'Dark Knight' DVD Disappointingly Light
Robert K. Elder--Chicago Tribune

  • Batman has helped put Chicago back on Hollywood's radar, especially with the high-profile productions of "Batman Begins" and "The Dark Knight" having been filmed here in the last few years.

    But the new two-disc DVD of "The Dark Knight" sheds little light on Chicago as Gotham City.

    Or on much else.

    The movie translates spectacularly well onto the smaller screen, and the late Heath Ledger's menacing turn as the Joker remains a riveting, hypnotic performance. His line at the end of the movie, "I've got a feeling we're going to be doing this for a long time," is haunting, given Ledger's premature death in January at age 28.

    But by modern standards, "The Dark Knight's" DVD package and extras are -- with apologies to the Joker -- laughably thin.

    A few of the features (especially "Batman Unmasked" on the Blu-ray version) appear to be repackaged TV pieces meant to promote the movie before its release.

    Nevertheless, a few minutes of behind-the-scenes footage of the armored car chase on Lower Wacker Drive on the feature "Evolution of the Knight" will be of interest to Chicagoans. Shots of an outdoor dry run of the Batpod chase sequence stunts (possibly in rural England), including a test of the famous end-over-end flip of a semi, later duplicated on LaSalle Street, are worth watching.

    But that's about it. Other mildly interesting components include six larger-format IMAX scenes, and a featurette with composer Hans Zimmer talking about crafting the Joker's musical cue.

    Director Christopher Nolan provides no commentary track, and even stranger, no one mentions the loss of Ledger. This is odd, considering the talk of a posthumous Academy Award for best supporting actor.

    Nolan gave his "Memento" a lavish DVD treatment, complete with a re-edited version of the film only accessible when viewers solve a puzzle. With the mischievous persona of the Joker built into "The Dark Knight," ample opportunity exists for mischievous DVD Easter eggs and a wide array of featurettes.

    Given the stature of the film, which ranks No. 2 behind "Titanic" on the all-time domestic box office charts, "The Dark Knight" deserves more. So do fans. Someone light up the Batsignal.

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