Electrifyingly darker than even Tim Burton’s original vision, Batman: The Dark Knight is certainly no family film. Packed with explosive action, heavy-hitting violence, and diabolical maniacs, the masked vigilante has never looked or felt more intense. But despite the many attempts at seriousness, realism still evades the Dark Knight, as inexplicable technology comes to the rescue and a jarring lack of security allows villains to plot elaborate schemes. And despite a flawless performance by Heath Ledger as Batman’s archrival The Joker, the film weakens as Two-Face steals screen time from what was plenty enough mayhem for a single superhero.

The gangsters who run the underworld of Gotham City are continually under the scrutiny of the mysterious vigilante Batman (Christian Bale). Aided by a new district attorney, Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart), and his lawyer girlfriend Rachel Dawes (Maggie Gyllenhaal), the town begins to crack down on organized crime, forcing the mobsters to turn to extreme measures. And that’s when they let the clown out of the box.

A horribly disfigured psychotic masochist who dons face paint and a purple suit, known as The Joker (Heath Ledger), hires himself out to the warring gangs to dispose of Batman. But in his attempts to kill the pesky vigilante hero, he proves uncontrollable and unstable, and continues to spread panic and pandemonium through the streets of Gotham. Firstly targeting everyone close to Harvey Dent and Commissioner Gordon (Gary Oldman), The Joker terrorizes the city with explosives and death, and proves to everyone that he is absolutely not a laughing matter.

And indeed, the most impressive aspect of The Dark Knight is Heath Ledger’s performance. Made up with a truly sinister appearance, including hideous scars and devilish clown makeup, the film wastes no time with giving this notorious antagonist a backstory. Opening with a bank robbery scene that rivals the intensity in Heat’s unforgettable holdup, Dark Knight leaps right into the action and rarely lets up. Despite the comic relief provided by Michael Caine’s Alfred and Morgan Freeman’s Lucius Fox, the film stays deadly serious so much of the time that it’s difficult to see any light at the end of the tunnel.

The unrelentingly baleful tone of the film makes The Dark Knight a perfect match to Batman Begins, and a real treat for fans itching for stark realism; but much of the over-the-top fun of the character has altogether vanished. It is no longer friendly for younger audiences. But despite the severe switch in target audiences, adults may find themselves questioning the ease with which The Joker is able to move around the city, plant bombs, and avoid gunfire. And sadly, as Spider-man 3 single-handedly proved, having too many villains can be dreadfully detrimental. Fears are confirmed when the enraged Harvey Dent starts to transform into his alter ego, Two-Face. The creative team behind The Dark Knight went to great lengths to achieve realism with the scar tissue and makeup for The Joker, but went drastically overboard on Two-Face. Believability is completely discarded for the sake of shocking.

With amazing action sequences, a new Batcycle toy to play with, thrilling car chases, awe-inspiring stunts, bazookas, the demolition of buildings, and generally entertaining anarchy, The Dark Knight may be too mortifying for some, and just right for others - but Batman films always prove to be box office gold.

- Mike Massie

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