Dark Knight

Okay, best movie I've seen in a long while. It had a Blade Runner feel to it in that it felt like we were in the theatre for 4-5 hours when it was only 2.5 hours. We saw it at 3:30pm on Friday, at the Imax screening at Silvercity.

As I'm sure has been said all over teh intarweeb, Heath Ledger was fantastic. The Joker was unpredictable, pulled no punches and was insidious. He was a much more true-to-form Joker than Jack Nicholson. The make-up job was more appropriate and less '60s comic book style. Jack Nicholson had the crazy thing going on but Heath Ledger made me tense when he was on-screen. His insanity was much more homicidal and eerie. He was just... I don't even know the word for it. He just had a simmering yet cold insanity. He had nothing to lose, so he had no weaknesses. He was free to do whatever he wanted, and had no moral issues with pushing that to extremes. The greatest thing about the Joker as a character is that he's free of all restraints whereas Batman is not. That's what makes them a superb hero-villain pairing - they're such great foils for each other.

It was an all 'round amazing movie, far surpassing Batman Begins in feel and intensity. I wasn't sure how I'd feel about Dark Knight given that I love "genesis" comic book movies; I like to see how it comes about and how the characters test and evolve their roles. This movie gave everything to the story and characters, though there was no build-up and it started pretty much right after the first one. The characters were more involved and connected to the story as opposed to appearing and just providing a gadget or bit of advice. It gave the movie a more full, real feel. Aaron Eckhart was a great addition to the central cast.

I could keep talking about it but my point is simple: Go see it.