Movie Review: The Dark Knight - Page 3

Not to be forgotten, Christian Bale turns in yet another strong performance. He is fast becoming the definitive Batman. He has the skills and the presence to portray the conflicted Bruce Wayne, the emotionally tortured soul whose very existence is a battle within himself. Not only can Bale portray the emotional gravitas, he is more than capable of delivering the fisticuffs.

The supporting cast does a great job adding more layers to the drama. Aaron Eckhart leads the charge as Harvey Dent, the new, take charge DA who is not afraid of putting himself in the line of fire, although he too is a conflicted soul waiting for a push in the right direction. Then there is Maggie Gyllenhaal, who steps into the role of Rachel Dawes vacated by Katie Holmes, and delivers. She carries a lot of emotional weight with ease. Not to be left out are the returning players from the first film, Michael Caine as Alfred, who is always ready with words of wisdom as well as possessing the wisdom to know when to deal with certain items (you will see in the film), Gary Oldman as Commissioner Gordon in a performance that gets you personally involved, and Morgan Freeman as Lucius Fox, Bruce Wayne's chief gadget maker and confidant.

Leading the way is director Christopher Nolan, who also co-wrote the screenplay with his brother Jonathan Nolan (with whom he also collaborated on The Prestige). This is a director who has finally honed his craft and risen to the top in a very short period of time. He is a true artist who puts everything into the films he makes, believing in them fully and having a clear and specific vision of what he wants to accomplish. As good as his prior films have been, this is the finest work of his young career.

Now, you will remember how I mentioned earlier about The Dark Knight being a redefining moment for superhero cinema. I believe this completely. Up until this point, it seems that by and large the primary concern in adapting the comic book source material was to be true to it; the high water mark for this is, arguably, Spider-Man II (or perhaps Superman: The Movie, or fill in your favorite adaptation). This movie is different from that. Christopher Nolan does keep true to the integrity of the comic books, but he is inspired as much from the source as he is from the rest of cinema (going so far as to cite Heat as a major influence).

Article Author: Chris Beaumont

Christopher Beaumont spends much of his time writing about music and movies when he isn't indulging in them. He is always ready to talk about his favorite form of entertainment and offer up recommendations. Follow: Twitter and Tumblr. Visit: Critical Outcast. …

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