Movie Review - “The Dark Knight”
*** STARS
This past weekend “The Dark Knight” blew away all other movie records in film history to become the biggest summer film of all time. The buzz behind this film came to a fever pitch as the ravenous public gobbled up over $160 million dollars worth of movie tickets over three days. Although Heath Ledger’s sudden death earlier this year added a bit of a curiosity factor to some sales, the majority of the movie’s success is solely because of the air tight script, insightful Direction by Chris Nolan and solid acting by the whole cast.
Now I’m going to get the whole Heath Ledger thing out of the way and say that, yes indeed, his demonic performance is worthy of an Oscar nomination, but not a win. When Ledger is on screen you can cut the intensity with a knife in the audience. He has truly created the best onscreen comic book villain of all time. I’d even go as far as to say that “The Dark Knight’s” Joker is the most realistic criminal ever put onto the big screen.
The plot of this Batman film plays out like a classic Scorsese crime film or a morality tale rather than just a comic book adaptation. The film is so full of skin-crawling performances, complex storytelling, and profound ideas that you forget you are watching a Batman movie. “The Dark Knight” is an electrifying, thought-provoking action movie that asks some deep questions.
The supporting cast made up of Maggie Gyllenhaal, Morgan Freeman, Aaron Eckhart, Michael Caine and Gary Oldman only make this movie more out of this world and epic. Even though it can be too violent at times “The Dark Knight” is the definition of a summer movie. The pulse pounding action and slick special effects are secondary to the sublime acting and strong storytelling in this crime masterpiece. If you want to witness movie history being made then do not miss this crowd pleasing instant summer classic while it is still in theaters.
July 22nd, 2008 at 9:08 am
Wait, 3.5 stars based off that review? I’m confused? is that out of 3 stars?