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The Dark Knight Review (WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS)

It's not too often that a movie lives up to it's own hype. And The Dark Knight had a lot to live up to, not only with the ad campaign but with the general critical and fan acclaim it has been receiving (as I write this, it's holding a 94% rating at RottenTomatoes.com). Fortunately, this is one of those films that meets and in some cases still manages to surpass what you go in hoping for.

First, the performances: Heath Ledger is the obvious talk of the movie, and with good reason. He truly embodies the Joker: his anarchy, his lunacy, his intellect, and his twisted views of the world are spot-on perfect. Whether its a "magic trick" of making a pencil disappear (into the skull of a mob enforcer) or convincing Two-Face that the Gotham police and the mob are responsible for the death of his fiancée, Ledger delivers a performance that is not only believable but truly frightening at times. Christian Bale plays the tormented Bruce perfectly as well - his uncertainty about whether to continue as Batman, his cool under fire at the fundraiser dinner, and his choice to act as Harvey's fall guy at the movie all felt true to character. Aaron Eckhart played both Dent and Two-Face better than any other version of the characters, ever. His fall from the hero of Gotham to the twisted villain was indescribable. The other characters, from Gary Oldman's now-Commissioner Gordon to Morgan Freeman's Lucius Fox were all handled and played beautifully (even if Freeman didn't get a line as good as his line in Wanted).

The story was played out as good as any, and doesn't need the "comic book movie" qualifier so often added. Although the characters were more fantastic than those in our world, they told a story so believable you forgot it was a comic book movie. Nolan's direction has just gotten better over the years, and The Dark Knight could not have looked any better. The one complaint people seemed to have with Batman Begins was how the fight sequences were filmed with quick cuts to hide/blur the action. That has been addressed in TDK, and every fight sequence is choreographed and filmed to show the full capabilities of Batman.

In the end, this was an all-too-rare film that lived up to the hype it carried to opening day. Go see it as soon as possible.


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