The Dark Knight is 4/5ths of a very good movie. Actually, to be fair, 13/15ths of a good movie. Don't agree? How many of you really liked the ending as much as the rest of the film? Is your hand up? Are you lying?

I went into the theater half expecting that the Heath Ledger reviews that I had read were fed more by emotion than by honest reaction. I liked him as an actor, but these reviews just seemed a little over the top. They were not! Ledger is everything that you want from a movie villian. He steals every scene. His is creepy, funny, frightening, interesting and most important, charasmatic in a way that Jack Nicholson's 1989 Joker totally missed. the 130 minutes or so with Ledger is a thrill ride for fan and non-fan alike. This performance shows what can be created when an actor and director take this material seriously. Anyone who ever read comics knows that this set of characters and mythology has been used to create everything from absolute drek to masterworks likes Frank Miller's Dark Knigt Returns.

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But here is the rub, after Ledger makes his final appearance with more the 20 minutes left the air goes out of the balloon. We then proceed to go on a maudlin 20 minute romp with Aaron Eckhart's two face, who by the way if he was burned that badly would have not just every infecton known to man but also a serious case of dead. Eckhart has been given two or three scenes to develop the character from DA to murderous menace capable of horrific, maniacal villany and mayhem.The final showdown produced the first and only real sniggers from the audience. I had assumed with less than 30 minutes left that Nolan was developing Two-Face to be one of the villans in the next film. The actual ending seems tacked on and stinks of Big Studio. Of course, based on the weekend numbers, it also stinks of big bucks.

Here is my other problem. Chistian Bale's Batman is monotone and deadly dull in this movie. I have to watch Batman begins again because I don't remember disliking his portrayal in that film. I think I know why. He does a good job of with Bruce Wayne, its just Batman that stinks. Tell me the hoarse voice deadpan delivery doesn't get stale. Big surprise for me, because I have always thought that he was a fantastic actor but he is every bit as lame as Keaton, Kilmer and Yes! even Clooney in this one.

Every other name including Michael Caine(is he a Sir yet?, Morgan Freeman, Gary Oldham, Eckhart and Maggie Gyllenhaal delivers exactly the spot on performance that you expect from pros of their caliber. Chris Nolan with help from his brother Johnathan, who wrote the origianl story that later became Memento, does another superb job and I can only hope the he continues to pump this franchise full of life. Those of you who are feeling reminded of 1995 Heat pat yourselves on the back as Nolan cites this as a major influence on the film. When asked why he went with Ledger as the Joker when such heavyweights as Robin Williams, Paul Bettany and Adrien Brody had expressed interest, Nolan stated simply, "Because he is fearless". Pat yourself on the back for that one Christopher.

Labels: Batman, Chris Nolan, Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight