I gave the movie five stars when I reviewed it this past summer. I can't rate the two-disc special edition DVD as high.

The two-disc DVD is something of a disappointment. Wendy and I went ahead and splurged on it as an early Christmas present for ourselves yesterday, and watching the extra features today left me feeling a bit let down.

Director Chris Nolan has said that he intentionally avoids including cut scenes and blooper reels on his DVDs out of respect for his actors. He feels that actors might not be as willing to take chances with their performances if they worry that their every misstep or mistake is going to end up on the DVD. I see his point.

Still, the untimely death of Heath Ledger, combined with the incredibly enthusiastic reception of his wonderful performance as the Joker, almost mandates a special look at his work on the DVD. It would have been nice to see even a fifteen-minute tribute reel. Have Nolan talk about collaborating on the character with Ledger, have the other actors talk about the experience of working with him. I've seen those kinds of things on TV, I've heard the actors talk about how much they enjoyed working with Ledger. It should have been easy to at least throw something together for the DVD.

Even the inclusion of the content generated for the movie's viral internet marketing campaign would have been an upgrade from what's actually included on the second disc.

Compared to the Batman Begins two-disc DVD set, which was loaded with extras, The Dark Knight special edition DVD is far less than it might have been.

I noticed in the product specs at Amazon that the blu-ray version has a couple of extra features that aren't on the standard DVD set. So that's how they're gonna play it, huh? I guess we're all going to have to buy blu-ray players in the next few years.

Still, the reason to buy any DVD set is for the movie itself. And The Dark Knight holds it's own on the small screen. Yeah, it's a big-budget summer blockbuster ... but it's also a character study and a dark, brooding piece of comic book film noir. The 5.1 surround sound mix sounds great and the digital transfer is beautiful to look at.

Buy The Dark Knight on DVD for the movie itself. The special features on the two-disc set are a let-down. There's better Dark Knight related non-movie footage available for free on YouTube. With that in mind, there's no need to spend an extra five bucks on the special edition. Regular DVD owners should get the single disc movie-only DVD and enjoy another psychotic joy-ride through Gotham in the comfort of their own homes.

Labels: Movies