Who is the Audience for This Movie?

People who like a darker take on the famous Batman character.

What I Liked About This Movie

Free from the chains of the Batman origin story, the sequel to Batman Begins goes balls out to create an extremely entertaining experience. This movie has enough action to please any Batman fans need to see Batman kick bad guy ass. Speaking of the action, it has been monumentally improved since the last Batman outing. I stated that Batman Begins had weak action scenes but the improvements made in The Dark Knight are commendable.

Improvement definitely seems to be the name of the game for The Dark Knight and the acting is another area the sequel relishes. The most notable cast members include: Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Aaron Eckhart, Michael Caine, and Morgan Freeman. That is a lot of star power that manages to not be wasted. But one actor sticks out the most, Heath Ledger.

I will be honest here and admit that I have never been wow’ed by Heath Ledger in any movie he has been in before The Dark Knight. It is still sad though when someone passes away so young. His take on Joker will without question go down as his highest cinematic achievement. Heath’s take on the joker is freaking crazy; he actually acts certifiably insane in this movie. Every moment the Joker had dialogue was golden. Although I found his performance incredible I will not compare it to Nicholson’s Joker. Both Joker’s served different purposes and are too different in tone to compare them.

What Didn’t Work For Me

The only bad thing I would have to say is that this movie felt too crammed. This issue led to the movie feeling like when it closed chapters in the story that it was going to end. Most people would liken the perfect action movie experience to a roller coaster.

The Dark Knight’s structure felt more along the lines of a book. A book ends story lines at certain chapters to purposefully open new story branches. A book does not have to necessarily worry about length though. With movies you are restricted in how long you can keep a viewer’s attention and I felt my attention waning during the last act of the movie.

Should You Watch This Movie?

I liked Batman Begins but The Dark Knight manages to improve upon the themes it started. For that reason alone I would have to recommend this movie.

My Rating (Out of 13)