Dark Knight, The (Blu-ray)

Connect to Facebook/Twitter, recommend via email and much more.

---

Which isn't to say the rest of the cast sits on the sidelines, watching Ledger. This is, after all, a Batman movie. Whereas "Batman Begins" was about Bruce Wayne and becoming Batman, "Knight" focuses in on the hero himself, specifically the lengths he will go to in order to protect Gotham City. There is a fine line he must toe between becoming the Joker and being good. We catch glimpses of the battle within throughout the film, though it is brought forcefully onto the screen in the climax.

Any self-respecting comic book fan knows who Harvey Dent is and his alter-ego. For the purposes of this review, I won't spoil the character. Suffice to say he is one of the lackluster aspect to the production. His alter-ego is brought onto screen, runs around a bit and then…nothing. An ignominious end to a potentially new character for the inevitable sequel. As Dent, though, Eckhart doesn't disappoint. He is a fresh face (to the series) with a hope for the city not seen on anyone else's face. The character is a charmer in the vein of Wayne, but without the vanity. And Eckhart plays it well.

The one casting change from the first film is Gyllenhaal as Rachel Dawes. As much as audiences liked to rip on Katie Holmes in the character, for as much as Rachel gets to do here, would it have really mattered who played the part? Don't get me wrong: Gyllenhaal has a grace and elegance Holmes never could possess while being a more credible love interest for Wayne (Bale looks older than his age while Holmes considerably younger). The issues lies with the way the movie is plotted out, as I already mentioned. The relationships are already in place, leaving "The Dark Knight" to begin to pay them off. Gyllenhaal didn't get to do any of the heavy lifting in the first film and here seems a just a bit lost in what to do perhaps because she wasn't present before.

(That's not to leave out the contributions from Oldman, Freeman and Caine, or the smaller parts played by Nestor Carbonell, Eric Roberts and Anthony Michael Hall, but there are other aspects of the film to talk about.)

When Bale and Ledger share the screen, as in an intense interrogation room scene, the film crackles with excitement and potential. And when they end up debating the merits of humanity at the end, we're watching two people on the fringes of society ruminating on their futures. Oddly, everything the Joker predicts comes to pass at the end, providing this universe not with a hopeful outlook on the future, but one seemingly destined to be bleaker than it was before. (Not to mention leaving the audience clamoring for more.) There's a new direction for the series set up in a handful of minutes, one hinted at through the entire production. In a sadistic way, the Joker is able to kill hope and Batman in one fell swoop despite not winning the day in conventional terms.

Chris Nolan has gone on record saying as many effects as possible were done practically on set instead of with the use of computers. To be frank, it shows. There is a weight and substance CGI simply hasn't caught up with yet when it comes to action sequences. As good as the finale to "The Incredible Hulk" looked, it pales in comparison to any of the chases, fistfights, shoot outs or explosions here. We're always mindful someone could be hurt at any given moment because of the reality of the situation. When a hospital blows up, it is an actual building and not a construct. It has all the details an actual location would have without any of the computer gloss.

A very minor nitpick takes place in an early courtroom scene, eventually coming off as too quick, too easy, too polished and too rushed. It flies in the face of the rest of the movie and I can't help but wonder why. Is it deliberately structured like this for some reason? Did I simply become too used to the way the rest of the film was plotted? I'm not sure, but since the scene lasts less than five minutes, I'll overlook it. (There is also a traitor subplot which never gets any traction in the film. It's an important piece of the story and one glossed over too easily. Certain camera moves through the film do suggest something is happening, yet the story doesn't delve into it.)

Is this film perfect? No. To make a perfect film, the filmmakers would need to be infallible. But this is a damn good-dare I even say great-film. A masterful performance from Ledger, fantastic supporting turns by a big enough A-list cast to populate three movies, fantastic visual splendor and an engrossing story. As legendary as "Batman Begins" and "X2: X-Men United" and "Spider-Man 2" and even "Superman: The Movie" all turned out to be, this production takes the crown as best comic book movie to date. Not to mention possibly one of the five best movies so far this year and the best of the summer. Mr. Nolan, we are ready for the encore. An enthusiastic 9 out of 10, if only because a 10 out of 10 demands perfection.

Jason's Film Rating: 9/10

Video:
If you watched the film in a regular movie theater as I did, you saw it projected in a 2.40:1 aspect ratio. If you saw it in an IMAX theater, you saw it in a variable aspect ratio, with some scenes in a 1.44:1 IMAX ratio and the rest of the scenes in 2.40:1. The Blu-ray disc offers the film in something approaching its IMAX configuration, although it changes the 1.44:1 ratios to 1.78:1 when they come up; so, yes, you miss a bit of the top and bottom of the original IMAX framing. I fully expected these switches in aspect ratio to be distracting, but, in fact, I hardly noticed them, except periodically to admire the bigger, wider IMAX panoramas whenever they rolled around.

The video presentation, enabled by a VC-1 encode and a dual-layer BD50, is quite good, especially the IMAX sequences, which are mostly razor-sharp in their delineation and detailing, some of them looking spectacular. (Note, however, that the IMAX process can render wide expanses of solid colors like sky with such exacting precision that it can exaggerate minor photographic defects. Needless to say, because these minor imperfections can be exacerbated by your TV's sharpness control, you should be sure to check that your television's sharpness setting is adjusted to low or off.) The regular 2.40:1 sections of the film are also good, although I observed touches of softness occasionally, some instances of moiré effects, and a few facial shots that looked a tad too dark in both screen formats. But, then, the film's overall tone is intentionally dark. In other respects, the colors show up realistically, the application of filtering and edge enhancement is minimal, and there is never any serious cause for concern except perhaps to videophiles who nitpick everything, as they did the high-definition HD DVD and Blu-ray transfers of "Batman Begins." Which is to say that if you found fault with the previous film, you'll find fault here, too; otherwise, you'll enjoy the BD video quality of "The Dark Knight."

Audio:
In English you get the choice of either regular lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 or lossless Dolby TrueHD 5.1. I opted for the TrueHD, of course, but as usual with a Warners disc you have to choose it at start-up because WB make DD 5.1 the default. That still mystifies me. Anyway, the soundtrack provides everything you'd expect from an action movie and more. The surround effects wrap around the listener, the dynamic range is wide, and the impact is impressively punchy. If there is any issue I had with the audio, it is that the bass is so thunderously deep and loud at times that it can obscure dialogue. Bass lovers will have a field day, but I found it too much of a good thing.

Extras:
Warner Bros. offer this particular edition of "The Dark Knight" on three discs. Disc one contains the feature film plus "Gotham Uncovered: The Creation of a Scene," a series of eighteen featurettes wherein director Christopher Nolan and his fellow filmmakers discuss the film, the IMAX process, the new Bat suit and Bat-pod, and the usual stuff you expect a director to talk about. You can watch these featurettes interspersed throughout the movie (you click the on-screen icons when they appear), or you can watch them apart from the movie, all at once (over an hour) or individually. In addition, disc one contains BD-Live features, which Warner Bros. describe as enabling you to "create your own profile with a personalized avatar, check out exclusive content from the media center, review new trailers, and express yourself through Live Community Screening and My WB Commentary."

Things on disc one conclude with thirty-nine scene selections and bookmarks; a guide to elapsed time; English, French, Spanish spoken languages; French and Spanish subtitles; and English captions for the hearing impaired.

On Disc two there are three sections: "Behind the Story," "Extras," and "Trailers and More." In "Behind the Story" we find two documentaries. The first is "Batman Tech," forty-six minutes in high def, exploring the gadgets and tools that Batman uses and the real technology behind them. The tech goes all the way back to the early Batman comics and continues to the present. The second documentary is "Batman Unmasked: The Psychology of the Dark Knight," forty-six minutes also in high def, delving into real-world psychotherapy to probe Bruce Wayne's psyche and the psyche of his adversaries.

The second section, "Extras," contains a series of six Gotham television news broadcasts, again totaling forty-six minutes. (Is there a significance to the number "forty-six" in "Batman" lore, or was this a coincidence?) Plus, there is a series of four art galleries covering pictures of Joker cards, concept art, poster art, and production stills. The third section contains three theatrical trailers and six TV spots, these totaling nine minutes.

Disc three contains a standard-definition digital copy of the film compatible with iTunes and Windows Media devices (but not compatible with Apple Macintosh and iPod devices in Mexico).

The three discs come housed in a BD keep case with a center insert, further encased in an attractively embossed, metalized cardboard slipcover. Oh, and you can buy the set with either of two covers: The one pictured in the upper right of this review with Batman or the one I have, with the Joker. It appears to be another admission that this is really as much the Joker's picture as Batman's.

Parting Thoughts:
The movie's film rating below is an average of Jason's and my opinion of it. We both enjoyed Heath Ledger's portrayal of the Joker, but Jason felt the supporting cast, the atmosphere, and the plot were a tad more enjoyable than I found them. Fair enough. "The Dark Knight" is a good, entertaining superhero film, overlong, to be sure, and often delving into the morbid for the sake of morbidness, but nonetheless up there among Hollywood's better superhero films.

Whether it is the best, however, remains open to question.

"Some men just want to watch the world burn down." --Alfred Pennyworth

---

Connect to Facebook/Twitter, recommend via email and much more.

---