Dark Knight... Just All Right

*** 08.18.08 - The Dark Knight... 2008... Director Christopher Nolan

Let me preface this review by saying I grew up on Adam West and Burt Ward as Batman and Robin on television. I will always have a special place in my heart for them. Now I know it's a "campier" version of the character, but it how I discovered Batman first and how I think of him.

Now that being said, I did read some of the Batman comics growing up and I understand and can appreciate the darker side of Batman. In fact the last two movies, "Batman Begins" and "The Dark Knight," are in that genre and they work... for the most part. If you're going to make a movie about Batman, I think you have to go one way or the other and part of the reason some of the earlier Batman movies didn't work is because they got caught in between trying to be campy or dark and that causes problems, because you're trying to please both sets of Batman fans and you just can't.

"The Dark Knight," is a good film and I'm glad I saw it and saw it on the big screen. The feel and look of the film are amazing and Heath Ledger steals the show.

He WILL be nominated for an Oscar for his performance and barring anything else out there at this time or down the road this year, he SHOULD win it. Ledger commands the screen every second he's on it and no one comes close! The rest of the cast is good and there are some rich performances there as well.

However, all is not good with this Batman. It's far too long and while I enjoy Christian Bale for most of the film, I grew tired of his "Brenda Vacarro" like voice as the caped crusader.

It's a good piece of filmmaking and even with it's flaws as I see them, worth seeing before it leaves the theaters.