PG-13
4 Stars

“The Dark Knight” is a remarkably propulsive film. It's two and a half hours long, but the time races by. I glanced at my watch once, to see if the movie had reached its halfway point, only to discover that two hours had already passed. “How will they wrap everything up in just a half hour?” I fretted, but director Christopher Nolan managed to get the job done.  

I'm trying to be low-key here, because with the tremendous number of gushing reviews in print and online, I'm concerned that some people will enter the theater with impossibly high expectations and end up feeling let down. So don't do that. Here's the most down-to-earth description I can manage: The follow-up to “Batman Begins” is a moralistic crime story packed with bold, stylish action and a powerful score. It is a grim tale oozing with depravity that pushes the limits of its PG-13 rating. By far, the film is the most slam-bang Batman movie to date. It satisfies.

The late Heath Ledger's performance as The Joker has received a stunning amount of attention and I understand why. Within moments of his initial appearance, you stop thinking about the actor and his tragic fate because he's that good. Ledger's Joker, scarred, with stringy hair and smeared clown makeup, is an anarchist missionary fixated on hurling monkey wrenches into the machine. He's scary. Ledger makes him that way by playing The Joker as a demented human being instead of a larger-than-life pop culture icon. The actor repeatedly moves his lips as if he has a dry mouth and is trying to get some saliva flowing. Sounds minor, but every time you see him do it, it reinforces the notion of The Joker as a person, a physically uncomfortable person wildly posturing because ... well, we don't know why, which makes him even more creepy.

But this is an ensemble movie and The Joker is just part of the troupe, albeit the fussiest. “Batman Begins” star Christian Bale dons the cowl again as the caped crusader and the tux as billionaire stud Bruce Wayne. Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman also return as devoted butler Alfred and inventor Lucius, respectfully, with Maggie Gyllenhaal replacing Katie Holmes in the role of Assistant District Attorney Rachel Dawes and Aaron Eckhart joining the cast as D.A. Harvey Dent. I won't go into Bale, Caine or Freeman's performances because you already know how good they are. If it seems like I'm giving short shrift to Batman, remember, this is an ensemble movie and Batman is simply the most bad-ass member.

As for the new additions, fans of both films will have fun debating whether Gyllenhaal or Holmes is better. I prefer Gyllenhaal — she comes off as more worldly and deals with the men in a more adult fashion. Aaron Eckhart, longtime staple of independent films, supporting roles in bigger movies and starring roles in duds, makes the jump to mainstream major movie stardom with his forceful portrayal of Harvey Dent. I thought Nolan and company rushed the Dent storyline, but my problems have to do with their decision, not Eckhart's acting.

I'll leave it with that. There are lots of large scale set pieces in “The Dark Knight,” several filmed in IMAX (the picture gets bigger and more detailed during those scenes, if viewed in an IMAX theater), but you should discover them yourself. Enjoy debating the proper decision in the ferry boat quandary with your friends, but don't try The Joker's pencil trick at home.