The Dark Knight
Directed by Christopher Nolan
Starring Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Aaron Eckhart, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Michael Caine, Gary Oldman, Morgan Freeman
Rated PG-13
Release date: July 18, 2008

Every now and again I would wonder what it was like for my father and his generation to have the Star Wars movies, the anticipation, the newness, the geekish waiting in line. But more than that, what it was like to be among the first to see one of the greatest movies of their time.

With the release of The Dark Knight, the sequel to Christopher Nolan‘s Batman Begins, I think I finally have that experience and knowledge.

It was a Wednesday morning her in Australia, rather cold down under, and I was outside waiting for my mate to come round and pick me up to go see TDK. I hadn’t been that excited since waiting in line for Star Wars: Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. I had been counting down on Twitter steadily for the past several hours. And beneath it all, I just hoped that it wasn’t a horrible movie.

Let me tell you right now, that The Dark Knight is one of the most incredible movie-going experiences you are likely to ever encounter, so much so that I’ve no idea how I should review this movie. Do I go the spoiler route or the vague overarching accolades and praise route?

In no uncertain terms, TDK is the perfect sequel to Begins, and puts to rest any fears that it would suffer from sequelitis. Christopher Nolan has once again provided a movie with such depth and story, combined with the requisite action to keep all the Batman-novices happy, that it boggles the mind. The sheer wealth of Batman references that come straight from the comic, or pay homage to the comics shows a level of respect that Nolan started, and Favreau and Letterrier have carried on (with Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk, respectively).

Gotham City is now well entrenched in a fight against the crime bosses that have for so long run the city and kept it in a constant state of fear. With Batman and James Gordon’s Major Crimes Unit hounding them at every step of the way, the crime syndicates have no choice left but to ship their cash off to Hong Kong, and accept the offer of a man calling himself the Joker.

Needless to say, nothing goes as planned, because the man who is now running the town, has no plan.

All the hype that led up to this movie concerning Heath Ledger performance as the Joker was right on the money. Never before have I seen a performance that is simultaneously breathtaking and spine chilling. Ledger has seemingly thrown his entire self in to his role, bringing a conviction and seeming realism to the role of the Joker that has never before been done. For once, you begin to realize the simple fact that overrides all that the Joker does; it’s not for any other reason than it is fun!

There has already been talk of posthumous Oscar nominations for the Australian actor, and there can surely no longer be any doubt as to his candidacy for such an award. The Joker was frightening, baffling, evil, and so in line with the comics that Ledger must be awarded for all that made the role what it was.

But speaking of Oscar nominations, I would also like to see Aaron Eckhart nominated for Best Supporting Actor, the same category that Ledger should be nominated for. His performance as Harvey Dent was moving and powerful, in true Hollywood style. His road from hero to villain was always going to be a tough one to portray, but yet Eckhart did it with such apparent ease and skill that it blows the mind.

Christian Bale was once again flawless not only as Batman, but as Bruce Wayne. The fact that the two roles are simply that, two roles, makes his job a tough one, but as with Ledger and Eckhart, Bale’s performance is nothing short of magnificent. Bale’s Batman is, as expected, tough, rough, and giving hell to everyone in his vicinity. Conversely, his Wayne is still unsure of himself, receiving guidance from mentor Alfred, played by Michael Caine, and Lucius Fox, the CEO of Wayne Enterprises, played by Morgan Freeman.

The Dark Knight has managed to cobble together one of the best casts imaginable; and yet no one seems to focus on that considering everything else that has gone on. Bale, Ledger, Eckhart, powerhouses like Caine and Freeman, Maggie Gyllenhaal taking on the role of Rachel Dawes — which she does much better than Katie Holmes ever did — and Cillian Murphy back again as the Scarecrow.

But throughout it all, there is one actor, one performance which I still rate as high as Ledger’s Joker. Gary Oldman, the actor who has portrayed everyone from Dracula to Sirius Black, is possible the equal greatest piece of casting in this entire movie. He manages to so perfectly portray a character who is nothing short of integral to the Batman mythos, Commissioner James “Jim” Gordon, that you believe he was born solely to play this role.

A character such as Gordon, who in Begins and Knight manages to move from Lieutenant to Commissioner, must be portrayed just right. He is one of those characters that could very well see a mass of angry fanboys and girls marching on Warner Bros. demanding justice if he is done incorrectly. He has played countless pivotal roles in the comic universe, and until now been nothing short of a laughing stock in the movies, portrayed as a bumbling fool, when nothing could be further from the truth.

There are scenes in this movie which frighten, make you laugh and make you pump the air because the action is so good. But throughout it all Gary Oldman, in his guise as one of Gotham’s only straight cops, Jim Gordon, is the only character to make you stop and realize that despite all the hoopla and antics of characters like Batman and the Joker, the Batman universe is the only one that affects real people. There are moments towards the end of the film which will have some of you wiping back tears, or at least choking them down.

I could go on and on like this, and in the future couple of days and weeks I hope to bring a few more articles pertaining to this movie to Geeks of Doom, but for the moment I’ll be content to finish with a few random dot points (note, last one is a mini spoiler).

– There are links to the viral campaign that WB ran in the year leading up to TDK

– The soundtrack to the movie, by Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard, is once again breathtaking, but there are moments when there is nothing more than a continual violin note playing which will send shivers down your spine as it appears again and again throughout the movie

– A scene between Fox and Wayne, who in response to being asked whether it will fend off dogs, replies that “it’ll fend off cats!”

SPOILER

– There is a particular death in the movie which will make you gasp, for the reality of it all, and the total inability for resurrection later.

END SPOILER

And with that last little tidbit, I promise that in the next 24 hours — probably sooner rather than later — there will be an article looking at the future of the Batman universe. But for now, let us end with the knowledge that this movie rates 10 out of 10 for me.