The Dark Knight Review

How much do we need a hero? And what are we willing to do with him, or to him, once we have one?  How far can hope and faith take us and what makes us cross the lines of our own value systems? These are some of the questions raised by the darkness brought forth in "The Dark Knight."  

The cast is spectacular with Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Gary Oldman, Michael Caine, Aaron Eckhart, Morgan Freeman and Eric Roberts all playing their roles to the hilt and well suited to such an ensemble. Each of them brings something important to the flick and helps to bring Batman from a glorified comic book into the real world.  The plot is intricate and the movie, which is longer than many today, flies by between the action scenes and the well written script.  Batman is both vulnerable and deadly, trying desperately to find the balance that keeps him from becoming the monsters he pursues. Once you see it you'll also realize that people aren't exaggerating (because of his untimely death) when they say that Heath Ledger is incredible.  He's nothing like any of the other characters he's played in the past and completely believable as a villain who just "wants to watch the world burn." The fact that he's not in it for the money but enjoys the sadistic acts he performs.and sees a certain idealogical "rightness" in them just makes him that much scarier and colder.  There's no way to reason with this sort of criminal, nothing you can offer him.  He understands, like a theme from an old Twilight Zone episode, that you just need to introduce a little chaos to get average people reacting out of fear rather than logic or empathy and he enjoys helping people fall.  How much are we all willing to bend the rules?  That's the big question.  How much do we need someone else who may be willing to bend the rules for us?

I don't want to say too much because I don't want to ruin any of the surprises in this film,, but if you like this sort of thing at all you definitely should not miss this one.