As much as I wanted to see this movie. Ever since I first saw movie stills of the movie back in April 2008, I started building up the movie in my head. Batman Begins was such a great movie–steering away from the cheesiness that recent Batman movies had sadly become. Christian Bale is a such a perfect and unlikely candidate to play Bruce Wayne. Bale’s portrayal is dark and  gritty, a welcomed change to Val Kilmer and George Clooney versions of Batman.

A few months ago, photos of Heather Ledger in costume and clever “Why So Serious?” virals created lots of buzz. Before the movie premiered,  Citizens for Batman produced two *HUGE* batsignals on buildings in NYC and Chicago. Checking the site now, however, it seems to have been taken over by the Joker.

I’m picky about movies and I don’t always like movies that everyone else loves (i.e. Across the Universe). But The Dark Knight is simply amazing. Everyone in the movie does a great job, especially Ledger, who transformed the Joker from a misfit into a true psychopath. Ledger takes Jack Nicholson’s portrayal and turns it on its head. Whenever the Joker opens his mouth, you hear a little bit of Nicholson wrapped in Ledger’s tone, but this Joker is much, much scarier.

The only thing I wish I did was watch Batman Begins right before The Dark Knight. There’s a lot going on in this movie and I’m sure I missed a few details. Nevertheless, you can still enjoy the movie even if you haven’t seen the other ones (my girlfriend can vouch for that).

Brilliant, simply brilliant.

Filed under: Movies
Posted: July 21st 2008