Daveportivo's Cultural Evaluation Facility

Plot Summary: Bruce Wayne has helped clean the streets of Gotham, and a new viritous District Attorney is in town, Harvey Dent a man who represents the best in Gotham city. All however is not well, the ultimate force of anarchy and choas is about to stroll into Gotham City. The Joker is back to tear down everything good in Gotham.

Review: Dark Knight is a superbly written and well acted film. Heath Ledger is brilliant in his portray of the Joker. He breathes new life into the character while giving subtle nods the Jack Nicholoson's iconic performance. However the praise cannot all be attributed to Ledger while his performance is excellent the real kudos lie with the writers and DC comics themselves. The Jokers character is dark, sadistic and scary but it is his twisted logic that cuts right to the heart of the human condition that gives his character such great depth. While he may not be proved right his beliefs hit a little too close to home for us to comfortable.

Christian Bale plays Bruce Wayne very well but he leaves a lot to be desired in his portray of Batman himself, the reverse of Micheal Keaton if you will. This does not however undermine the Batman/Wayne character which is ingeniusly crafted. Batman is a Jesus like character, an outcast who must bear the sins of humanity for the rest of us to surive in a sea of evil and immorality. The film through Batman also deals with issues of terrorism and the ideal of sacrificing morality and civil liberty for security. The film offers both side of the argument without telling the audience what to think. Whether Batman should be condemmed or whether his actions are need to be taken. Batman is presented as perfect, he is not the hero nor the anti hero, but he does what is neccessary, he sacrifices. This makes him a far deeper, a far darker and a far superior character to Superman and Spiderman.

The film however is not perfect, it feels long, too long for some. While it is clear that in the perfectly crafted script that all the events that occur have to happen in this film, one can't help but wish they were split in two. Trying to ween fifteen minutes out of the film is no easy task as there are few poor or even mediocre scenes to cut. Don't worry, your not in for a Return of The King like torture, its more like bitings into a beautiful apple with a gorgeous flavour but you notice a annoying twinge of an aftertaste. Not enough to stop you eating the apple, or even enjoying it, but it will be in the back of your mind. You'll love it, but wont' be your favorite fruit. (***3/4).