Right On The Right

It's having the most tremendous opening of any movie in history, and the buzz surrounding The Dark Knight is well-deserved. Most of the buzz is related to Ledger's performance, partially because of his death. I personally think the film was the best of the Superhero Genre, and there are several phenomenal performances in the film. Spoiler Warning Ahead, because here's my review:

Before seeing the film, I questioned all of the buzz about the role of the Joker (Heath Ledger). I wondered how much Ledger's death affected the opinions of critics, but after seeing the movie, I can honestly say it was an Oscar-worthy performance. As a fan of Ledger's humorous role in the movie A Knight's Tale, and seeing him in a few movies (not the Gay Cowboy movie), I can see this was Ledger's best performance. Unfortunately fitting that it would be his last. The Joker is dark and twisted, a convincing villain with no real motivations other than, as he puts it, being an agent of chaos. He's physically tough at parts, and some of his tactics are stomache-turning, including the placement of a grenade and a magic trick involving a disappearing pencil. Ledger plays one of the most powerful villains ever in film.

Christian Bale's Batman is well-done, just about on pace with his performance in Batman Begins. Bale plays well some of the interesting decisions that his character is forced to make, but his performance is not award-worthy. He's overshadowed by Ledger at times, and is just one of four great male performances in the film. He has a great on-screen competition with new District Attorney Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart) for the heart of Rachel Dawes (Maggie Gyllenhaal, replacing Katie Holmes). Eckhart does a great job portraying Dent as a crusader for justice that isn't exactly ready for the task in front of him. Like Batman, Dent has to make difficult decisions balancing his personal anger and ambition vs. the best outcome for Gotham. The fourth strong male role comes from Gary Oldman, who plays the pragmatic Lt. Gordon (later Commissioner). Gordon's role shouldn't be overlooked, because the trusting Gordon plays a key role in the plot. He surrounds himself with shady characters at times, and is often the link between Dent and Batman at the beginning of the film.

Story wise, the movie excels. The movie is long, about 2 1/2 hours, but the plot moves along and it's pretty easy to follow. Ledger's character brings all of the villainy together, and he quickly begins dominating the storyline as Bale's Batman begins questioning his role in Gotham. Harvey Dent, Gotham's "White Knight" has a hard time maintaining his perfect public image, and eventually an old comic favorite jumps into the fray. The story revolves around human nature, from Batman and Dent's personal struggle to find a balance between justice and personal ambition, to the Joker's testing of society. Society ends up winning out, but not without some incredibly close calls and a few people making bad decisions. The only political moment in the film comes when Lucius Fox (Morgan Freeman) has to decide whether or not to effectively "wiretap". He makes the right decision, doing what's necessary for the safety of the people of Gotham but also not supporting using the machine outside of extraordinary circumstances. Overall, the movie will leave you thinking, will leave you impressed, and will leave you hoping that Ledger wins a posthumous Oscar. See The Dark Knight, you won't regret it.