The Dark Knight (my thoughts) 4 out of 5 stars

There’s this episode of Looney Tunes where Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck are stage performers. On stage, Bugs is wowing the crowd, and all Daffy ever gets is crickets. In anger, Daffy declares that he’s going to perform something dangerous, something daring, something no one’s ever seen before. He even suggests that the faint of heart need not watch. He proceeds to dress up like a devil, drinks a bunch of nitro glycerine and drops a match into his open mouth.

“Ta da!!” he says, just before he blows up into nothingness.

The crowd rises with thunderous applause. Bugs, just as shocked as they are, also applauds Daffy, exclaiming…”Daffy, that was great! Listen to that, the crowd loves ya! They want an encore!!”

To which Daffy replies, “That’s the catch.” His ghost like form floats upwards to heaven. “I can only do it once.”

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is what came to my mind when thinking about Ledger’s take on The Joker. I’ll get to him in a moment.

Here’s what The Dark Knight isn’t (before I get really long winded, which I probabaly will do anyway):

- It’s not a die hard action film like “Live Free or Die Hard”. There are action pieces in the film, indeed, but Christopher Nolan stated that Michael Mann’s “Heat” was a major influence for this film. It definitely shows. The Dark Knight comes off as an epic crime drama before being a superhero movie. It just so happens that our hero dresses up like a bat. So, if you didn’t like that film (especially in terms of pacing), or had serious problems with Batman Begins, don’t expect to see a lot of major changes there. The Dark Knight is the equivalent of reading a Graphic Novel compared to just reading a comic book. It’s easily the best Comic book movie I’ve seen since Spider Man 2 (and I love Michael Chabon’s writing), and thats saying a lot.

I don't like gushing over movies. I hate the concept that everything we give opinions on have to either be the best thing since Oreos were invented, or they just blow chunks. It's just too much polarization. I'll admit though, I spent a good 20 minutes of the walk through Manhattan after the movie just saying "Wow!", and going over the film in my head. More than likely, I'll check it out tomorrow at a regular theatre.

- It’s not a perfectly edited film either. After taking a nap and letting the initial buzz wear off, I thought about the movie again. There are a few moments in the movie where a scene ends, another starts, and you are left wondering what happened to the other characters in between that space. I’m not saying they needed to show everything, but if you find yourself saying…”Whoa, what happened?”, you know what I’m talking about. It's the only thing hurting an otherwise perfect film. The scriptwriters could have ironed out a few points and that would have been great. I’m also under the impression that a lot areas were changed over to be able to get this in the PG-13 range.

- It’s not about happy times. In my history of watching Batman movies, this has to be the darkest one I’ve come across. There are humorous points, but ultimately you’re shown that this isn’t quite the “Fear not, dear citizen, for I am Batman!” kind of film.

Okay, on to the good. I really can’t say much that wouldn’t give things away. There are so many review sites that have just about what you need to know about this movie. I would easily give it 5 stars, were it not for the editing problems that I didn’t catch until hours later. I would (and am) going to run back to try to see this tomorrow, though.

- Ledger as the Joker: Wow, I’m shocked. He was funny in Cassanova, but this one was cool. I’m not going to say it was totally mindblowing (because were he alive, I really don’t think he’d as much kudos as he’s getting). It was a fantastic performance, but I wouldn’t be quick to say that one should go and burn their copy of the first Tim Burton Batman. His Joker is legitimately scary in the sense that he's chaotic. The Oscar Nomination buzz that’s come from this is justified ,but again, I think it’s just because of the mindset of anyone watching the movie and knowing that this person’s gone. Performances associated with death tend to lead to canonization. Not always (does anyone remember John Candy’s last film?), but sometimes. Still, I’ll admit that in watching this, it’s really easy to see only the character and not the actor. The have to his family some kind of posthumous award or something.

- Bale as Bruce Wayne: Bale has Wayne down in a fashion that’s great. Half cool, half ass, his Bruce Wayne had the audiences laughing. His Batman is intense, but there’s still that thing with his voice, like someone gave him a cup of liquid, told him it was tea, and then he found out it was Listerine after drinking it. Sometimes it works, sometimes not.
It’s like listening to Batman by way of Solid Snake or Clint Eastwood. However, for a British actor speaking with an American English accent that has to then make it raspy, he seems to be trying his best.  

-Gyllenhaal as Rachel Dawes: Oh, man. Why didn’t they get her for Begins? Replacing Katie Holmes, I actually found I liked her better. She seems a bit more sincere, though that doesn’t take anything away from Holmes.

Everyone else works very well in this film, especially Aaron Eckhardt. I don’t know, everytime I say his name, I think of Nicholson: “Hey Eckhardt! Think about the Future!” Ugh. I’m veering off. I loved his Harvey Dent. They could have easily considered give him his own series, about a DA trying to clean up the streets of Gotham during the day. His interactions between everyone came across pretty well.

The Action scenes are a standout, especially if viewed at an Imax theatre. If you have one in your theatre, see it there first. I know you may want to get out and see it early before people start talking, but you’ll be missing out on some of the strengths of the medium if you don’t check it out there. It’s still a good movie otherwise, but there are at least 20 minutes that were dedicated for the Imax Cameras. It would be a shame to miss them.

The Dark Knight also features a few cameos, my favorite being that of one of Gordon’s detectives, played by Keith  Szarabajka (it’s said “Sarah-bike-ah”). If you’ve ever watched the tv show “Angel”, he was Daniel Holtz, who hunted after Angel and Darla during Season 3. It was cool to see him on screen.
 
Overall, The Dark Knight’s a near perfect crime drama of a film, hampered only by a set of cuts and/or moments that seemed to be a little abrupt and may leave you asking logistical questions about situations. If you don’t do that - ”That kind of gun only fires 12 rounds when using an extended clip, and he fired 13.” - Then the movie will feel like perfection. Clocking in at 2 and a half hours, it’s a long film, but the pacing’s nice. I’ll be picking up the Shooting Script next week to read it as well.