Product Description

Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Aaron Eckhart, Gary Oldman, Michael Caine, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Morgan Freeman, Eric Roberts Director: Christopher Nolan

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #385 in DVD
• Released on: 2008-12-08
• Rating: Suitable for 12 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Format: PAL
• Subtitled in: English, French, Spanish, Dutch, German, Italian, Korean, Portuguese, Chinese, Danish, Swedish, Norwegian
• Dubbed in: French, Italian, Portuguese, German, Spanish
• Number of discs: 2
• Dimensions: .26 pounds
• Running time: 146 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
The Dark Knight arrives with tremendous hype (best superhero movie ever? posthumous Oscar for Heath Ledger?), and incredibly, it lives up to all of it. But calling it the best superhero movie ever seems like faint praise, since part of what makes the movie great--in addition to pitch-perfect casting, outstanding writing, and a compelling vision--is that it bypasses the normal fantasy element of the superhero genre and makes it all terrifyingly real. Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart) is Gotham City's new district attorney, charged with cleaning up the crime rings that have paralysed the city. He enters an uneasy alliance with the young police lieutenant, Jim Gordon (Gary Oldman), and Batman (Christian Bale), the caped vigilante who seems to trust only Gordon--and whom only Gordon seems to trust. They make progress until a psychotic and deadly new player enters the game: the Joker (Heath Ledger), who offers the crime bosses a solution--kill the Batman. Further complicating matters is that Dent is now dating Rachel Dawes (Maggie Gyllenhaal, after Katie Holmes turned down the chance to reprise her role), the longtime love of Batman's alter ego, Bruce Wayne.

In his last completed role before his tragic death, Ledger is fantastic as the Joker, a volcanic, truly frightening force of evil. And he sets the tone of the movie: the world is a dark, dangerous place where there are no easy choices. Eckhart and Oldman also shine, but as good as Bale is, his character turns out rather bland in comparison (not uncommon for heroes facing more colorful villains). Director/co-writer Christopher Nolan (Memento) follows his critically acclaimed Batman Begins with an even better sequel that sets itself apart from notable superhero movies like Spider-Man 2 and Iron Man because of its sheer emotional impact and striking sense of realism--there are no suspension-of-disbelief superpowers here. At 152 minutes, it's a shade too long, and it's much too intense for kids. But for most movie fans--and not just superhero fans--The Dark Knight is a film for the ages. --David Horiuchi

DVD Description
Director Christopher Nolan (The Prestige) returns to Gotham City with this sequel to the critically-acclaimed fan favourite, Batman Begins. In The Dark Knight, Batman (Christian Bale, – American Psycho) squares off against a new, completely psychotic foe: the Joker (Heath Ledger, Brokeback Mountain). However, the Dark Knight finds himself fighting a battle on two fronts when he learns that a prominent political figure named Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart, Thank You For Smoking) is concealing a dastardly alter-ego known as Two Face.

Stills from The Dark Knight

Special Features
Disc 1 – Movie with Focus Points

• Gotham Uncovered - Creation of a scene: director Christopher Nolan and creative collaborators unmask the incredible detail and planning behind the film, including stunt staging, filming in IMAX®, and the new Bat-suit and Bat-pod.

  Disc 2 – Special Features

• Batman Tech: the incredible gadgets and tools (in HD)
• Batman Unmasked - The Psychology of The Dark Knight: delve into the psyche of Bruce Wayne and the world of Batman through real-world psychotherapy (in HD)
• Gotham Tonight: 6 episodes of Gotham Cable’s premier news program
• The Galleries – The Joker cards, concept art, poster art, production stills, trailers and TV spots
  

Customer Reviews

variable aspect ratio just works!
The film's great, blah blah, nothing new.

This is really to comment on the Blu-Ray variable aspect ratio that is featured on this BD. As a film purist, I was VERY sceptical about the idea of moving from letterbox to full-screen aspect ratios during such a brilliant film. I was so worried that it would look cheap and gimmicky that I rented the BD before buying to make up my mind. At the worst, I would get the DVD and get the whole thing in letterbox format, I thought.

Looking back, I am glad I checked, because it really could have been awful, but honestly? I'm not sure how I could imagine that such a landmark film would be the object of cheap gimmicks...

The switching from letterbox to full screen is so subtly integrated that my wife didn't even notice it(and she's just as film savvy as I am - I knew about the VAR so I was looking out for the switches)

Here's the verdict: I found that it actually added to the film.

The opening bank heist and the lorry vs bike scene (don't pretend you don't know the one...) both get the full screen treatment. Obviously, they are two amazing set pieces that really benefit from the involving appeal of the full-screen experience. They are also two scenes that must have been intentionally shot with no important info on the sides, so you really do lose nothing you would have wanted to keep and you gain immersion and pixel-perfect definition. This is not Channel 5 cutting of the sides of your favourite movies just to get rid of the black stripes. When the black stripes go, it's because it really is best that way. And then when they come back, it's integrated into dark scenes so that you don't even realise it.

Other full-screen moments include wide-angle pans over the city giving you a completely immersive experience. The switch to full-screen on these scenes give you the impression of flying over Gotham at night. Incredible.

I will now never accept to see the film in any other format. This truly seems to be the director's vision. And if it isn't, then it should be. Who would have thought that The Dark Knight could be improved on? I feel humbled.

Audio and Subtittles
Audio: Dolby True HD: English5.1, Dolby Digital: Brazilian Portugese 5.1, Castilian Spanish 5.1, French 5.1 , German 5.1, Italian 5.1,

.Subtittles English, Brazilian Portuguese , Castalian Spanish , Complex CHinese, Danish, Dutch,French, German, Italian ,Korean , Norwegian , Portuguese Spanish and Swedish

Got to be the best flick on Blu-Ray
Where do you begin when you try to write about a movie that has been rated the No1 of all time by quarter of a million people on IMDB.com? Well firstly I'll start off with what it is. And that is an intricate, realistic, clever and damn right bad-a5s action film that makes a lot of other so called blockbusters of today look absolutely shabby by comparison.

What it isn't however is a re-hash, a re-make or a replay of any previous superhero movie.

Everything here is spot on, the story is well done - loyal enough to the Batman legend to keep the comic nerds happy, but different enough to make it a justified sequel. The action is unreal and real - what I mean by that is, you wont believe your eyes at some of the stuff they pull off, it's truly amazing, but also it's done in a way that is realistic - although far out, you can believe that with enough money behind someone with military technology, an American loon like Bruce Wayne could infact drive that monster truck around sweeping up crime, and of course there's never any doubt that another American loon, in this case a crazy scar-faced guy who laughs a lot could walk the streets and that between the two of them this stuff could happen!

The actors, from the leads to the support are all class, I mean come on where else could you find Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine and Gary Oldman to name a few, in one movie? And on top of that, none of them are lead roles! I mean these guys all carved out almost legendary status in their careers to date, and they are mere support acts in this film - I mean how do you select a leading man top these? Well, I'll tell you how...you cast the man of many facades, the always reliable Christian Bale (who is currently carving out his legacy) and then trump him twofold with an immense Heath Ledger.

Now - how this guy who came from humble films such as 10 Things I hate about you to this I'll never know (Brokeback excluded) - His twitchy, lispy, psycho turn is as good as you'll ever see...anywhere. It really is that amazing.

Forget Nicholson as the Joker, infact forget him in The Shining as well...and `Cuckoo's Nest...well actually any role where he's played a nutter, Ledger is just truly mental, every little twitch and eyelid flutter is so convincing you won't believe that he could have all of a sudden dropped this effort in at this point of his career, it's such a shame he never got a chance to see it finished.

Away from the acting, the characters' development are really interesting, I spent most of the film just itching to see what the Joker would do next, his initial introduction is truly wicked, if ever you were thinking he couldn't fill the jokers clown shoes or maybe you were thinking this would be a jokey-Joker, this scene clears that up straight away. From then onwards he commands every scene that he's in, and you'll be dying to see what's next, it's that simple.

The story of Batman also really moves on, if you think back to the four Bat-flicks of the 80's - 90's, each one just merely slapped another villain infront of him to overcome and that was that. In this movie it shoves him down a different direction and really pushes him foward, Bruce Wayne included, and it feels more full because of it - I won't go into it too much because it will only ruin the film for people who've not seen it yet but he truly becomes the Dark Knight of the title.

Add on to this the introducion of Two Face, as well as Maggie Gyllenhaal, Eric Roberts and even Scarecrow from 'Begins' and you really have got an array of characters packed in tighter than a cumberland sausage.

With all this waffle of actors, acting and characters you could be forgiven for thinking I was reviewing a Shakespear adaptation, when the truth is this is an action film through and through...and believe me it has it, and in spades!
Each action setpiece is mega as you would expect but it also delivers some crackers that you wouldn't, that's what makes it so cool, it achieves on so many levels...there is one scene where somebody blows something up and much like an opening scene in From Dusk Til Dawn, it's filmed in one continous shot with the 'someone' is walking away from it blowing in the background, well this has got to be one of my favourite scenes of the film, and no doubt there was some pressure on it because there was no chance of a second take - it's insane! you'll love it, i bet the extra features of the DVD will pay a mention to this bad boy!

So in summary, roll on part 3, but beware, because it's gunna have a lot to live up to...