The Dark Knight Blu-ray DVD Review

Vitals:

Director: Christopher Nolan
Writer:
Screenplay: Jonathan Nolan and Christopher Nolan
Story: Christopher Nolan and David S. Goyer
Based On: Batman created by Bob Kane, published by DC Comics

Cast:
Christian Bale - Bruce Wayne
Heath Ledger - The Joker
Aaron Eckhart - Harvey Dent / Two-Face
Michael Caine - Alfred Pennyworth
Maggie Gyllenhaal - Rachel Dawes
Gary Oldman - James Gordon
Morgan Freeman - Lucius Fox

Story:

This critically acclaimed and financial blockbuster introduces the Joker to this latest incarnation of Batman films. Harvey Dent comes onto the scene to clean up Gotham, doing what Batman could never do, put the cities criminals away for good. Standing in the way though is the Joker, who seeks to spread his special recipe of chaos onto the world. He is on a warpath, working through the ranks off mob bosses and city officials, looking for a way to destroy Dent, Batman, and create a masterpiece of destruction.

Check out a complete review of The Dark Knight.

Review:

What can I say that others haven’t already? Most people can agree that The Dark Knight is one of the best comic book movies to come out to date. It is the second largest grossing film in America and has made almost a billion dollars worldwide. Pretty astounding for a comic book movie. Even if the DVD was lacking in special features, I would have wanted to own this DVD. I guess that is good, because only the higher priced editions of the DVD have what fans are going to be looking for.

DVD Special Features:

Single Disc Edition - None (Hiss!)

2 Disc Special Edition:

• Gotham Uncovered - How Christopher Nolan and his team developed the new Bat-suit and Bat-pod and composer Hans Zimmer musically characterized The Joker's reign of chaos.
• The Dark Knight IMAX Scenes - View these 6 action-packed sequences - shot on the largest format possible - in their original IMAX framing, just as they were intended
• Gotham Tonight - 6 episodes of Gotham Cable's premier news program
• The Galleries: Poster art and production stills
• Digital Copy of the Feature Film

2-Disc Blu-Ray Edition:
Disc 1:

• 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:

• 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
• Digital Copy of the Feature Film - This new feature allows you to copy the movie to iTunes or your computer for easy viewing on the go.

I was able to get the Blue Ray edition and I have to say, even though there are few actual features, they are long and full of information. If you just look at the list above you might feel that it is rather light on features, which let’s be honest, is what most DVD buyers are looking for. I was at first worried that I would be looking at only a half hour or hour at the most of bonus material, but I’m glad to say that the Blu-ray edition has quite a few hours of material for the user to peruse.

I was really sad to see that the single disc edition doesn’t have much of anything on in the way of special features. The 2-Disc has less than the Blu-ray edition, sharing the Gotham Uncovered feature. This is an almost two hour feature that goes into a lot of the details and planning for the IMAX filming and stunts, some of which were huge orchestrations of destruction. While the Gotham Uncovered feature is well done and long, this is where the Blu-ray edition quickly moves away from the herd. It has two very long features about the tech of Batman and the psychology of Batman and the cast of characters.

Again, noticeably missing in this DVD is the lack of commentary on this DVD. Seems simple enough to do and I’ve always enjoyed hearing the tidbits from the directors in those tracks, but this is not to be so.

Conclusion:

I know Blu-ray is not an option for many right now, but a time is soon coming where it will be at a very affordable price, maybe even now. My Blu-ray player was under two hundred dollars and although it is on the lower end is still much better than my normal DVD player.

That said, I would recommend the Blu-ray first and foremost. I picked mine up for only two dollars more than the 2-disc and am really enjoying the features this one has as well as the coming opportunity to watch the film in HD and crystal clear clarity. The other two versions really pale in comparison to the lengthy, although few in number, features.