This is going to be a short review because otherwise it would be chock full of spoilers and this is definately a movie with moments that need to be experienced first hand. However, I will try so here we go.
I will be perfectly honest in that I don't think this has been the best movie of the year, that would be "Iron Man" but I digress.
TDK is really a story about the consequences of ones actions or rather the unintended consequences of good intentions. Like the old saying goes "the road to hell is paved with good intentions" If that age old adage is any indictation then this movie may as well reside in hell its self or at the very least adjacent to it.
Its difficult to pin down just how violent this movie was because there were two sides to it. You have the obvious viceral violence, people getting killed in various horrible ways and then you have those people being terrorized on an emotional level. Then maybe a third side could be the violent emotions and emotional despair those who survive the carnage deal with it afterwards.
Now, The Joker is really the center piece of this story and I would say Heath Ledgers performance isn't all hype but some of it is but never the less its a really good if not the best take on The Joker so far. To be clear this is a character who doesn't seem to really exist with any clear purpose other than to serve as an "agent of chaos". The Joker in this particular story really puts the hero and everyone arround him to the screws in the worst possible ways.
If and when you go to see this movie pay close attention to a whirring sound everytime the Joker is about to appear or is in a scene. I think its a great touch but also very creepy and unsettleing. My take on that sound was that its what was going on inside the Jokers mind which obviously is a place very few of us would dare venture.
To sum up, this is definately a good dark movie that works on a lot of emotional levels and there is very little hope but there is a tiny bit but not much. I would equate this movie to The Empire Strikes back in that its going to go down as the darkest chapter in the new Batman triology. But thats how you create great drama in three seperate acts. Very few stories can go wrong by useing the tried and true formula of great drama.
So, go see this movie so I don't have to keep all the best parts to my self.
-Jayson
Subject: The Dark Knight *spoiler free 
Mon Jul 21, 2008 6:05 pm
