Mini-Review: The Dark Knight

I saw "The Dark Knight" on Thursday and can say with some authority that it's a very good movie. Probably better than "Batman Begins," which was dragged down by the its villain's staggering lameness. Certainly better than all of those Clooney/Kilmer nightmares with their S&M batsuits and bad guys so campy you expected them to burst into song. Only the original "Batman" could challenge The Dark Knight's claim as the best movie ever made about the Caped Crusader.

The strong points: a lot of critics called The Dark Knight operatic. And no, that's not because Christian Bale was belting out arias like "Alfredo, mi batmobilo!" The movie was grand, in a solemn and brooding sort of way. Other superhero films--even good ones like "Spider-Man"--stray into goofiness now and again. Not so with this movie. Everything was exquisitely paced, from the opening robbery (featuring, among other things, a schoolbus used as a getaway car) to the tense standoff at the end.

Of course Heath Ledger was great. Everyone's said everything that can be said about his Joker. He was slimy, terrifying, disgusting, compelling, not a cartoon character but a maniac in gruesome make-up. Oscar-worthy? Maybe. The sympathy vote is going to be hard to overcome, even if poor Heath is a bit unable to receive said sympathy. Christian Bale did a fine job too, although the script didn't ask much from him: be a cypher as Bruce Wayne, and growl a lot when you're Batman.

Nearly every movie has a supreme flaw that keeps it from soaring into the movie stratosphere to hang out with the likes of "The Godfather." In The Dark Knight's case, the movie's just too darn complicated. Accuse me of having a small brain if you want. But I just couldn't follow the knotty double and triple crosses running through the movie's midsection. And car chases are always exciting, but it helps when you can understand who's the chaser and who's the chasee. At times, comprehension took a back seat to combustion, as fireballs swallowed up everything in sight.

But I'd still give it a good, solid, A. That's my story and I'm sticking with it.