Review of "The Dark Knight"

Movie reviews are new for this blog, but what the heck. Since I wrote it for Fandango, I figured I might as well share it.

The Dark (and Long) Knight
It's not often a 2:30 movie can hold your attention throughout, but "The Dark Knight" delivers, largely on the purple shoulders of Heath Ledger's performance. Aaron Eckhardt (and some pretty good makeup) was surprisingly good, even Morgan Freeman and Michael Caine meshed nicely with Christian Bale's Bruce Wayne and Batman personas. OK, Batman's gravelly voice was just a bit annoying, but it was Heath Ledger's psychopathic Joker that drives this movie. Even when not on screen, you know he's lurking; you know he's going to be back and his mania pervades the way that all the characters act. The sound is edited well and while loud, punctuates the movie well; I got just a BIT tired of the "Joker" music that would accompany some psychopathic episiode of violence he would commit, but that's a nit. Physically, emotionally and vocally, Heath Ledger's Joker has to be one of THE best performed villians of all time. The good news is that the rest of the cast (even Gary Oldman) works, too.