entertainment

After the release of Batman Begins in 2005, it was hard to believe that another Batman movie could be released that would top Christopher Nolan’s origin story. Fortunately, moviegoers didn’t have to wait long to find out that he could, in fact, top his efforts on Begins and continue to build on the Batman myth. From the opening minutes, The Dark Knight is a visual masterpiece. Nolan might have actually shot the movie in Chicago, but when the city shows up on the big screen there is no questioning that you’re looking at Gotham City–dark, broken down, and corrupt.

The actors returning from Begins (Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman) fell right back into place, continuing to cement their place in the history of Batman on film. Freeman is particularly convincing as Lucius Fox, who is less than convinced that Bale’s Bruce Wayne is going about saving Gotham City the right way.

But it’s the newcomers to the Batman franchise who soldify this movie. Maggie Gyllenhall took over as Rachel Dawes and was a subtle improvement from Katie Holmes as the Gotham Assistant District Attorney. Aaron Eckhart is extraordinary as the “White Knight” District Attorney Harvey Dent, making his transformation to bad guy Two-Face near heart-wrenching.

Not surprisingly, the star of the movie is the late Heath Ledger as the Joker. Ledger’s Joker has no hint of flambouyance like previous incarnations of the character. He is manaical, spontaneous, and at times a nice piece of comic relief in an otherwise serious and dark movie. The Joker’s plans only appear far-fetched until he gets the chance to explain his way of thinking. At that point, moviegoers have no choice but to give themselves in to what the Joker is selling. He is that perfect.

One of the subtlest aspects of the movie was the way that Nolan has undoubtedly set up future Batman movies. He has a new villain in Two-Face waiting in the wings. Mention is made of now-Commissioner Jim Gordan’s kids, though the face of his daughter (destined to become Batgirl) is never shown. And better yet, there is the perfect set-up of Bruce Wayne’s uncertainty as to where the Batman stands and if he is really what the city of Gotham needs. The state of Batman movies for the future is in good hands.

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