The Dark Knight Returns

Author: Pyrofenix

Gotham city during the day has a completely different feel to it. It’s something I don’t recall experiencing during Batman Begins. It may be a different feel, but the criminals are up to their same old tricks. Not even 2 minutes into the movie, we’re following a group of masked (clown masks naturally) robbing a bank. It’s the first time we’ll see The Joker, played by the late Heath Ledger, and during the next 2 1/2 hours you’ll beg to see more!

It’s lucky that you do indeed get a lot of him, because his performance is simply incredible. He is both funny and sadistic at the same time. Jack Nicholson looks like a fuzzy bunny compared to the Joker that Ledger portrays.

Not only do you get to see Gotham during the day, but you get to see a safer, more inviting city, as Batman has really done a good job of cleaning up the city. He hasn’t done it alone though. Police Lieutenant Jim Gordon (Gary Oldman), District Attorney Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart) and his girlfriend, Rachel Dawes (Maggie Gyllenhaal) have all had a big part to play in the recent war on crime. They have the mob and various criminal minds all trying to keep a low profile. But that’s not what The Joker has in mind!

The next two and a half hours are a wicked roller coaster. Batman is having a hard time putting down the incredibly smart and evil Joker. The chaos that has ensued has begun returning Gotham to the dark and scary place (for the average citizen) and the only way to make it stop is for Batman to reveal his true identity…but is it really?

I wouldn’t dare relay how things turn out in the end. But what I will say is that The Joker is brilliant! Also, Harvey Dent’s transformation into Two-Face is both believable and sad.

My biggest complaint of the movie, and it’s a very small one, Christian Bale’s choice of voice as Batman. In Batman Begins once he put on the cape, he got a husky growl but this time around it seems more obvious and slightly silly. But only slightly.