I saved the best for last. Of all the comic-derived films to reach the big screen in 2008, The Dark Knight is clearly the most impressive, the most entertaining, the most mature, and the most compelling. Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Wanted, Hellboy II, Speed Racer… none can compete with the production values and performances in The Dark Knight, particularly Heath Ledger’s Joker. Batman Begins was a more mature and more serious take on the character compared to previous iterations; The Dark Knight builds on that foundation and is far darker, a more brutal film.

There are several forces at work and no less than three classic Batman villains in play (although one figures very tentatively). The Scarecrow, Dr. Jonathan Crane (Cillian Murphy), is working with the mob, but not for long. Gotham’s Falcone crime syndicate has been taken over by Salvatore Maroni (Eric Roberts). They are not a happy lot, despite making inroads corrupting vulnerable or greedy Gotham police officers to avoid the law. Too few officers seem untouchable; among them is Lieutenant Jim Gordon (Gary Oldman), who continues to work unofficially with the caped crusader. And Batman has inspired incompetent imitators who dress as the masked crime fighter and use guns as they try to thwart criminals, tarnishing Batman’s reputation.

Batman (Christian Bale) may be helping rid Gotham of crime, but a new kind of incorruptible hero is needed, one that doesn’t have to wear a mask, one who can inspire a true sense of hope. That new hero just may be District Attorney Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart), a man who ferreted out police corruption when he worked for Internal Affairs. Facing residual resentment from within the Gotham police, he’s very aggressive as he tries to prosecute organized crime. That motivates an unprecedented move by Maroni; he hires from the outside to rid Gotham of the people who are attacking his criminal empire. He hires a bizarre criminal who calls himself The Joker, a psychotic who seems utterly unpredictable.

This is the Joker as you’ve never seen him before. We never learn of his back story, with the exception of what may or may not be flights of fancy he shares with his victims just before dispatching them. He wears clown-like make-up to intimidate, rather than having been transformed or disfigured by a chemical accident. But his face is as chaotic as his behavior. Red covers his lips, extending well up onto his cheeks to cover ugly scars; it’s a messy red gash shaped into a crude grin. His face is covered in white greasepaint, but full of cracks, perhaps symbolic of fissures in his psyche. His disheveled and unkempt hair has a subtle green tint; it’s as unruly as his actions. Joker’s portrayal by Heath Ledger is genuinely inspired. Full of odd mannerisms and bizarre ticks, heedlessly violent and deadly, you do not want to be in the same room as this villain.

The Joker has no respect for life, including his own. He is a compulsive anarchist who expects the worst from others and manipulates people to expose their dark sides, proving that his extreme misanthropy is justified. His goal is to destroy Batman by forcing him to reveal his identity and give himself up to the police. If all else fails, the Joker is even willing to push Batman to the point of killing him, forcing the caped crusader to violate a vow, a rule, a limit beyond which Bruce Wayne cannot go without losing his way. The Joker’s methods are extreme. His death and destruction are pure carnage. He doesn’t seem to care if he lives or dies. He’s a terrorist without ideology.

And it’s also Joker’s goal to destroy Harvey Dent. The District Attorney is an idealist who’s determined to clean up Gotham. He works with Assistant District Attorney Rachel Dawes (Maggie Gyllenhaal), who’s become his love interest, to prosecute the crime bosses. Dent’s become a symbol, an icon, a public servant that rises above the crime and corruption that infect Gotham. The Joker will push Dent until he cracks wide open; disfigured and emotionally raped, Dent will transform into another classic Batman villain to take revenge.

Bale continues to impress with his complex portrayal of a driven superhero trying to find his way. Eckhart is a bit if a surprise; his Harvey Dent doesn’t depart too far from the tone of some previous roles, but his ultimate fury is quite convincing. Gyllenhaal is a reasonable Dawes, but I was distracted by the absence of Katie Holmes. Gary Oldman, Michael Caine (as Alfred), and Morgan Freeman (as Wayne CEO Lucius Fox) all have limited screen time, but deliver solid performances that greatly enhance the film.

After watching The Dark Knight for the first time, I was struck by the impact of the loss in late January of 2008 of Heath Ledger. We will never see the likes of his interpretation of the Joker again. Some have compared their emotional reactions to his performance to Anthony Hopkins’ cold and penetrating portrayal of Hannibal Lector. I’m of the opinion that Ledger’s villain stands alone as unique, an uncanny blend of depravity, deep-seated psychosis, and pathological self-loathing. I cannot imagine where Ledger went emotionally to conjure this very special portrayal.

The storyline is transformational. None of the key characters will emerge unchanged. All the changes are significant; some are unexpected. There is no impossibly silly weapon to act as the Macguffin, as there was in Batman Begins. There are simply the moral dilemmas of the natures of good and evil, the combating of violence and devastation of the criminally insane, and the harsh aftermath that foretells of a more troubling Gotham. The production values are superb. The direction is swift, sharp, and unswerving in its relentless portrayal of a complex storyline, written with great skill and care by Jonathan and Christopher Nolan. This is a comic book raised to the level of high entertainment.

The Video: How Does The Disc Look?

I must mention a dramatic device that works surprisingly well. Much of the film’s footage was captured using IMAX cameras (and one was destroyed in the process). When distribution prints were struck for conventional theaters, the aspect ratio remained 2.40:1 throughout. But during IMAX theater presentations, some scenes would open up vertically to fill the huge 1.44:1 IMAX screen. The effect is to draw the viewer into the film even deeper. It’s like an action sequence mixed loud, with dramatic or bombastic orchestral score and elevated sound effects and bass that envelop the viewer. On this disc, many of the cityscapes and most of the big action sequences shot for IMAX are cropped top and bottom to fill the high definition frame of 1.78:1. It’s impressive and involving. And when the film returns to more dialog-driven sequences and the aspect ratio returns to 2.40:1, it’s like someone had simply turned down the volume, very easy to accept without distraction. Kudos to the creativity of director Christopher Nolan.

The transfer was compressed with the VC-1 video CODEC, as Warner Home Video is wont to do. The transfer has many fine qualities, and one egregious one. Color rendition is superb, from natural flesh tones to the fiery explosions rich with yellows, oranges, and reds. The video dynamic range is also outstanding. There are scenes during which some black crush obscures shadow detail, but based on the supplements, these sequences were intentionally shot slightly underexposed, so it was an artistic decision. In other nighttime scenes, like Batman standing on a ledge, high above the Hong Kong night, shadow detail is very good indeed. I noticed no white bloom or crush. And small object detail is very respectable. But finely grained textures, like fabric weaves, individual hairs, and skin imperfections aren’t as revelatory as they should be. The bit rate is modest, perhaps to leave room for the hour’s worth of high definition supplements on disc one. And most inexcusable of all, there are thin but noticeable edge halos, suggesting an intentional attempt at edge enhancement after high frequency visual content was filtered out to accommodate a modest bit rate.

I, like I’m sure so many or you, put the feature film as the first priority. We might watch the supplements once and never return to them. But it’s likely that we’ll watch the film multiple times. Consequently, the quality of the feature film’s presentation should come first, and supplements should be bit-budgeted with whatever resources remain.

Warner, this was your most prestigious and important Blu-ray Disc release of the year. Wouldn’t it have made more sense to have used the AVC video CODEC at high bit rate and reduce the resolution of the hour’s worth of disc one supplements to standard definition? Or better yet, put that hour-long collection of supplements on disc two as a documentary. The film comes first. Warner, please take full advantage of the technology and deliver the highest quality presentations. Take a look at some of the best work coming out of Buena Vista, Fox, and Paramount and I hope you’ll see the differences.

The Audio: How Does The Disc Sound?

If Warner slightly fumbled the ball with the transfer, the same cannot be said of the audio track. This Dolby TrueHD 5.1 track is outstanding. Please note that the default audio track is Dolby Digital 5.1 and the film begins without a visit to a menu; you have to manually open the menu and select the lossless track. James Newton Howard and Hans Zimmer's orchestral score, which ranges from the bombastically exciting to the atonally bizarre, is presented with satisfying fidelity, persuasive timbre, and a palpable sense of acoustic space. The surrounds are very active during appropriate scenes, enveloping the viewer with sounds that emanate from every direction. EX dematrixing is a must for the best possible effect. Very deep, rich, powerful bass pummels the chest and moves the pants legs. The dialog is consistently distortion-free and is reproduced with pleasing fidelity, but with a slightly reduced level, perhaps -3 dB. Increasing the audio level for dialog level parity with other discs boosts the top end of the dynamic range by that same 3 dB, imparting a greater impact to louder sounds. Sound effects have a gratifying transparency (the clinking of glasses) and visceral impact (gunshots). This is demo quality audio that earns a top score.

The alternate tracks with one exception are presented in Dolby Digital 5.1: English, French, and Spanish. The exception is a Digital Surround 2.0 track in English Descriptive Narration. The optional subtitles are in English SDH, French, and Spanish.

The Supplements: What Goodies Are There?

The keepcase holds a Digital Copy DVD for your portable viewing pleasure. The supplements are spread across to Blu-ray Discs. Let’s start with disc one.

Focus Points (64:10, 1.78:1 and 1.33:1, HD and SD) may be played individually during the film or as a sequential series of eighteen chapters on one long documentary, which would be my recommendation. (Thanks, Warner, for that handy and considerate Play All option.) It begins with a fascinating IMAX segment that includes both a revealing explanation and demonstration of the format and an extensive discussion of the cameras’ uses. I was amazed that the heavy cameras were used handheld and on a Steadicam rig. I learned about the limited depth of field, short duration loads, and other challenges. Great segment. Next is a revealing discussion about the new Batman armor. Then there’s a score short featuring Hans Zimmer (with co-composer James Newton Howard oddly absent). I was blown away by the quantity of electronics Zimmer uses as part of his composing process. Next and also amazing is a sequence in which a stunt man rehearses a building jump tethered to a helicopter with a bungee cord. Other covered topics are stunts, pyrotechnics, filming the chase scene in IMAX, model work, and so on. To reveal more details would reveal spoilers, so I’ll stop there, expect to say that this is an excellent documentary.

Disc one is a BD Live enabled disc. I registered through the disc’s utility, but a promised password to be sent to my email account hadn’t materialized twenty-four hours later, so my access was limited. What I did find was a theatrical trailer shown in reduced size and, in the Media Center, a series of chapters for a couple of animated stories in the form of motion comics, a very limited form of animation. There are two distinct styles, one more mature and the other reminiscent of a simpler form of the animated Batman television series. The keepcase insert suggests that BD Live will permit the viewer to create via webcam a PiP commentary that can be shared with the rest of the Dark Knight BD community, and a chance to watch the film as Christopher Nolan offers a live commentary.

The rest of the supplements are on disc two. We begin with Batman Tech: The Incredible Gadgets and Tools (45:59, 1.78:1, HD), which appeared as a special shown on The History Channel. It’s an interesting program that explores the technology and the plausibility of the gadgets Batman uses to fight crime. I enjoyed the way the special demonstrated just how close these concepts come to what has been developed for the military. It may not have a great deal to do with Batman, but it does add some credibility to the tools Batman uses.

Batman Unmasked: The Psychology of The Dark Knight (46:02, 1.78:1, HD) is a second History Channel special. This speculates about Batman’s psychology. The character has evolved over the years, as writers added psychological layers to justify his actions and motivations. As you would expect, Bruce Wayne’s trauma of witnessing his parents’ murders and his guilt over his fear that drove those events (as in Batman Begins) are examined. The show then considers the psychologies of the villains in the Batman Universe. The analyses may be a little superficial, but the special is still quite engrossing.

Gotham Tonight (46:41 aggregate, 1.78:1, HD) is a collection of six short featurettes, which may be played individually or, with the handy Play All option, played sequentially. The premise is that we’re looking at a Gotham News Channel, and the commentator and pundits cover events that immediately precede the film’s action. The shorts seem to focus on each key character: Harvey Dent, Bruce Wayne, the Scarecrow, Jim Gordon, Sal Maroni, and Batman as vigilante.

The Galleries offers the chance to look through the production’s artwork. You can either allow the art to flow during a slide show, or participate in the navigation. I can’t believe there is a Joker Cards section that runs 9:44 and is essentially an elaborate collection of playing cards. Concept Art (7:44) illustrates clown masks, Batman’s improved suit, new weapons, and the Batpod, that remarkable, armed bike. Next is Poster Art (1:36), which illustrates theatrical one-sheets. And Production Stills (12:00) is a collection of continuity stills, behind-the-scenes photos, and publicity shots.

Trailers and More offers three theatrical trailers and six TV Spots (HD).

The 151-minute film is organized as thirty-nine chapters.

Final Thoughts

Based on the aggregate duration of the supplements on disc two, I would have been much happier if the hour’s worth of HD supplements on the first disc had been transplanted to the second disc and the video quality of the feature film improved. It’s a very fine presentation, but this should have been among the very best looking BDs of the year, and it’s not. The audio is superb, the supplements reasonably generous and informative, and the film outstanding. Readily available for under $24, only $3 more than the 2-disc DVD edition, despite my quibbles, this Blu-ray Disc edition is highly recommended.


Here’s a note about the apparent duplicate Buy Guide. Our I.T. people are still hard at work on a large project and have not yet had the time to modify the underlying site database formatting code to accommodate the new 0-to-10 rating scales. So until they do, for HD on disc, I’ll insert this note and a Buy Guide at the end of the review text and leave the conventional 0-to-5 Buy Guide blank.