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Kevin Michael Vance
Writer - Portland, Oregon
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Title: THE DARK KNIGHT
Director: Christopher Nolan
Year: 2008
Reviewed: July 30, 2008
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Four Course Meal-Highest Rating |
[Rating Definitions]
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Now we have, "The Dark Knight".
Christopher Nolan is a superb director. I have enjoyed, thoroughly, everything he has ever done: from "Insomnia" to "Memento", from "Batman Begins" to "The Prestige". Throughout his career Nolan has done what great directors are supposed to do- what my all-time favorite director, Ridley Scott, never, ever ceases to do- take me, the willing and captive audience, into worlds I've never glimpsed and experiences that are beyond my own. "Batman Begins", is for me, the greatest adaptation of a comic book to movie I've ever seen. Even now, as I write this, I'm listening to the sound track by Hans Zimmer.
With that said, "The Dark Knight" has it's problems. Where "Batman Begins" was tight, concise, and poignant, "The Dark Knight" seems lost, convoluted, and unnecessarily complex. "Batman Begins" was focused and well thought out. "The Dark Knight" is all over the place. There is, for me, very little emotional resonance in "The Dark Knight". "Batman Begins" had me feeling deeply for Bruce Wayne; a character, I might ad, I have never liked. Wayne is just like another DC character, Tony Stark -- simply a, spoiled rich kid. This makes his evolution and struggle to become Batman even more striking and engaging. "The Dark Knight" comes in at over two and a half hours. This makes it drag in parts; moreover, there is a character and a scene that could have been cut completely, which literally would have cut anywhere from twenty to thirty minutes off the film, which inevitably would have made it much better. However, "The Dark Knight" has something and someone that makes it well worth the price of admission. In a name -- Heath Ledger. Ledgers' Joker is the most sinister, most complex, most memorable, most astounding Joker to ever grace either the large or the small screen. He not only lives up to the hype, but he surpasses it. When Ledger is on screen and in make-up you cannot turn away from him. He commands both your attention and your respect, which makes his untimely demise that more tragic. I would even go so far as to say Ledgers' performance is worthy of an Oscar.
"The Dark Knight" is ill titled. It should have been called "The Joker". "The Dark Knight" is not Bruce Waynes', nor Christian Bales' movie, it is, and forever will be, Heath Ledgers', and the Jokers' movie.
Thus, I find it difficult to review this film. I don't want to give it a FOUR COURSE MEAL review, because I don't think the story or the script is worthy, but I also don't want to give it a FAST FOOD MEAL review, because Ledgers' performance is worth the price of a thousand tickets. So, I will give it a FOUR COURSE -- a low FOUR COURSE MEAL review. Go see Heath act, and you will be privy to a man at the height of his talent, letting it all go, ignoring common sense and rationality to deliver a performance that is more than daring - but dangerous.
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