Consider yourself a fan of ruddy awesome comic book movies from yester-year? Then you’ll be pleased to know that one of the best comic book movies of the past 15 years is getting an imminent UK re-release.
Hot on the heels of Superman: The Movie, Beetlejuice, Alien, Aliens, Return of the Jedi, and Batman Begins, which have all returned to cinemas over the past few weeks, The Dark Knight is heading back to the big screen too! The movie – directed by Christopher Nolan – is getting a cinematic re-release next week, as part of Warner Bros.’ 100th anniversary celebrations.
The Dark Knight stars Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Michael Caine, Gary Oldman, Morgan Freeman, Aaron Eckhart, and Maggie Gyllenhaal. The film picks up shortly after the events of Batman Begins, with the Caped Crusader having to contend with a new foe in Gotham City, who is determined to cause chaos by any means necessary.
In the movie, a short time has passed since Batman saved the city from Ra’s al Ghul and the Scarecrow, but within this time the Caped Crusader has been working tirelessly to fight Gotham City’s war on crime. Teaming up with police lieutenant Jim Gordon, and district attorney Harvey Dent, Batman hopes to eliminate all the organised crime in the city, so that his alter-ego Bruce Wayne can eventually return to a normal life.
But what Batman doesn’t reckon with is the emergence of a tricky new adversary in clown make-up. This deadly character – who calls himself the Joker – is working with Gotham’s mafia to expose and kill Batman, and appears to be playing by his own rules.
After bumping off a number of high-profile figures in the city, Joker begins to target those closest to Batman, including Harvey Dent, and Rachel Dawes – Bruce Wayne’s best friend and former love interest. But will Batman be able to stop the Joker’s reign of terror, save the city, and protect Rachel, before the lives of his friends and colleagues are ruined forever?
While many sequels have a reputation for being derivative, underwhelming, or financially less successful than their predecessors, The Dark Knight bucks this trend by being none of the above. When the movie first opened in cinemas, back during summer 2008, not only did the film offer plenty of creativity and explosive entertainment, it also took almost three times as much money as Batman Begins did in 2005, crossing over $1 billion in the process.
Audiences flocked to cinema screens in their droves to see this latest Batman adventure, while critics praised the picture for its mature approach. The industry also recognised the film’s accomplishments by presenting The Dark Knight with multiple accolades, including two Academy Awards – one for Best Sound Editing, as well as a posthumous Best Supporting Actor award for Heath Ledger, who sadly passed away six months prior to the film’s release.
All of this attention from audiences, the media, and the industry, created a huge buzz around The Dark Knight, and it was a buzz the film rightly deserved. And all these years on, The Dark Knight still stands head and shoulders (and cape and cowl) above many of its peers as one of the best comic book movies ever produced.
Oh, sure, since the release of The Dark Knight we’ve seen a wealth of great comic book films such as Guardians of the Galaxy (2014), X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014), Logan (2017), and Avengers: Infinity War (2018), but none have replaced or diminished what The Dark Knight achieved. The Dark Knight was superb back in 2008 and it remains as such in 2023.
From the sheer scale of its story about corruption, through to Bale’s improved (and less cumbersome) Bat-suit, The Dark Knight takes what worked with Batman Begins, tweaks it a little, then cranks things up to 11. It goes bigger, deeper, and more expansive than ever before in a Batman film, wears its confidence entirely on its sleeve, and delivers a story which is extremely satisfying.
Rather than just rehash what Batman Begins did, there is instead a clear line of progression from that film to this. Sure, Batman may have won the previous war, but he’s now got a bigger battle on his hands, and this movie deals with the fall-out and escalation.
In order to fight the system, Batman has had to become part of the system, and this choice exposes him and his nearest and dearest to new dangers. This has huge ramifications for his life, and the lives of everyone he interacts with, which is highlighted in the film by the arrival of a new rogue element: The Joker.
And the Clown Prince of Crime doesn’t just come along to stir up some trouble; he railroads his way through the lives of all the major players. As such, he’s not just a foe to Batman, he’s a disruptive force to everyone in the film.
But the Joker is more than just an agent of chaos in The Dark Knight – he’s the movie’s most valuable asset. This is because the Joker is utilised brilliantly in the script, where he is weaved in and out of the narrative, and because he is played to absolute perfection by Heath Ledger.
With his performance, Ledger doesn’t just play the Joker, he becomes the Joker. There’s a complete disconnect from actor to character here, that few performers ever truly achieve, and it is absolutely mesmerising to watch.
I challenge anyone to sit through The Dark Knight and not come away completely bowled over by Ledger. He puts in one of the all-time great comic book movie performances, up there with Christopher Reeve as Superman, and makes this a must-see picture.
But even though Ledger is THAT GOOD, at no point does he stop the rest of the ensemble from bringing the big guns. Everyone in this movie (Bale, Caine, Freeman, etc) aim high and score high too, with no weak links amongst the cast.
Heck, director Christopher Nolan even solves the Rachel Dawes misstep from Batman Begins, to make the character work much better this second time around. Maggie Gyllenhaal steps in for the departed Katie Holmes, and even though she’s not given much to do in the film, Gyllenhaal does everything she can with the role to make it her own.
There are of course some minor quibbles with The Dark Knight. Aaron Eckhart’s Harvey Dent could do with a bit more screen time – especially once he descends down a dark path of violence – and the film does try and juggle one act too many (a non-essential boat sequence), but these issues never knock the movie off course.
As with its predecessor, The Dark Knight knows exactly what it wants to do and how it wants to do it, and it gets the right results. And best of all, it looks so damn good while doing it, largely thanks to an array of gorgeous shots courtesy of cinematographer Wally Pfister, as well as precise direction from Nolan.
At 152-minutes in length, The Dark Knight is a sizeable movie (the longest Batman movie at the time of its release), but one that earns its epic status. There’s plenty of meat on the bone, and much to enjoy, no matter if you’re a newcomer or a longtime fan.
Should you wish to catch The Dark Knight back on the big screen (where it belongs), the movie will be playing in select UK cinemas for a LIMITED time from May 9th (arriving in Vue cinemas from May 12th). As with other recent re-releases, the film won’t be hanging around for long, so check your local listings to see when and where it is available.
You may also like to know, The Dark Knight’s sequel, The Dark Knight Rises, will also be returning to UK cinemas shortly. Once again, this will be a limited re-release.
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