Review of THE DARK KNIGHT

Here's the truth: The Dark Knight belongs to Heath Ledger.

I'll eat all my words and take back all my doubts. From the trailer, I really felt Ledger's Joker was just no different than Jack Nicholson's, right down to the maniacal laugh. But boy, am I wrong. And am I glad that I'm so wrong.

Ledger truly lives the character on screen, from that strange gait to the ticks and quirks, smacking his lips after every sentence. His Joker is at once funny, amusing, repulsive and terrifying, a true favourite son of Arkham Asylum. It's really a brilliant, ingenious take on the character and a great final performance by the late actor.

With The Dark Knight, Christopher Nolan has actually managed to build upon the last film, giving us a richer Batman/Bruce Wayne personality, and a more complete look at Gotham and all its nooks and crannies, and what makes the city tick ... or explode. With its link-up to real life Hong Kong, Gotham is no longer a strictly fictional, fantastical realm but a city that could possibly exist in the real world, with real-life concerns. The action this time is thicker, and Nolan seems to direct those sequences with a more assured hand. Certainly there's a feeling of gained confidence in the way Nolan handles the action - the scenes are better shot, more coherent and pack a bigger wallop.

But like I said, the film belongs to The Joker. His origins are not clearly explained, unlike in Tim Burton's version with its vat of chemicals and surgery gone wrong. Here, The Joker just appears, seemingly out of nowhere, like a sudden, deadly typhoon that sweeps Gotham into a chaotic criminal mess. He's brilliant, he's crazy, he's disturbingly logical. He's the real bogeyman. Ledger takes over every scene that he appears in, delivering the best lines, and even gets to dress up in women's clothes. Next to him, Christian Bale as Batman seems to only do a lot of brooding.

But this is brilliant writing. Of course, the whole Batman/Joker psychological relationship has been done in the comicbooks, particularly in Arkham Asylum - Serious House On Serious Earth (why so serious?). But the script here does a lot more, delving into the nature of good and evil, how one concept is meaningless without the other, and the nature of heroism and society. There's even a deeply touching moment during one unexpected act of kindness. The story is full of twists, with surprises at every turn. The one big surprise for me was what the Batcycle turned out to be; I guarantee this is one scene that will have the fanboys cheering in the cinema.

Yet what really makes The Dark Knight, and Nolan, stand out from the rest of the other blockbusters, is that Nolan isn't afraid to use silence to build mood and atmosphere. These days, there's just too much noise in Hollywood action films, but it's the silent, muted moments here that speak louder than all the slam-bang aural onslaught.

The only thing is, the film feels a tad too long, no matter how brilliant or enjoyable it is. Unfortunately it also needs to be that long to get to its final, essential point. And what a point it is. I guess the Batman legacy has finally been properly represented on the big screen.

It all goes back to Heath Ledger and how he pours his heart and soul into fleshing out The Joker, a technical performance that's pitch-perfect on all points. I daresay, had Ledger not been in this film, The Dark Knight would have come across as a tad mediocre. The Joker is the pulse of the movie, the life of the party. The sad thing is, Ledger has literally left with a bang, given us a final performance so fantastic, we wish we'd get to see more from him. That will never happen, but we're all truly privileged for having been given a glimpse of a bright shining genius at his peak.

Thank you, Heath, and rest in peace.