The Dark Knight: Special Edition (Blu-ray) (2008)

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General		Extras
Category	Thriller / Violence	Featurette-Behind The Scenes-Movie with Focus Points Featurette-Batman Tech Featurette-Batman Unmasked: The Psychology of the Dark Knight Featurette-Gotham Tonight Gallery-Photo Teaser Trailer Theatrical Trailer TV Spots
Rating
Year Of Production	2008
Running Time	152:13
RSDL / Flipper	No/No Dual Disc Set	Cast & Crew
Start Up	?
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Christopher Nolan
Studio Distributor	Warner Home Video	Starring	Christian Bale Michael Caine Heath Ledger Gary Oldman Aaron Eckhart Maggie Gyllenhaal Morgan Freeman
Case	?
RPI	?	Music	None Given

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	Unknown	English Dolby TrueHD 5.1 English Dolby Digital 5.1
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	1080p
Original Aspect Ratio	1.78:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	None	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight is tour de force in comic book to movie adaptations. A genre that has had many more misses than hits since Donner's Superman, Nolan expertly builds on the solid foundations laid in Batman Begins and delivers a film that is a success on so many levels. A box office smash second only to Titanic, The Dark Knight is a rare sequel that surpasses the original. It has also been a critical hit and there is talk that it has a legitimate chance at a Best Picture nomination at the Oscars too.

    I don't really know where to start - I had loved Batman Begins and had such high expectations for the follow up that I was concerned that my expectations were totally unreasonable. The casting seemed spot on, Heath Ledger looked like a perfect choice for Joker, all of the major players were returning from the first film bar the love interest who was replaced for the much better Maggie Gyllanhaal. Everything seemed to be lining up perfectly and although Batman Begins wasn't a huge box office success, it was well respected and did well on DVD. There was some decent buzz building for the follow up.

    Six months before the opening, tragedy struck and Hollywood lost one of it's most talented Gen Y actors - Heath Ledger. Within hours of his death there were rumours that the pressure of the role, the stresses of playing the iconic Joker had caused insomnia that drove him to prescription drugs. The press went mad, the public caught up in mourning the tragic loss, started to get curious about the Ledger's last complete role. Hysteria started to build about the Joker, hype and expectations around the movie that many thought the film could not possibly live up to. Were they wrong! $996 million USD box office later - the film is essentially a modern masterpiece delivering a deeply emotional and psychological comic book film that sets the definitive bar all future film-makers attempting the genre will be judged against.

    The cast are superb. Bale seems more comfortable in his Batsuit. He has fun as Wayne and is menacing as the Batman. Gyllenhaal is a powerful Rachel Dawes. It's hard to describe how awesome Ledger is as the Joker. He takes the role, makes it his own and I pity the actor who has to play any future incarnations of the character. Aaron Eckhart is a surprise as Harvey Dent/Two Face, with a depth of a performance I've not seen from him before. It's called the Dark Knight, but the film is just as much about Gotham's White Knight as it is about Batman and the Joker.

    Christopher Nolan has set the bar very high. He knows the psyche behind the Batman and has been able to take the core elements and translate them to screen in a way unthinkable when lesser directors had the reins.

    If you somehow missed the theatrical release of this film - do yourself a favor and buy, rent, borrow this Blu-Ray. It's one of the must see films of 2008 and sadly is the last chance to see Heath Ledger in a completed theatrical role.

    Highly recommended.

Video

    The Dark Knight is presented in the aspect ratio of 2.40:1 and 1.78:1 within a 1920 by 1080 progressive window. The variable aspect ratio recreates the original IMAX theatrical release. The majority of the film (anything shot on 35mm) is displayed in 2.40:1 and the IMAX shot scenes (about about 20 minutes or so) are displayed in 1.78:1. The transfer was encoded in VC-1, for the most part the bit rate stayed in the mid to high twenties.

    It's a great transfer that shows off how great high definition can be.

    The colours look good, but tend to be quite muted. That's the tone of the film and not the fault of the transfer. There are a lot of dark grey and blue hues that add a lot of character to the film. It's the same visual palette that Begins was based on, but this transfer is better!

    Skin tones look natural.

    It's a dark film with a lot of night time scenes, so thankfully the black levels are pretty good. You're never at a loss to know what's going on and there is none of that dark murkiness that some transfer can have.

    To show off Blu-Ray to your family and friends, check out the Bat-Pod chase scene. Also, any of the IMAX scenes will impress. The aspect ratio changes accordingly throughout the film, in the moment it may not be noticeable, but once you are aware of it, there's a chance it might distract. It does however maintain the integrity of the theatrical release & wishes of the director, so its a good thing they kept it for the Blu-Ray release.

    There were no compression issues.

    There were subtitles in 17 different languages including English for the Hearing Impaired, French, German and Spanish.

Video Ratings Summary

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Audio

    The disc has two main tracks, Dolby TrueHD and Digital Digital 5.1.

    For some reason, the 5.1 track is the default track. Make sure you change it in the settings.

    The TrueHD track will get your neighbour's attention. It is a bass heavy track that really suits the heavy atmosphere of the film. The sub woofer gets a work out.

    The dialogue is fine.

    It's a powerful soundtrack by Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard and sounds amazing. It's not a strong theme like many superhero movies would have, but reflects the emotional heaviness that the film carries.

    There's a fair bit of surround usage as you can probably imagine.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
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Subwoofer
Overall

Disc 1

Behind the Story - Gotham Uncovered: Creation of a Scene (64:10) HD

Great feature about the shooting of the film. It can be viewed as play all or in individual chapters. It can be viewed as Focus Points (pop-ups) in the film or separately. It opens with the great prologue bank robbery and continues with different scenes, special effects, stunts and sequences of the film. Talks about issues of shooting in IMAX, the new Batsuit, the Hong Kong jump, Bat Pod, etc. A fantastic look at all the blood, sweat and tears to film such an epic movie. There's a lot of voiceover work from crew including Christopher Nolan.

Disc 2

Batman Tech (45:59) HD

Really fun and interesting look at the world of the tech, tools and arsenal that Bruce Wayne develops to assist Batman fight crime. Being different from your typical superpower endowed superhero, Batman needs tools to help him fight the baddies. Wouldn't it be fun to be a billionaire with the spare cash to help you get the toys to become a superhero? Lots of interview footage, scenes from Batman Begins and Dark Knight as well as great animation and scenes from comic books, this is one impressive feature.

Batman Unmasked: The Psychology of the Dark Knight (46:02) HD

Let's get the crazy man in the Batsuit on the psychologist's couch? Wow, that's one heck of an idea for a special feature. Surprisingly it works, what could be a cheesy look at a grown man in a Batsuit becomes an intriguing look at the motivations of the vigilant hero. Similar to the tech feature, footage from both films, DC art, as well as interview footage.

Gotham Tonight (46:41) HD

Six episodes that can be played as one or individually that present Gotham Cable News. It's interesting and has impressive production value for something that is like Gotham's CNN equivalent. I liked it, but found it got old pretty fast. The six episodes have different themes and issues;

    - Episode 1: Election Night

    - Episode 2: Billionaire Without a Cause

    - Episode 3: Escalation

    - Episode 4: Top Cop

    - Episode 5: Cops and Mobsters

    - Episode 6: Gotham's White Knight

Galleries

Four galleries; Joker Cards, Concept Art, Poster Art and Production Stills

Trailers

Three theatrical trailers plus six TV spots

    The R1 looks the same to me, except for BD Live features. They are gimmicky, so call it a tie.

    A powerful, modern classic.

    The video is excellent.

    The audio is great too. I love the soundtrack.

    The special features are great, but a commentary would seal the deal. Or how about a tribute to Heath Ledger?

Video
Audio
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Overall