Home entertainment for couch potatoes

The Joker rules
Cast: Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Aaron Eckhart

With all the speculation about the toll playing the Joker took on Heath Ledger's psyche, The Dark Knight DVD leaves you begging for more of the actor, writes Jen Chaney.

The Dark Knight may technically be a Batman movie. But everyone knows that this comic-inspired sequel belongs to Heath Ledger, the Australian actor who portrays the Joker with such memorable, maniacal relish that he may very well earn his second Academy Award nomination for the role.

Most also are aware that, sadly, Ledger died last January, which put Warner Bros. in the awkward position of attempting to posthumously promote his work in the film without appearing to exploit the deceased. The studio struggled with that same delicate dance while putting together the DVD and Blu-ray releases of The Dark Knight. Perhaps as a result, the discs' extras focus largely on the technical wizardry and special effects behind the box office smash and decline to comment on Ledger's passing or the impact it had on cast and crew.

Call me morbidly curious, but given all the speculation about the alleged toll that playing the Joker took on Ledger's psyche, I had hoped to see more behind-the-scenes footage of the star at work, or perhaps even a few on-set interviews. The absence of any extensive insight into his performance leaves a gaping, undeniable hole at the centre of these Dark Knight releases, one that I found hard to overlook.

Still, there are some solid reasons to recommend The Dark Knight, including the quality of the movie itself. As the first feature film ever shot in part with Imax cameras, its dark, slick vision of Gotham transfers especially stunningly to Blu-ray. (The six Imax action sequences also appear on the second disc of the DVD special edition.) Frankly, getting to watch the knock-out, opening bank robbery sequence over and over again, in any format, is worth the purchase.

The strongest special features appear on Blu-ray in the 18, one-hour-plus Gotham Uncovered featurettes, which explain how the movie's wide array of explosions, Batmobile mash-ups and 18-wheeler flips were created for the big screen. All of the segments can be viewed individually or in tandem with the film itself, a particularly nice touch.

The rest of the Blu-ray extras include six episodes of Gotham Tonight, the faux cable news show featured in the movie (these segments will be most enticing to fans of Anthony Michael Hall, who plays anchorman Mike Engel); photo galleries; a 46-minute, intermittently engaging documentary about the history behind Batman's gadgets; and a second 46-minute documentary about the psychology that motivates The Dark Knight's characters.

The Blu-ray also promises a set of BD-Live features – accessible via the player's Internet connection – that, among other things, allow viewers to create their own commentary tracks. Cool, right? Well, it would have been if they weren't such a hassle to access. For some reason, Warner wants users to register on their website before they can dive into the bulk of the material, a process that wouldn't work when I tried. When I sent an email to the studio's BD-Live support desk, it bounced back.

Given how eager the studios are to encourage Blu-ray use, the folks at Warner Bros. should have made this process as easy as possible for consumers, especially on what may be their most anticipated release of the holiday season.

Bonus Most Likely to Induce Vertigo: Several of the Gothan Uncovered featurettes deliver major adrenaline rushes, particularly Hong Kong Jump, which shows stuntman Buster Reeves swan diving from the top of an enormous building in downtown Chicago while attached, via bungee cord, to a helicopter.

The Chicago leap was merely a rehearsal for what would have been a jump during the Hong Kong shoot, one that ultimately got scrapped for reasons director Christopher Nolan describes as "bureaucratic." (Oh, and if you're wondering, Christian Bale really did stand on the precipice of that skyscraper in China. So don't ever say Batman lacks courage.)