Batman, Why So Serious?

Check out the cast and crew here

The Plot: (Beware of spoilers) A new criminal is in town and he wants to raise hell. But he has to face 3 obstacles first: 1) Commissioner Gordon (he'll be commissioner by the middle of the movie) 2) District Attorney Harvey Dent (we all know he's really Two Face). 3) Billionaire Playboy/"Vigilante" Bruce Wayne/Batman. But how does the Dark Knight stop a new breed of criminal who has nothing to lose, who doesn't care about money, and who just wants to wreak havoc to society? Well, you get to find out after 2 1/2 hours of mini battles between Good and Evil.

The Good: Heath Ledger's performance stole the movie. He was not only convincing as the evil Joker, he also had total control of his entire body. You may notice that he licked his lips almost every 5 seconds. There were also a lot of great movie quotes, and director Christopher Nolan seems to be trying to tell us how philosophical he can get when Harvey Dent said, "You can either die a hero, or live long enough to see yourself become the villain." And the sound for this movie--all the crashes, gunshots, etc.--they were all beautifully done. I'm sure this movie will win some kind of award for sound engineering. 

The Bad: The movie was way too long. There were a lot of scenes that just didn't need to be there and were only added for comic effect. I guess that was Nolan's answer to ease the dark tale he was telling. But Nolan, like the Joker said, "Why so serious?" The entire movie was just too serious and too philosophical for people to handle. Well, that may or may not be a good thing.

The Grade: A-, the record breaking $155 million opening weekend for Batman: The Dark Knight certainly speaks for itself.

Other Notes: Pay attention to cameos by Edison Chen (the very same Edison Chen with the whole picture scandal), Senator Patrick Leahy, and Cillian Murphy as the Scarecrow again.

For a more opinionated review, check out my friend's website here.