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28 of 37 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Better Class of Criminal, Oct 11 2008
You've heard all the hype, and that the film does live up to its reputation, but you haven't seen it yet, thinking it's just another stupid superhero movie. You're wrong. This is a masterpiece of filmmaking which just so happens to feature a guy crazy enough to don a creepy bat guise to scare thugs in the night. It's intense, witty, emotionally powerful, thought-provoking and consistently shocking. It's also a very adult rollercoaster ride of action and character exploration united, facing the social/societal issues which most films ignore as to avoid controversy. But as this one is set in a fictional city, they found the courage.
And if you're thinking all the hype surrounding Heath Ledger's performance is only because he died young and suddenly from a drug `overdose' (mixed dose, really) then you are also mistaken; Ledger gives a performance every iota as powerful and disturbing as Malcolm McDowell's performance in "A Clockwork Orange" and yet as dramatically believable as Anthony Hopkins in "Silence of the Lambs." And he does this while delving deeper into an already heavily explored character, expanding his world and even giving him a witty mock Chicago accent. Ledger leapt into the well-developed Joker version of the Nolan brothers' sensational script, and simply brought it to life with a powerful presence which shook actors and crewmen alike to dominate the film in every way possible. It is by far Ledger's best acting performance, and in my opinion one of the great acting performances in the history of cinema. Again, this isn't hype talking, it's fact.
So what is this film then if it's not merely a superhero-ish blockbuster? It's a dark mystery, a legal drama, an edge-of-your-seat thriller, a horror film and a sharp political commentary. It's everything you loved in graphic novels like "Watchmen" but never believed you'd see on the big screen. It's also a sequel to "Batman Begins", the film which began Nolan's take on the Batman saga, retelling it the way he thought it should be told. "Batman Begins" isn't a necessary watch before this one, if you are at least somewhat familiar with the central characters and Gotham city. But it would be a wise choice, since this one picks up where the last one left off; with Gotham in shambles, Scarecrow on the loose and a new serial killer in town with a "taste for the theatrics."
Excellence shines through this dark gem at every turn; its solid writing, directing, acting, costume design, set design, lighting and shadowing, cinema photography (some scenes shot by Imax camera), music and sound, and the little adlib moments that stay with you long after the film's end. Don't be troubled by its length (roughly two and a half hours) because it goes by so fast you barely notice, and the final sequences are more than worth the extra space. It's difficult to talk about this film without raving, it's simply a fantastic story, excellently executed, capable of taking you by surprise at every twist and turn, and afterwards leaving you wanting to savour the experience again, and again.
Needless to say, on DVD it will also break records.
But this is not a film for the kids, or for the faint of heart, and if I haven't made it clear yet I'll say it now; it's more intense than most R-rated movies out there, so be warned.
Can't wait to watch it again...
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