Hokay, the Dark Knight. I'm a half hour out of theatre, so I'm a bit shaky. Ford hit the majority of it in his review on SDN, but I'll make my notes. Obviously,
spoilers.
This is an Oscar-type movie in superhero clothes. There's a magical thing called acting in this movie, something we first got a taste of in Iron Man, but get full blast in TDK. The characters dominate without chewing scenery, especially Ledger. It's not hype, and it's not that he's dead. He deserves a straight full-on Best Actor award, not Supporting. He's, quite seriously, one of the best villains of all time. He's the force of the film, a hurricane that flies across it. He's got a lot of great lines, his talks on good and evil and anarchy are wonderful, and he fucks everyone over, for the entirety of the movie. And, besides. The pencil scene was the best part of the entire movie, hands down.
But let's not forget Aaron E., Two-Face, Harvey Dent. The White Knight. He's the supporting actor winner of this film, his preformance is pure strength. While, admittedly, the final scene in the burnt parking garage, the final stadoff with him and Batman and Gordon was rather disjointed, muddled, (even if it tied up the character arcs) and ultimately my only complaint about the movie, he was otherwise bloody good.
Alfred, of course, gets a helping of win for his action concerning Rachel's letter, for he knows that half the reason Batman chose Harvey over Rachel was that, if Gordon saved her, Bruce and Rachel would finally come together (The other reason, of course, being that Batman values Harvey over Rachel, a massive character moment for the Batman). Freeman is top game, and Oldman is effortless. While I despise the distorted voice of Bale when he's in the suit, he does it very well, even if he's not the main character, but just an equal part of the cast. And, of course, Maggie Gylenhaal is a massive step up over Katie Holmes.
Now for the scenes. The opening heist is effortless, but the scene with Loeb's funeral, where Gordon faked his death, was rather muddled on the part of Wayne, and his trip to the apartment, which wasn't really explained or possessing much sense. However, the true climax of the film, action wise, is the massive, massive chase in the middle. There are dozens of greats bit in there, from the great Batpod
being part of the Tumbler (Man, I did not expect that, and was pleasantly surprised), to Batman not killing the Joker, and ramping his bike straight off the wall. The off-the-wall part, along with the pencil scene, was one of several 'oh, snap!' moments I said outloud in the theatre.
The good cop-bad cop joke brought a smile to my face, and the double jeopardy concerning Harvey and Rachel was quite the twist. Dent's rampage was muddled, and, IMO, needed more time to truly have an effect- even in a massive two and half hour movie, it was too compressed for Dent. The dual bombs on the ferries were quite the social experiment, and the crook tossing away the remote was another grin-inducing 'oh, snap!' moment. Now, obviously, the final showdown between the Joker and Batman was rather weak, but I expected that, with the cilmax of action being back in the street chase. I did enjoy Joker retelling his origin in different ways, and Batman cutting him off the third time with our obligatory akshun moment- even if he defies the old movie and saved the Joker.
Although that brings up a quandary, quite the quandary. Ledger is dead, and I believe, if his Joker character is not dead in the movie, there's nowhere you can really go from here. Nowhere. TDK, it goes without saying, is the best Batman movie in the series, but there's nowhere to go the top. Not with Ledger gone. Call me lame, but I like my villains (Dent doesn't count, I say he's not dead. Batman survived the same fall, why couldn't Dent have?) in comic book movies to die. Especially if they're good.
The cinematography runs on the same edge as Begins in that it's almost too jumpy, but this movie was a tab bit better in allowing you to follow it. Batman running through crowds of goons are always weak blurs of unfollowable motion (we get the point- well, I do. Batman's using stealth and surprise and is so fast he's not followable. I get the point. But I want to appreciate the fight itself, dammit, not the theme, if the theme has already been lain out). Nolan runs his best work in this movie, though (Even if the Prestige is absolute pure plot win) the most noticeable part is that he cut out all the lame sideshots that were so prevalent in Begins (Think the homeless guy saying 'Nice car!' to Gordon when he's in the Tumbler blowing up the bridge), and I appreciate that a lot. I've honestly never been on the edge of my seat in a movie, but this movie managed it several times, with the Rachel/Harvey dilemma, the dual boats, and Harvey's final scene.
So, The Dark Knight is a rare opprotunity for me. I'd value a well-done popcorn movie over a weighty Oscar drama anyday, but that doesn't mean I don't appreciate the greats, good preformances, and extremely-well done characterization and development. The Dark Knight is a rare achievement in that it combines a summer popcorn action franchise with excellent preformances, characterization, and development, as well as rather deep themes that are based in the characters and the genre itself. Themes like control and chaos, good and evil, Batman versus Bruce Wayne, the corruptibility of good all make their plays in TDK, and are played almost perfectly. Is it the best comic book movie around? Yes. It has something for everyone.
I placed my money on The Dark Knight to be my favorite movie of the year (because saying 'the best movie of the year' is rather pretentious), and I was right. It is.
So, who wants to see a magic trick. Watch, as I make this pencil disappear!
EDIT: I'll thank Wiki for explaining to me the final, final ending montage, and while I think the scene with Dent was meh, the ending did make sense.
Gordon laments the fact that all hope died with Harvey because he was the best among them. Batman and Gordon decide that the Joker would win if anyone found out about Dent's corruption and madness. In order to uphold Dent's vision, Batman convinces Gordon to blame all of Dent's murders on him. Batman returns to his status as an illegal vigilante to preserve Dent's image as Gotham's hero and give the city hope. As Gordon destroys the Bat-Signal, a manhunt is issued for Batman. Gordon's son asks why Batman is being pursued, as he has done nothing wrong, to which Gordon explains, "Because he's the real hero... a Dark Knight."
EDIT 2: I realize this completely destroys a hueg character moment for Batman, but what if the Joker purposefully gave Batman the opposite locations- the location he said house Dent was really Rachel, and vice versa?