to the gut is better than a kick to the groin. Seriously, I've never understood her appeal at all; she's got to be one of the least attractive leading ladies in Hollywood. Which is why I'm happy to say that her character - and whatever D-list celebrity they'd have dug up to play her next - won't be dragging down any more future installments in this series, which is destined to be one of the all time greats.
But ugly chicks aside, there's no point pretending this entire film didn't hinge upon the performance of the late Heath Ledger (who I actually thought was kindof a weird choice for the role before I saw the previews). And boy, did he ever deliver, turning in one of the best movie villian performances of all time and completely redeeming himself for his Brokeback Mountain days. Seriously, he wasn't just good; he was absolutely brilliant, and he set the tone of the movie early and often by providing a perfect balance of dark humor and brutal, almost R-rated violence (like the disappearing pencil trick, which shouldn't have been funny but somehow was). There's whispers of an Oscar already, and I gotta say, if he doesn't win it, then the award has no meaning (well, less than it already does, anyway...Didn't Marissa Tomei win one?). His unfortunate death may make him a sentimental favorite, but even without any sympathy votes his performance merits the award hands down.
No, it's not a perfect film - there are too many subplots, some of which are never really given enough time to develop - but it's as close to perfection as we've had all year, and I don't see any other movies coming out in the near future that look like they'll give it a run for it's money. So in my own not so humble opinion, The Dark Knight IS the best film of 2008, and anyone who doesn't see it deserves a nice swift kick to the goods.
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I mostly agree with you, and really I don't think there is a "perfect" movie. But there were too many little things that bothered me for this to be a four stars. One of those was the complete recycling of the Batman Begins soundtrack. Narnia did the same thing and it really really bugs me. Music is thirty to fifty percent of a film's emotion and would it really have been too much to ask that they compose an original score? Lord of the Rings did it for each its films, and if anyone had an excuse to keep using the same music, it had one, it being one long story and not really sequels. LAZY! Also, I was really dismayed by Alfred being reduced to a "just stand here and be kind and funny" character.
All true, Masta King. And one more thing that kinda bugged me that I forgot to mention was Batman's voice; sometimes I thought he tried so hard to do the scratchy, intimidating voice that it sounded a little forced.
But all that said, I stand by my four stars. I think this is the best movie of the last two years (and if you look back at my previous reviews, you'll see that this is the first and only film I've given the full four stars to), and that's gotta count for something. It's my opinion that true 4 star movies should be remembered forever, and I think this one will be, thanks in large part to Heath Ledger. I'm pretty confident his turn as the Joker will be talked about for years to come as one of the best movie villians of all time, right up there with Anthony Hopkins in the original Silence of the Lambs.
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