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The Dark Knight
Blu-Ray DVD Review
Review by Ed Worrell
I just want to get this right out there. The Dark Knight is without a doubt the best superhero movie I have ever seen, and stands high on my list of top ten films, ever. It transcends the superhero/comic book genre and puts it in a category that was previously thought improbable, if not impossible. We now have a movie based on a comic book character that came close to breaking the all-time box office record. Comic book geeks rejoice!
If you are one of the handful of people who haven't yet seen this film, don't worry, you'll get no major spoilers here. Just go watch the movie and see how great it is for yourself. By the way, you don't have to be a comic book geek to understand and love this film.
The (very basic) plot: Batman (Christian Bale) is working with Lt. Jim Gordon (Gary Oldman) and D.A. Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart) to try and bring down mob boss Sal Maroney (Eric Roberts). Confounding the whole situation is previously unknown player the Joker (Heath Ledger), who steals from the mob to begin his grand scheme of.... chaos. What ensues is a chain of events that leads to the eventual deconstruction of a white knight and the genesis of what amounts to Year One Batman, hunted by the cops and reviled by the public.
Now, what will you be getting for your money if you go out and buy the movie, other than the movie itself?
The copy I reviewed is the 3-disc blu-ray. Disc 1 contains the feature film and Gotham Uncovered: Creation of a Scene, a production that details the planning and execution of many of the stunts, explosions, and gadgets seen in the movie. This is actually a very interesting feature. I learned a lot about director Christopher Nolan that I didn't before. He has an eye for detail that few directors have, and is truly a visionary. Sadly, this portion of the disc also contains the only extra footage or any mention of Heath Ledger that you find on any of the discs. During the hospital explosion scene, we learn that the building really exploded, and Heath was actually walking out of the building as it exploded. The extra footage comes as Ledger climbs aboard the bus and sits down, waiting to drive away. We hear Nolan's voiceover commenting on how professional Ledger was throughout the whole take, as it was his job to not look back as the hospital explodes and crumbles to the ground. To Ledger's credit he didn't, not a single time.
I was really looking forward to some interviews, rehearsals, makeup tests, or some kind of featurette highlighting Ledger. I'm sure that the material available is limited, but to have nothing? In my opinion, his performance as the Joker makes the movie, and I would absolutely say the same if he were still alive today. He was brilliant, and it's tragic that we won't see him in the inevitable third Batman movie, and sad that we got nothing extra here.
There is also a section that details some of the portions of the film that were shot in IMAX format. For those who don't know much about IMAX, this is a must see. The amount of effort and planning that it took for some of the scenes in particular to be shot is astounding.
You also get the BD-Live features that you can access via your internet connection, which currently has a couple of Batman animated shows, and trailers for upcoming WB movies.
The second disc contains Batman Tech, which is a look at the armor, gadgets and vehicles used in the film and their parallels to real world technology. I found this feature to be interesting as well. I did not know that the Batmobile, or Tumbler, was created specifically for Batman Begins and the sequels. What is most impressive to me is that in most movies, when a car does a jump, they have one car that actually jumps and when it lands, it's pretty much trashed. Then they have another car take its place to continue driving. Not with the Batmobile. It jumps and keeps right on driving. This thing is built like a tank, although they describe it as a cross between a Lamborghini and a Hummer. Pretty awesome stuff. They also go into some detail about the Batpod, how its built, where the engine(s) are, and how it's controlled.
The next feature is Batman Unmasked: The Psychology of the Dark Knight. Essentially a load of professors, psychologists, and some of the DC braintrust discuss why Batman does what he does, why his rogues gallery do what they do, and would they all act similarly if they were real people. Interesting if you're a fan of the comic, but probably not so much to anyone else.
Finally, we get 6 produced features of Gotham Tonight, the Hard Copy-esque show that appears in the movie with Mike Engle (Anthony M. Hall) as the anchor. These are pretty corny, and didn't really hold my interest. Good for a watch if you're bored, but nothing to rave about.
Then you have your basic picture galleries, posters, concept art, production stills, and tv and theatrical trailers.
The third disc is just the digital copy of the film that you can transfer to your pc, ipod, or whatever.
That's pretty much it. The picture and sound quality are top-notch, as usual from WB home video. You may notice a shift in the aspect ratio from 2.4:1 to 1.78:1 from time to time throughout the film. The wider shots are the ones filmed in IMAX.
So what's the bottom line?
I love this movie. I saw it 3 times in the theater, I've watched it several times at home, and I could watch it a dozen more times, easily. This is a truly great movie, not just a great superhero movie, and I don't think we'll see its equal for a long time.
My only real complaints with the content is that it seems like they forgot to include anything with Heath Ledger, a feature that I'm sure I'm not the only one who noticed was missing. Also, there's no director commentary track. I would have like to have heard Nolan's thought on each sequence.
Honestly though, I didn't buy the disc to watch the special features. I bought it for the movie, which cannot be missed. The quality of the film far outweighs any issues I have with the special features, present or missing.
This is a must have for any movie collection. Go buy it and thank me later.
Well, go on. Buy it!
5 barrels of TNT out of 5
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