The Dark Knight [Batman] [2 Disk Special Edition] [Blu-ray] [2008]

The Dark Knight is exactly what hollywood has been missing until a film of this magnitude was released, with the amount of half arsed, money making, greedy film companies taking your hard earned money for over hyped rubbish, you don't see many films that really were written and made with such passion as this film is, and it delivers for the people. Everyone involved had worked there arse off to make a masterpiece like this film and the final outcome prooves that beyond a doubpt. Most of the writers, producers, and filmers biggest example is steven speilberg abuse there name with the trash they have delivered to us in recent years. Christopher Nolan is a brilliant story teller and producer of films and makes sure he delivers the most brilliant story, picture and sound he can possibly deliver to people. As we will see him do this year when The Dark Knight Rises is released and will conclude a brilliant Batman trilogy. Heath Ledger won an academy award for his role as "Joker" in The Dark Knight ledger is amazing, brilliant, scary, and to be honest an academy award is not enough recognition for a performance of that caliber, so many actors/actresses spew out the same characteristics in every single film they appear in and get to call themselves actors movie after movie and get paid ridiculous amounts of money to do so. The Dark Knight is the most awesome, action packed, twisted adventure, you can ever hope to see, and the most well written and acted film i have seen hollywood release, in a long time. A short overview of the film: Batman (Bruce Wayne) raises the stakes in his war on crime. With the help of Lieutenant Jim Gordon and District Attorney Harvey Dent, Batman sets out to distroy the remaining criminal organizations that corrupt the police, lawyers, and which also plague and terrorise the city's streets. The partnership proves to be effective, but they soon find themselves prey to a reign of chaos unleashed by a rising criminal mastermind known to the terrified citizens of Gotham as "The Joker". This film is hands down the way batman and was always ment to be envisioned and portrayed, and is defently one of the top 10 films to see before you die. If you have not seen this film then do yourself a favour and buy it on Blu-Ray watch it and be amazed at how trully brilliant this film is. The action scenes where shot in IMAX (the best picture quality available) and all other scenes are shot in 70mm lens (2nd best picture quality available) making this a brilliant film to watch and enjoy in the most crisp high definition experiance on BLU-RAY, mix that with Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound and your in for one hell of a treat.

Yes this is an action film, yes this is a superhero film, but it is also so much more than that. All the acting performances are so powerful that it seems unbelievably real. Heath Ledger's Joker is an astonishing creation, and his tragic death will transform this role into the stuff of legend. The film is just blessed through and through. The only bad thing about "Batman Begins" was the talentless Katie Holmes, and she turned down the role this time! Thank God. And thank Gyllenhaal for being infinitely better and adding to this film's many merits. For me, this was better than last year's Oscar winner, because it deals with similar themes and yet for all its cartoon origins seems realer and more powerful. How do you fight evil without becoming evil? How do you deal with criminals who "just want to watch the world burn" and who can't be bought or bullied? The gambit with the two ships is a simple borrowing from the history of Philosophy but it makes great cinema and adds ferocious fuel to the issues mentioned above. By the end of the film when we finally understand exactly why the film is called "The Dark Knight", Batman and our understanding of him and of crime and of what we might want someone like him to do with criminals have all altered forever. An astonishing achievement in film. It really does blur the boundaries between serious cinema and action films. The last film I saw that I liked more than this was a Lars von Trier film! The new Batman franchise is doomed, from here the only way to go is down.

Hugely entertaining and thought-provoking, 'The Dark Knight' is another triumph from Christopher Nolan! In it, we are introduced to the amoral Joker, an agent of chaos in Gotham's seedy underworld, brilliantly portrayed by Heath Ledger. This Joker is a man given to frequent philosophical musings; a man motivated to commit crime for more than mere financial gain; a man unknown and unknowable; a better class of criminal altogether. He constantly challenges Batman's liberal, humanist values, and his staunch refusal to kill. It could be argued that Batman's unwillingness, or inability to break his moral code is indirectly responsible for far more people dying. However, the Joker has greater success in turning the film's white knight – Harvey Dent - to his cause. Grief stricken and bitterly resentful following the death of the woman he loves and his own hideous disfigurement, Harvey proves to be far more susceptible to the Joker's own ideas of justice. And so, Gotham City's district attorney abandons his faith in due process and the rule of law for an orgy of violent retribution. In the tragic final act, Batman must come to terms with what Harvey Dent has become... There are many great scenes in this film and some truly pulse pounding action; all driven by Hans Zimmer's percussion heavy score. The cast are all excellent; with Micheal Caine, Gary Oldman and Morgan Freeman providing solid support once again. As far as I'm concerned, not only is 'The Dark Knight' the best Batman movie ever, it is the best super-hero movie of all time! Need I say more?..

All in all the best Batman by Nolan, although I consider the first one (B begins) more consistent from start to end, while this one has a great first half but then it does not keep the promises it's made before: you expect the joker to be a real evil guy, and he ends up like a silly character, you expect the apocalypse to come and it does not, you feel the joker is right and humanity is basically evil, then everything ends up in disney style. But while you've been watching it, you can't deny it is a fascinating entertainment, with great and ambitious moments. Maybe too ambitious, but still worth to watch. Blu ray is spectacular and you can tell right from the opening scene, shot in Imax camera, and transferred in HD. I first saw it in the theatre and was really impressed, and the good thing is that, watching it again on tv, I was impressed again.

It is such a pity that Heath Ledger got his Oscar posthumously. It has to be one of the most transfixing performances of that decade. When I first saw it, the Joker genuinely scared the hell out of me.It is one of the most successful performances of a psychopath by someone who is decidedly not so. Out of all the films from 2000 through 2010, Heath's was indeed most deserved. Of course, anything that the Nolan Brothers touch seems to turn to cinematic gold. Everything in this film is what is needed for great drama - great plot, wonderful character development, and three cinematic acts with a great conclusion and an apt ending. I was disappointed somewhat with the last film in the trilogy, but this one on it's own follows the cardinal rule of middle pieces of trilogies - make them engaging, entertaining, dark, unsettling, and somewhat unresolved. The best Batman movie ever made, IMHO. We'll see what Ben Affleck does with Superman vs Batman. Last time Fox did that with Aliens Vs Predators they should have hung themselves for poor taste and sheer avarice. Turning two of that generations most compelling franchises into mere bloodbaths was disgusting, and without cinematic merit. Anyway, buy this movie - it's the best.

On a purely superficial level, this film is a visual treat. Witnessing Gotham City in High-Definition is a sight to behold. This film differs from many others as it utilises the latest technology with an engaging storyline. All too often we are subjected to blockbusters with all style and no substance. Christopher Nolan has chosen to reference Frank Miller's dark, gothic vision of Batman. Miller's Batman clearly has issues with schizophrenia and Bale manages to subtly implement this into his performance. The main attraction, of course, is Heath Ledger's performance as the Joker. Ledger's death shortly after the completition of the film cast a dark shadow over the arrival of the film. Due to this, the film is shrouded in mystic and the unknown. The Joker has a punk aesthetic, both in appearence and philosphy. He cannot be bought, beaten or bargained with. Apparently, Ledger based his pefomance on Sid Vicious, who epitomised what punk was. At one time, punk wasn't just a fashion trend, it was a way of life. In The Dark Knight, the Joker believes that people are capable of much more and that we choose to suppress our animalistic capacities. If you have not seen this film then I strongly urge you do to so. It is very rare for a big-budget, hugely popular film to be multi-layered and open to interpretation

I admit, I came to the new batman films with a somewhat preconceived notion that they would be typical comic book films, glossy and boring, but nevertheless an agreeable way to spend two hours or so. However, I was very wrong, whilst in opinion, it is not quite te masterpiece that some claim, it is nevertheless a brilliant film, the plot is genuinely compelling and the setting genuinely dark. Christopher Nolan has finally got the full potential out of the Batman world not only that but there is some stellar acting on show, not just with Heath Ledger but from Micheal Caine and from Morgan Freeman as well. Now onto the Blu-ray conversion, which has been the subject of some controversy in the reviews below. My view is that so long as you watch it without purposefully looking for the aspect ratio changes, you won't notice them too much and they won't annoy you. What you will notice is that the film envelops you in the world of Gotham City. Overall personally I like the fact that they filmed some of it in IMAX it adds to the film, rather than taking away, in my opinion. I also loved the film, it is fun and not totally serious, but it's still great nevertheless.

This is easily the best superhero film I've ever seen bar none. It builds superbly on the groundwork laid in Batman Begins and expands the characters whilst bringing us deeper into Bruce Wayne's tormented world. This film succeeds for me because it brings the fantasy world of Batman ever so close to being real. Batman deals with very 'real' enemies and situations and pretty much everything that happens in the film could conceivably happen in the real world. This may not be important for some but for me it makes the whole thing incredibly powerful. The scenes near the beginning of the film where Alfred sees Bruce's injuries show that Christopher Nolan was mindful about making Batman seem more mortal and it works brilliantly. Batman of course always was an 'ordinary' man but I don't think any of the other films portrayed this so effectively. The tone of the film is incredibly dark. I remember leaving the cinema and thinking the film could have been 18 rated and I would have thought it reasonable. Heath Ledger's portrayal of the Joker is one of the best movie villains ever. So much was made of his death and I was skeptical if the praise heaped on his Joker was out of sympathy but I can say categorically it was wholly deserved. Ledger's Joker is different form Jack Nicholson's and is so deeply psychologically disturbed the character is genuinely unsettling. The guy is absolutely unhinged in the worst possible way. The set pieces of the film are amazing. The whole section where Batman goes to Hong Kong to 'extract' a villain who has fled is genius. It takes Batman global, again adding to whole feeling of realism. The picture quality of the disc is top class. The bitrate of the VC-1 encode averages around the high 20's and on occasion reaches the high 40's. The soundtrack is Dolby Digital or a Dolby Tru HD lossless version. These will keep the audiophiles happy I'm sure. There are some amazing plot twists, playing with the audience and keeping you guessing about key characters who die. The creation of Harvey two face is also quite harrowing and the special effects are amongst the best I've seen. Everything in the film oozes quality. Overall an utterly superb sequel - possibly the best sequel, easily rivaling Empire Strikes Back for its plot and character development. The only downside is that it's so good, how the heck can the next Batman film measure up to this?? Highly recommended. `