The Dark Knight (DVD)

This movie maybe about Batman, but it is entitled "The Dark Knight" for a few reasons. Firstly to move away from the comedy stylings of the original TV series and the campness that has long been associated with the story of Batman, especially with the villans and sidekick Robin which could never really be taken seriously time ago. But this new release sees a much more sinister and 'darker' side to both Batman as a hero/vigilante and also to the villans. Batman is much stronger and less-forgiving with his enemies and the Joker, which is simply outstanding performed by the late Heath Ledger, is also much more frightening and evil than the previous efforts.
The general story of "The Dark Knight" is based around the theft and transfer of money from several banks to a mob based in Gottham city. Batman as usual plays his part in attempting to stop them and the Joker then addresses the mob with his devine plan to eliminate the Dark Knight. The new governer of Gotham has been successful in catching many of the city's criminals and putting them behind bars and as a result has won the admiration of the people. Batman sees him as the real hero of Gotham and contemplates giving up his role. Later however following the decisions of the police to save him rather than his girlfriend, the governer is twisted by the Joker into supporting him. Batman is still needed to save Gotham city.

As expected "The Dark Knight" is superb. A great storyline, superb cinematics and a booming soundtrack to send shivers down your spine. It is quite dark though and some scenes are fairly violent, I think the 12A rating is a little on the generous side, it should have been at least a 15. There are many great performances in the movie from the likes of Morgan Freeman, Christian Bale and Michael Caine; but Heath Ledger is simply brilliant as the Joker. His performance is certainly worthy of an Oscar nomination and the movie itself with fistfuls of action, superb drama and excitment and an excellent array of gadgets and story-twists is one of the best movies released this year.