FILM: Dark Knight Analysis

*Posted July 24, 2008*

For Batman week, I judged each picture on their 10 most important categories, but I have yet to deal with Dark Knight. It's obviously better, but by how much? SPOILER ALERT: I let you off easy last week, but by now I expect that you've seen this movie.

CHRISTIAN BALE: His Batman voice is distracting and silly, but he's raised the bar for Bruce Wayne. Also, his caricature of Billionaire Bimbo Bruce is hilarious and well done. (9/10)

HEATH LEDGER: The real star of the movie. Sooooo much better than Fat Nicholson's Joker. Instantly iconic. (15/10)

AARON ECKHART: The big surprise. I expected the Joker to steal the show, but Dent was not far off. Two-Face was not given much time to flourish, but the White Knight was a delight. He actually made the coin flip a cool and dramatic device, unlike Tommy Lee Jones. (9/10)

MAGGIE GYLENHAAL: The character still sucks, but at least you believe her as Rachel Dawes and forget about Katie Holmes. But how nice would it have been to see her blow up? (6/10)

PLOT: Lots and lots of layers. Finally an action movie for smart people (sorry Indy, but you weren't even close). (10/10)

MUSIC: You have to give credit to Zimmer and Howard for making a simplistic Batman theme (only 2 notes!) stick in Batman Begins. How do they top that? The incredibly awesome and much simpler (only one note!!!!) Joker siren theme. Dent's 'night is darkest before the dawn' speech also had a good tune to it. Plus some old favorites. (10/10)

CINEMATOGRAPHY: They traded the dark and dreary narrows for a lot of sunlight in downtown Gotham (Chicago). It was a bold move since not many filmmakers tackle Gotham by day. But I think it's appropriate to show a lighter side of the town, especially when the theme of the movie was about hope. (9/10)

ENDING:Powerful, but still a little cheesy. Too bad they didn't end the movie on the Joker. DK loses points for confusion. IS TWO-FACE DEAD?!?!?!?!?!?!? (7/10)

WRITING: Few lines are wasted in this film. Going back over it again, you appreciate how much wit and intelligence is in every line spoken. Plus, it seemed like every scene was completely original. Things like the magic trick, the retrieval in Hong Kong, the colorguard shooting, and the exploding ferries (just to name a few) are really good ideas that were all put into the movie. (10/10)

MY PERSONAL OPINION: Obviously not perfect....but damn close (10/10)

TOTAL SCORE: 95