July: The Dark Knight
When: July 18
Who: Christian Bale, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Heath Ledger, Gary Oldman, Aaron Eckhart; directed Christopher Nolan
What: Bale once again embodies the man behind the Batsuit. With the help of Lieutenant Jim Gordon (Oldman) and District Attorney Harvey Dent (Eckhart), Batman has been making headway against local crime--until a rising criminal mastermind known as The Joker (Ledger) unleashes a fresh reign of chaos across Gotham City.
Brian Says: So, Katie Holmes and Liam Neeson are out, and Ledger, Gyllenhaal (playing Holmes’ character) and Aaron Eckhart are in. Not a bad deal, but TThe Dark Knight is all about returns--and not just the box office variety. Bale’s back as maybe the best Caped Crusader we’ve ever seen; Nolan is back and could potentially wind up being a better Batman director than Tim Burton; and The Joker is back, 19 years after Jack Nicholson immortalized him in the villain annals. There’s no getting around it--Ledger is an odd fit on paper to play Joker, but then again, he didn’t exactly make sense on paper as a gay cowboy in Brokeback Mountain, and that performance earned him an Oscar nod. Above all, faith in Nolan prevails. Couple his genius with the reintroduction of The Joker, and you’ve likely got a brilliant, downright scary sequel to look forward to.
Kit Says: While I certainly appreciated director Nolan’s darker than dark vision and Bale’s quietly intense performance in Batman Begins, did the franchise really need to be revamped? Maybe so, since we needed to get the bad taste of the campy 1997 Batman and Robin out of our mouths, especially for those hardcore comic-book followers who want The Dark Knight to be precisely that: dark. It’ll be hard to top Jack Nicholson’s performance as the Joker, though. From the looks of it, Ledger is handling the part with much more malice, which is a good start if Nolan is keeping things ever-so gloomy. Oh, who I am kidding? This sequel should be just as successful as its predecessor.
Also watch our for:
Comic-Con Attendees’ Must-Sees
Star Trek
Iron Man
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
X-Files Sequel
Incredible Hulk
Wanted
Speed Racer
Cloverfield
George Romero's Diary of the Dead