The Dark Knight is the sequel to 2005's Batman Begins starting Christian Bale. This time, Batman is up against the Joker, played by the late Heath Ledger. The film also stars Aaron Eckhart as D.A Harvey Dent and Michael Caine as Alfred. Maggie Gyllenhaal takes over the role of Rachel Dawes from Katie Homes.
Warning, possible spoilers ahead.
The previous movie was about Batman's beginnings (hence the title). In this one, Batman is more established in Gotham City. His presence is well-known and seemingly doing some good for the city. A group of the mob is having issues with the Caped Crusader, and is approached by an apparent "new guy in town", the Joker.
With Batman working in the shadows, and Harvey Dent working in the public, they work together to take down the mob and the Joker. However, disaster happens and Harvey Dent is "transformed" into Two-face.
The mood in this movie was very dark, almost gruesome. But it was perfect for the Batman universe. Comparing to the previous string of Batman movies, it was more like Tim Burton's vision than Joel Schumacher's which I think is a good thing. The earlier films had an "extraordinary" feel to them, whereas these two new films had a "plausible" feel to them which brings them a bit down to Earth. These movies are much less cartoony than the previous string, and they are not for kids.
Christian Bale did a good job in the role of Bruce Wayne / Batman. He did the dual role very well. I'm not as crazy about his husky voice when in the Batman costume, but that's just me.
Aaron Eckhart was very good as Dent. I think his portrayal of the character's fall from good to evil really showcased him as an actor. His makeup as Two-face was very good, almost too good. It was a heck-uv-a-lot better than Tommy Lee Jones' purple-obviously-rubber makeup as the same character.
However, I must say that the real star of the film was Heath Ledger. In my opinion, this movie was all about the Joker. I'm not sure if it was originally supposed to be that way, or whether it turned into that after Ledger's death, but in any case, I thought it was excellent. This Joker was a much different Joker than Jack Nicholson's. Ledger wears makeup through the entire movie, and he uses a voice not like his own. If I didn't know it was him, I would never have guessed it was him, and I'm pretty good at guessing at actors and their voices.
The movie had some of the "Joker is Batman's arch nemesis", but I don't think it was quite enough. Joker was definitely a force to be reckoned with in this movie, but his capture was too quick in the end.
All in all, I really enjoyed this movie. I have to say that it is by far my favourite Batman flick ever with Batman Begins coming up second. I really enjoyed Michael Keaton as Batman but Bale is better.