Last Thursday, 24th July at 7.30pm I took my seat in a packed cinema house to watch what is undoubtedly the biggest film of the year. A film that has, since its launch, smashed record after record in Box Office takings.

I was a massive fan of the original (by original, I mean in the new darker, Christopher Nolan series), Batman Begins, often citing it as the yardstick by which all other comic hero movies are measured. It was dark, moody and undoubtedly the Gotham that was portrayed in the early comic book stories, not the same comical based stories used throughout Batman, Batman Returns, Batman Forever and Batman & Robin, whilst I did enjoy those films (well, not so much Batman and Robin), there is no way you could compare the two, they are clearly different eras, Batman Begins ignored the fact those other films existed and that, for me, was key.

Batman Begins ended with Lt. Gordon informing Batman of a new threat to Gotham, showing his ‘calling card’, a Joker from a deck of cards, to which the reaction in the Las Vegas movie theater was electric, it was obvious that Gotham City’s greatest nemesis was going to play a major part in the next movie in the series, a part that was to become the last, and ultimately, the stand out performance of Heath Ledgers career.

I, along with many of you I am sure have been eagerly anticipating this, in fact this is possibly my most anticipated filn ever, certainly that I can think of, so when I was informed I had a ticket for the first night of public openings by my friend I couldn’t wait. I’d intentionally stayed away from much of the hype, much in the same way I do popular games, the hype never does any good for anything, so short of knowing I wanted to see it that’s as far as I went.

So I took my seat in the hope that Christopher Nolan, possibly the best British director of the 21st century would deliver once more as he took charge of the Caped Crusaders latest outing, featuring an almost identical cast to those in ‘Begins’, with only Maggie Gyllenhaal, a replacement for Katie Holmes, Aaron Eckhart and obviously, Heath Ledger added to the mix. Tom Wilkinsons character, now an escaped mental patient from Arkham Asylum was replaced in an almost like-for-like character swap with Eric Roberts, who is now head of the Gotham mafia family.

Certain critics would have you believe the film, at 150 minutes, is overly long, I would say they’re wrong. Others would say it’s overhyped, they’re probably correct, it probably is, currently at #1 on the IMDb top 250 it’s grossly misplaced at the top of the pile ahead of some truly classic movies, however it certainly delivers on several fronts, storywise it’s probably the strongest of the superhero movies with a story that is pushed and delivered to a standard equal to many Oscar winners of years past, something you really don’t expect from this kind of movie, it’s taken what Batman Begins started with two hands and really pushed on, delivering a movie world that is epic, bustling, multi-tiered and most importantly, completely believable, so I doff my cap to you Mr. Nolan.

Not wanting to ruin the story for anyone who doesn’t know what it is entirely, I won’t mention the outline of the movie, I’ll leave it for you to discover yourself, however what I will say is that this film really kicks off from what was started in Batman Begins, The Dark Knight brings more of everything. More villains, more gadgets and more action. It’s a spicy concoction that just works fantastically well, delivering the action movie of the year.

As for the topic of the late Heath Ledger, a man who has quite possibly created more headlines regarding this role since his death than he did for his many brilliant roles in his life, all I can say is that the plauditz that he has recieved for this role are more than just. The original question was ‘Can Heath Ledger live up to the great Jack Nicholson?’ when it comes to the Joker, the question now is ‘Can anyone do a better villain than Heath Ledgers’ The Joker?’. There is a lot of talk for a posthumous Oscar nod for Heath Ledger, something that to the full respect of Warner Bros. and the cast and crew of The Dark Knight, they haven’t sold this film on Heath Ledger death, instead focussing on what they obviously believe to be a product that speaks for itself, and it does. For me, I would be more than happy for Heath to pick up the Oscar, it’s a role that deserves it, especially looking over some roles that have had Oscar nominations in the not so distant past that can’t hold a candle to what he pulled off in this movie. To say someone is completely believable as a psychopathic, maniacal, crazy, relentless, clown faced villain seems ridiculous, but it goes to show how much Heath Ledger was in that role, it was known he was in a dark place and upon viewing the film, he must have been.

Not to put the whole film, as many others have done on the performance of The Joker, it’s overshadowed what the rest of the cast have done. Christian Bale, again, performs as Batman, now he’s a more ruthless and efficient vigilante in the realms of Gotham City, a fighter for the people who is somewhere between the good of the Police force and the bad of the Gotham Villains and Christian Bale plays Bruce Wayne, business billionaire and Batman the ruthless fighter brilliantly, in the past movies you always had someone who was a better Bruce Wayne to Batman, in Bale we have the best of both and since the completion of the film he’s already stated he will sign on to do a third if Christopher Nolan writes and directs it, win-win for us.

Aaron Eckhart, another underrated actor when it comes to blockbusters plays the role of Harvey Dent, Gotham City’s ‘White Knight’, Gotham City’s star attorney, helping put mobsters behind bars, an immovable force for good. Eckhart was a very good choice, although rumour has it that he was not first choice and that both Matt Damon and Ed Norton were choices, the former knocking the role back, the latter opting to work on ‘The Incredible Hulk’ instead, but Eckharts work as Harvey Dent was definitely, for me, one of the movies many highlights. Dent is in a position where, knowing that the police force is full of criminals, does he trust those who run the city for good are indeed doing so, a man suspicious of everyone. He is also the boyfriend of Bruce Waynes childhood best friend, Rachel Dawes.

My favourite performance is one of Britains finest actors and possibly Hollywoods most underrated, Gary Oldman. Gary Oldman is Lt. Jim Gordon of the GCPD (Gotham City Police Department), head of the task force, a crew of none-trustworthy policemen who could just as well be in the pockets of the mafia families. Gary Oldman plays the role of the loyal idealist fantastically well.

The only negative I had with the cast would be Maggie Gyllenhaal, and it seems to be a common complaint, and it’s not because she’s a bad actor, she’s not, I thought she was fantastic in Stranger than Fiction for example, however she is not Rachel Dawes, a role Katie Holmes did well with in Batman Begins, I just think it was a miscast to be honest, it’s not a slight against her acting ability, she just wasn’t right.

Christopher Nolan’s re-creation of Batman is a true following to those who loved the comic books and also to those who want a darker, almost anti-hero, taking the stories straight from comics. It was well reported that the first things given to Heath Ledger to play the role of The Joker were the earliest comic books featuring his character, as a result this Joker is not like the one we saw in the 1989 version, this is a Joker who has no rules, no rhyme, no reason for doing what he does. He is there for one pure reason, Anarchy. He is the bringer of chaos and as a result with this film you get a level of unexpectedness rarely seen in any films, let alone something that has been done and done again as Batman has been. With this you have the definitive Batman experience.

All in all, I really recommend you go to see the film, especially at the cinema with the full audio experience on the go. For those who don’t know, it’s also on the IMAX cinemas, so it could be worth trying to see it there.

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