Blu-ray Review: The Dark Knight

THE MOVIE: 4 1/2 stars out of 5
As a fan of Batman comics, I was thrilled with the release of the Batman film starring Michael Keaton and Jack Nicholson. I was less than thrilled with the sequels to that effort which totally lost the point of the first film which took Batman back to the character that was the basis of the original comics. That Batman was a dark and brooding character tormented by the murder of his parents as a child and fighting deep and dark psychological battles. This Batman is a far cry from the comical Batman as presented on the 1960’s TV series and the laughable Batman and Robin film starring George Clooney that almost doomed the franchise forever.

Thankfully, along came director Christopher Nolan who breathed life back into the franchise with the wonderful Batman Begins which is the best Batman film of all time by a mile, until the release of The Dark Knight that is! The Dark Knight is a spectacular film which is totally true to the original Batman comic, with a great script dealing with deep and dark psychological issues and an incredible performance by Heath Ledger as the Joker.

If Heath Ledger does not win an Oscar for this performance, there is no justice. His performance is completely riveting. You simply can’t take your eyes off the screen during his performance. The story picks up a year or so after Batman Begins. The Gotham Police and their new DA, Harvey Dent, along with Batman and Lieutenant Gordon, have been in the process of tracking down the remnants of the Falconi crime syndicate, eating into their profits. In comes the Joker, until then thought of as nothing more than an oddity and small timer, who confronts the mob with a plan to restore their dominance in Gotham by killing the Caped Crusader. Little do they know that he has other unspoken plans for the city.

Even if you don’t like films based on comic book superheroes, you will enjoy this film as it has a well written story with fleshed out characters dealing with the sacrifices that men of noble intentions are forced to make for the common good and the circumstances that can cause even the best of us to loose our way and go over the edge of morality. Wonderfully written with excellent performances by the entire cast and beautifully filmed, this is a spectacular film and one incredible release on Blu-Ray. Very highly recommended.

THE VIDEO: 5 stars out of 5
Encoded with VC-1, this is a beautiful looking film on Blu-Ray and in all respects, captures the look of the film that I saw in theaters. In something of a first, the film features a variable aspect ratio on this release going from 1:78:1 to 2:40:1 and back again repeatedly. The IMAX shots are presented in 1:78:1 and the rest of the film in its intended aspect ratio of 2:40:1. The transitions are seamless and at times not even noticeable. However, those with projectors with fixed screen sizes will find this to be an annoyance as the IMAX sequences will be larger than their screen. For those with plasmas, LCD displays and rear projection sets, you will have no issues at all.

This encode boasts a color palette of incredible fidelity, rich properly saturated color and excellent rendition of shadow detail. Overall detail is excellent as well, especially the scenes with the Joker, which show every fleck of white make-up on his face and each strand of his greasy green hair. The overall clarity of the image is excellent as well presenting an image of great depth and three dimensionality, even in the dark scenes with heavy shadows. Normally those scenes appear quite flat in comparison with the brightly lit scenes. That is not the case here as even the dark scenes retain an excellent sense of depth. The only negative here is that there is a bit of edge enhancement employed, resulting in some haloes. However, as far as I have been able to discern, the edge enhancement was added as part of the IMAX process and is not the fault of this encode and is therefore truthful to the source. That being the case, I see no reason to give this encode anything but a perfect score. In any event, the edge enhancement is very minor and will only be seen by those of you with really large screens. It really doesn’t get better than the picture quality on this release.

THE AUDIO: 5 stars out of 5
Unlike some recent Warner Blu-Ray releases, The Dark Knight features a lossless audio track using Dolby True HD which is reference in every way. This is one dynamic track that will give any home theater system a real work out. I know it did mine. The overall sound of the film is excellent with top notch fidelity. The sound is smooth and open with incredible imaging and transparency. Bass response is off the charts with a beautiful throbbing score that is a feast for the ears. Explosions, gun blasts and crashes have an amazing sense of heft and weight and just crash over you like a tsunami of sound.

Excellent use is made of the surrounds creating a totally immersive sound field that is simply one of the best I have heard on Blu-Ray. Dialogue is well recorded and always well placed in the mix. Despite all the crashes, explosions and cacophony, the dialogue is always intelligible. The dialogue track faithfully reproduces the acoustical environment of each scene, sounding different in each setting. In short, this is one of the best sounding releases I have yet heard on Blu-Ray and is darn near perfect.

EXTRAS
One would expect such a major release as this to have a plethora of extras and this release does not disappoint. The release includes a digital copy that is compatible with PCs and Macs. You can download this film to your IPod and watch it whenever you want. Other extras include Gotham Uncovered: Creation of a Scene in which the director takes you step by step through the planning and attention to detail involved in each scene in the film.

Also included on a separate disc from the film itself in HD is a feature Batman Tech which shows the gadgets and tools shown in the film, a featurette Batman Unmasked: The Psychology of the Dark Knight that delves into the psyche of Bruce Wayne and the world of Batman through real world psychological analysis, Gotham Tonight, six episodes of Gotham Cable premiere news program, galleries featuring the Joker cards, concept art, poster art, production stills, trailers and TV spots. All in all, it will take you several hours to run though all this material which most film fans will find very interesting and well worth their time.

IN CONCLUSION
In short, this is one great film and excellent release on Blu-Ray that will look and sound incredible on any home theater system. Highly recommended. This will make a great holiday gift for any home theater fans out there. Well done Warner Brothers and Christopher Nolan!

Note: The Dark Knight will be released on Blu-ray on December 9. Click here to pre-order from Amazon.com.

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