Movie Info

RATING:

PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and some menace.

GENRE:

Action/Adventure, Crime/Gangster, Adaptation and Sequel

RELEASE:

July 18, 2008

STARRING:

Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Aaron Eckhart, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Michael Caine, Gary Oldman, Morgan Freeman

DIRECTOR:

Christopher Nolan

DISTRIBUTORS:

Warner Bros. Pictures Distribution

OFFICIAL WEB SITE:

thedarkknight.warnerbros.com

Please Note

In providing movie reviews on our site, CBN.com is not endorsing or recommending films we review. Our goal is to provide Christians with information about the latest movies, both the good and the bad, so that our readers may make an informed decision as to whether or not films are appropriate for them and their families.

MOVIE REVIEW

The Dark Knight

Movieguide Magazine

What's This?

CBN.com - Like everywhere else, fads sweep Hollywood movies. A new teaching in Hollywood advertised in script workshop contends that “you don’t need plot, you don’t need character, you don’t need dialogue, because all you need is emotion.”

Evidently, the current creators of Batman found this approach intriguing because the movie is full of emotional moments, some of which are great, to the neglect of plot, character and dialogue. Thus, Batman in The Dark Knight does not go through a character arc and (SPOILER ALERT) hardly seems to wince when a terrible tragedy occurs in the middle of the action, and the Joker does not go through a character arc. People who like emotive moments, video games, and eye candy will walk out satisfied, but people who like to be touched by the story and the characters will be disappointed.

Dark Knight starts off with much promise. There’s a new criminal in Gotham City challenging the mobs. He is ruthless, senseless and chaotic, a true psychopath. He sends his goons to rob a mob bank. He tells each goon to finish off the goon who completes his job, first the driver, then the safecracker, then the bagman so that only Joker leaves alive. He tells the mob that he will get rid of their biggest problem, Batman, after driving a pencil through a mobster’s head to show his cruel superiority.

At the same time, there’s a new good guy on the scene, Harvey Dent, the District Attorney. With Batman and Detective Gordon’s help, he arrests the Chinese mob leader, Lau, who has been the lead banker for all the mobsters. Using Lau’s information, Dent is able to indict a courthouse full of mobsters.

Batman, aka Bruce Wayne, thinks Harvey may be able to solve the crime problem so that Batman can get back together with his beloved, Rachel. Rachel, however, has fallen in love with Harvey.

The Joker leaves a clue that he’s going to kill the judge, the police commissioner and Harvey Dent. (SPOILER ALERT) In his chaotic, psychotic way, Joker kills the judge, kills the commissioner in a crowd of policemen, kills Rachel, and causes Harvey to lose half his face so that one side of his face looks like a skull and tendons. This causes a psychotic break in Harvey, who turns into a villain himself, though somewhat more conflicted.

Batman makes it his goal to capture Joker. He almost goes over the top and becomes a vigilante, especially when Joker kidnaps two people and wires them up to two bombs.

Movies with two villains often have problems, because once you finish with the first villain, you have to defeat the second villain, which is almost like a second movie. Thus, for those who don’t revel in exciting eye candy, the last 20 minutes of this movie become tedious. As said, some of the interactions between the characters are brilliant emotional moments. They have been used to make good ads and YouTube clips of the movie, but they do not hang together cohesively. Upping the ante on emotional moments can bring fatigue. What works traditionally is a plot point early on in the movie to propel it in a different direction and a plot point introduced in the third act. The Batman script has one noticeable plot point in the middle and several repetitious plot beats. Joker is psychotic and mean from the beginning. He’s shown to be psychotic and mean several times. A little character growth would have helped him a great deal. Those who think playing psychotic and mean is great acting will love this role. They may want to look back at Jack Nicholson’s Joker, who made more of a haunting, lasting impression because of his deep-seated humor in the midst of real pain and suffering.

The music, sound effects and special effects are very good. These are some of the best explosions in movie history. The Dark Knight is not a very bad movie, although it seems to suggest in no uncertain terms that a hero can be a liar without tarnishing his heroic qualities. This is not a movie for children or young teenagers who may pick up scripts of bad behavior, however, though they probably will flock to the movie. Parents must take a strong stand, therefore, and not let their children and teenagers succumb to media hype. From our point of view, consider renting Batman Begins, the first movie in this incarnation of the caped hero, instead. It’s a much better scripted, acted, and directed movie.

Address Comments To:
Jeffrey L. Bewkes, CEO, Time Warner
Barry M. Meyer, Chairman/CEO
Alan Horn, President/COO
Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (New Line Cinema)
(A Time Warner company)
4000 Warner Blvd.
Burbank, CA 91522-0001
Phone: (818) 954-6000
Website: www.movies.warnerbros.com