Review: 'The Dark Knight' is no joke

REVIEW: By Roger Moore
The Orlando Sentinel

This "Dark Knight" is much more than simply "Batman 2.0." It's a re-tooling, a re-load of the franchise Christopher Nolan and Christian Bale revived three summers ago.

It is crammed with great actors, with a delicious and bittersweet farewell from the late Heath Ledger, sturdy work by the returning players, some chewy bit turns by worthies from Eric Roberts and William Fichtner to Anthony Michael Hall.

And Maggie Gyllenhaal replaces Katie Holmes as the Batman’s bittersweet love interest, the assistant direct attorney Rachel Dawes Now that’s an upgrade.

It’s still too long, especially for a comic-book movie. But with Ledger’s last performance director Nolan was blessed with the gift of light. As dark as “The Dark Knight” inevitably is, this is a Batman who isn’t afraid to strut his stuff in broad daylight. And this is a Joker who isn’t afraid to have a few laughs, in between murders, torturing, kidnapping and robberies.

“I create chaos,” this new criminal on the block declares. And so he does. The Joker kills crooks and cops alike, betrays associates and crosses a United Nations of Mobsters _ Italian-Americans, African-Americans, Russians and Chinese.

What he really wants is a chance to destroy “The Bat Man,” the crusading district attorney, Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart, very good) and the anti-mob task force led by Lt. Gordon (Gary Oldman).

Where does The Bat Man, Gotham’s resident vigilante, fit into all this? He wonders himself, inspired as he is by the methods and effectiveness and courage of DA Dent. Is he even necessary?

“You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain,” Dent declares, tellingly, comparing Gotham to a Rome that needed a Caesar to bring it order.

Bale, in his second Bat-turn, is more obscured by the costume and the synthesized voice. He barely registers. Bruce Wayne/Batman is troubled by the inhumanity he sees in himself, the urge to torture, the infringements on freedom that it may take to make the city safe.

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And here's another review ...

“The Dark Knight” _ It’s difficult to separate the movie from its mystique. Even under ordinary circumstances, “The Dark Knight” would have been one of the most hotly awaited movies of the summer blockbuster season.

The loss of Heath Ledger to an accidental prescription-drug overdose in January has amplified the buzz around the film _ and his crazed performance as the Joker _ to extraordinary levels.

Nothing could possibly satisfy that kind of expectation. This comes pretty close. Christopher Nolan’s film is indeed an epic that will leave you staggering from the theater, stunned by its scope and complexity. It’s also, thankfully, a vast improvement over his self-serious origin story, 2005’s “Batman Begins.” As director and co-writer with his brother, Jonathan (David S. Goyer shares a story credit), Nolan has found a way to mix in some fun with his philosophizing.

Ambitious, explosive set pieces share screen time with meaty debates about good vs. evil and the nature of, and need for, a hero. Batman (Christian Bale) has been that guy. Now, he’s not so sure he should be anymore. He’s protected Gotham fiercely but the new district attorney, Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart), seems to be putting a dent in organized crime with help from Lt. Gordon (Gary Oldman).

Then the Joker arrives to send the city into chaos _ and Nolan was wise enough to give Ledger plenty of room to shine, albeit in the actor’s indelibly perverse, twisted way. There’s nothing cartoony about his Joker. Ledger wrested the role from previous performers Cesar Romero and Jack Nicholson and reinvented it completely. PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and some menace. 152 min. Three stars out of four.

_ Christy Lemire, AP Movie Critic

Date published: 7/18/2008

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