‘The Dark Knight’: No ‘Godfather II’, but good nonetheless

Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins was The Godfather of superhero movies. It didn’t go in for the silliness of other comic book-to-film adaptations. The plot was complex and adult, and the cast treated the material with respect; it left almost everyone with stratospheric hopes for its inevitable sequel, and the wait has raised hopes even higher. The Dark Knight is no The Godfather: Part II, but it’s still miles above other comics adaptations.

TDK begins almost immediately after the end of Batman Begins, and sets quickly to work on the prior film’s loose ends. Tons more plot is piled on, too: A posse of citizen vigilantes are dressing up like Batman, carrying guns, and trying to clean up the streets; a Chinese industrialist is about to launder mob money through Hong Kong; and the Joker (Heath Ledger) blows into town with a meticulous plan to create anarchy.

Ledger seems as though he’s alternating roles in a dark love scene between Daffy Duck, Marlon Brando and Hannibal Lecter. It’s a riveting performance, and terrifying (too terrifying for 13-year-olds, really; the movie should have been rated R). Some of the action sequences, including an early international jaunt, are gorgeous, but others are impossible to follow. Nolan’s strength lies not in action but in emotion; he always manages to coax excellent performances from his cast. Aaron Eckhart is as good as he’s ever been as incorruptible Gotham District Attorney Harvey Dent. But call it the Batman curse: Christian Bale’s Bruce Wayne, the beating heart of the first film, gets crushed under the weight of all the flashy villainy. He lisps and roars as Batman, like a child trying to sound scary, but it’s hard to hear him with all the eye-boggling nine-figure property damage going on around him.

THE DARK KNIGHT DIR. CHRISTOPHER NOLAN | RATED PG-13 | OPENS FRI AT THEATERS EVERYWHERE

Tags: batman, Film, heath ledger, Reviews, the dark knight