Saturday, August 23, 2008

Movie Review: The Dark Knight (2008)

(This review contains no significant spoilers.)

Alison and I, along with a few friends, saw The Dark Knight several weeks ago on the film's opening weekend. Somehow, I haven't gotten around to reviewing the movie until now. Here's what I have to say.

What I liked:
  • The cast performed well. In particular, Heath Leger was astoundingly disturbing as the Joker. The thing he did with his tongue was, in Alison's words, "the creepiest gesture ever."
  • The plot was very gritty and dark. This is easily the darkest comic-book movie I've seen. 300 may have had a higher body count, but it wasn't anything like as bleak as The Dark Knight.
  • The dialog was interesting and, occasionally, funny.
  • The effects and stunts in the film were all very well done.
What I dislike:
  • The voice Christian Bale used for the Batman, which was different for the one he used for Bruce, was very annoying. It was some kind of husky stage whisper, similar to the one he used in the previous film, but worse.
Overall, I think this is the best superhero movie I've seen. I give it 8.5 out of 10.

2 comments:

  1. Anonymous12:39 PM

    Only 8.5 for the "best superhero movie I've seen"? What kind of movie would get a better score in your book? Or are you saving that 9 or 10 for something special?

    The different voices were annoying. This trick was used in "Batman, The Animated Series". It may work well for kids but not on the big screen.

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  2. Hey, just because it's the best super-hero movie I've seen doesn't mean it's one of the best movies of any genre I've seen.

    Somehow, Batman's voice on The Animated Series sounded much more natural than Bale's Batman voice. I guess that's why that guy is a voice actor.

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