Dark Knight 7.8

Far more enjoyable than I had any reason to expect, because there was this underlying story of human relationships, motivations and emotions that carried on through the cartoon razzmatazz. The fact that three earthbound characters – played skillfully by Maggie Gyllenhaal, Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman – knew Batman’s identity provided the link between those two worlds. And the fact that the Joker’s acts of violence, though hardly realistic, were all so technically primitive also countered Batman’s flights of fancy. But minute-after-minute there was a surprise, a new bit of deviltry, another wrinkle to fathom, and this kept the mind totally engaged and the enjoyment quotient high. And in terms of realism, was this really that much farther-fetched than The Departed?