DVD Of The Week: The Dark Knight (2008)

As probably the last geek on Earth to actually get to see The Dark Knight, I doubt there is anything I can say that would have any impact.

If you Google the phrase "Dark Knight", you will call up hundreds of reviews, from the detached professionals to the raving fanboys, the majority of which will be better written, more incisive and certainly wittier than mine would have been.

So does it measure up to the hype? Surprisingly, yes.

Does Heath Ledger steal the show? Not really, he is certainly memorable, but the character of The Joker can't be anything but - we all remember Jack Nicholson in the role and those who watched the camp '60s TV show will remember Cesar Romero.

Does Christian Bale put on a silly voice along with the Bat suit? Yes, his gravelly tones when Batman are quite extreme, but you get used to them.

Just accept the fact that this is a really good superhero/comic book movie and enjoy. I'm still not overly fond of the new design of the Batmobile, introduced in Batman Begins, and consequently the Batcycle (that springs out of it), but these aren't deal breakers.

On the other hand, Gary Oldman is - for me - the definitive Jim Gordon, finally reaching the rank of Commissioner in this film, and Aaron Eckhart was great as the "white knight" Harvey Dent, driven to insanity by The Joker's schemes.

For a big budget, rock 'em, sock 'em superhero flick with an arsenal of gadgets James Bond would kill for these days, it's not the action sequences in The Dark Knight that won me round, but Jonathan and Christopher Nolan's slowly unfolding script.

It's an intelligent script that takes it time to lay out all its pieces, throws us a few red herrings along the way, but makes the effort to layer all the central characters so we actually believe their motivations and actions.

I'm now looking forward to the chance to see this again - as a double bill with Batman Begins.

DC Comics just needs to get a decent version of Superman back in the cinema and maybe some of their other top notch characters (e.g. The Flash, Wonder Woman, Justice League etc) and they might finally be able to give Marvel a run for their money.