The Dark Knight

Short Review: This movie is officially kickass. In fact is may be the first movie that is beyond kickass! At a bare minimum the kickass scale needs to be recalibrated.

Long Review: It's a shame some people will simply view this as a comic book movie. The Dark Knight is truly an exploration of the meaning of good and evil. It is an exploration of the questions: do the costs justify the results and are the ends worth the means? Can something good come out of something evil, or what some may say is evil? This movie takes you into the darkness and dares you to swim in it. Writer/Director Christopher Nolan has learned much from Shakespeare's tales.

Even at 2 hours, 30 minutes this movie doesn't feel long. It's very long on plot (overplotted even), but there aren't any slow spots. Don't drink anything for at least an hour before the movie so your bladder is empty. You're not going to get any potty breaks for this one. You see how what is good for Batman is bad for Bruce Wayne. You see the burdens his assistance must bear on Batman's quest for justice.

You get most of the same top notch cast as in Batman Begins. If anything Maggie Gyallenhall as the love interest Rachel Dawes is a vast improvement of the dooey eyed and way too young for the part Katie Holmes. I've never seen Maggie Gyallenhall in anything before, but she worked this meatier role well. Heath Ledger as the Joker deserves all the buzz. This Joker is the most amoral, roving agent of chaos ever seen. Oscar-worthy? We'll never know since the Academy ignores comic-book movies except for technical categories like Sound Editing or such. This Joker doesn't have plans. He simply loves to destroy other's plans because he can. This Joker loves to show others that evil is within all of us, or at least everyone will ignore their rules if the right circumstance appears. Does that count as evil?

The Dark Knight will make you think a bit if you're willing to absorb its ideas. If you walk out of the theater vaguly disturbed the movie did its job. This movie is so kickass I may go see it again. I may even pay for an IMAX experience.

After the movie can you answer this question: would you have pushed the button knowing another button was out there?

"Because he's the hero Gotham deserves, but not the one it needs right now...and so we'll hunt him, because he can take it. Because he's not a hero. He's a silent guardian, a watchful protector...a dark knight."