The Good
This is the perfect movie at the perfect time.
The Bad
At times there is a little too much happening.The Dark Knight continues the saga of the man in black who is hellbent on saving the world while trying to understand it at the same time. In this go round, Batman (Christian Bale) finds himself going head to head with The Joker (Heath Ledger). What seems like a simple tale of good vs. evil, soon becomes a character study of right and wrong and to what lengths we will go to in order to protect people. The film then becomes a modern day glimpse at our world. While not overtly political, The Dark Knight olitically overt in that it takes current events and juxtaposes them in the film. It is because this movie takes its time, it never lets the politics get in the way of the story or characters, that it seemed to resonate so much with those who viewed it.
In a day an age when so many movies seem to play it safe, The Dark Knight is the kind of film that reminds us just how strong cinema can be when it lets a director's vision flourish.
Features
Disc 1
The Dark Knight - Feature Film
Disc 2
Gotham Uncovered
In this featurette we delve into the inner-workings of this movie. We find out how director Christopher Nolan reworked things from the previous film and played them to perfection here. We also get a glimpse at how Hans Zimmer put together the score for this movie. All in all I found this interesting but I guess I was expecting more. Sure it was cool seeing the thought process behind how things evolved, I just wished that it had been a little more rich.
The Dark Knight IMAX Scenes
The Galleries
Featuring poster art and production stills, this portion of the release is like a walk down memory lane. I have to admit, as sad as it is that Heath Ledger died, I am happy that the people who made this movie decided to celebrate his work in this film and not simply ignore it. The fact that Ledger's likeness played so prominently in this (and the theatrical) release really helped people understand just how impressive it was.
Gotham Tonight
Video
2.40:1 - Aspect Ratio. This movie looked pretty darn good in standard definition which makes me think that it would look fantastic in Blu-ray. There is a richness to all the shots and it never seemed too dyspeptic either. While I think that sometimes the editing was a tad confusing, all in all The Dark Knight is the kind of film that very easily gives audiences everything they want.
Audio
French (Dolby Digital 5.1), Spanish (Dolby Digital 5.1), English (Dolby Digital 5.1). The audio on this release was really good, but I just wish I had a better system to get it all on. In fact, it was watching this movie that made me realize just how important it might be to own a Blu-ray player. As I stated, everything sounded fine but I just wish that it sounded a little bit better.
Package
Batman bursts through a building in the Bat-pod on the front, cardboard portion of this cover. The back features some shots from the movie, a description of what it's about, technical specs and a cast list. The front cover on the inside of this release features a different image. This one has The Joker walking in the street with the city looming over him. All in all this 2 disc release gets very nice treatment on DVD.
Final Word
This feels odd writing this but I actually enjoyed this movie a bit better in the theater. This isn't really the fault of the DVD. It is more the the fault of the fact that I don't have a big HD-TV. I have a big SD-TV but that doesn't do me much good. I wanted to be reminded of the power that this film had. Sure I felt it in the subtext that Christopher Nolan was putting across but I wanted to feel the audio. In short, I wanted to be blown out of my seat and I just wasn't. As I said this isn't the fault of the DVD, rather it was the fault of my present system. I can't say why this bothered me more now than usual but it is the kind of weird to be feeling this way. If you read my other reviews you will know why.
Should you own this movie on DVD or Blu-ray?
Of course.