The Dark Knight

The Dark Knight was worth the wait and all the hype.

I knew Heath Ledger was perfect as the Joker when I first saw the teasers. Now that I was finally able to watch the movie, all I can say is that he was just so darn good! Actually, good is an understatement. I’m just at a loss for words. I never thought I would say this but although I am a die-hard Tim Burton fan, The Dark Knight is probably the best film in the Batman franchise mainly because of Heath’s performance. His version of the Joker was both enthralling and terrifying at the same time. Every time he was onscreen I just couldn’t look away. Being a Batman fan, I always knew that Joker was psychotic but it was never brought so close to reality by anyone else before but Heath.

Heath Ledger as Joker

The film was great as a whole–my only minor complaint was Christian Bale’s overly raspy whisper as Batman–but the other performances paled to Heath. This is probably the role he will be most remembered by and I’m not the only one who thinks he deserves a posthumous Oscar for his performance.

This is the darkest Batman yet and I have to admit that I was surprised that it got a PG-13 rating. There were scenes in the film that actually terrified me (don’t bring your kids to watch this film!). Despite this, I am hoping that they would release an alternate version–sort of like a “director’s cut” because I think they had to cut scenes from the movie to get the PG-13 rating.

Viewers expecting to see a lot of action will not be disappointed; I think Nolan handled the action scenes better in this film. Character development didn’t suffer for it though. I specially appreciated the evolution of Harvey Dent to Two-Face–special mention to Aaron Eckhart who was able to handle the uptight, moralist District Attorney with charm. I was rooting for him alongside the citizens of Gotham.

I have to stop writing this before blurting out any spoilers. I’ll definitely watch this film again and would most probably get a copy of the DVD when it comes out. What stays with me though is the regret that this is Heath Ledger’s last completed film–a surviving proof that we really lost a rare talent. The Dark Knight is going to be a hard act to follow because it’s an almost excellent film with an excellent villain.