The Dark Knight
Batman Is Back in One of the Greatest Sequels Ever
The Dark Knight
July 16th, 2008 - *SPOILER NOTE – the first half of this review contains some spoilers, but no major details are revealed - yet. I’ll warn you before we get to the heavy spoilers. Still, if you don’t want to know anything about the movie before you see it, stop reading Now.*
Batman Begins was a great movie. Everyone loved it. Its sequel had incredibly high expectations. And that was before Heath Ledger passed away shortly after shooting his psychopathic take on The Joker. In other words, the hype machine was in overdrive for The Dark Knight, and it would have been very easy for the flick to disappoint.
It doesn’t.
The Dark Knight picks up after the events of Begins, when Jim Gordon warned Batman that his presence would inspire the criminal element of Gotham to push back, and we see that is precisely what has happened. Batman and Gordon have gone after the organized crime and corruption in the city full force, and they even have a new ally in their fight with the newly elected D.A. Harvey Dent. But the underworld is not going away quietly, and in their desperation, they turn to a monster known as the Joker.
The Joker is an anarchist, pure and simple. He isn’t motivated by power or greed, just chaos. In many ways, he is the antithesis of Batman; Bruce Wayne created Batman as a symbol of good, to inspire the people of Gotham to have hope and do good, whereas the Joker constantly seeks ways to bring out the worst in people. The Joker is very deliberately not given an origin story, and while some fans may be disappointed by that, it makes sense given his character; he has no story to tell because he is not motivated by anything. Ledger played the role brilliantly, and he is able to appear simultaneously terrifying, creepy, and funny, though only in a demented sort of way.
As great as Ledger is in the movie, Aaron Eckhart can not be overlooked for his stand-out performance as Harvey Dent. Going into the movie, one knows that Dent will turn into Two-Face, and while the actual physical transformation itself is disturbing and tragic, the arc of what his character goes through is equally compelling. Dent, like Batman, has set out to clean up the streets of Gotham, but unlike Batman, he does not wear a mask. Bruce Wayne realizes and hopes that by inspiring people like Dent to come forward and fight for what is right, he may be able to return to a normal life without the Batsuit and with his love, Rachel.
The Joker, however, sees to it that such an eventuality doesn’t take place.
*HEAVY SPOILER TIME – YOU ARE WARNED*
For the first half of the movie, I thought that Two-Face was merely going to be introduced in this movie, but saved as the main villain in the next Bat-sequel. Boy was I wrong. Dent is a man of strong ideals, and Bruce is torn about his feelings for him. On the one hand, he is an ally in the fight against crime, but on the other hand he is a rival, because he is in a serious relationship with Rachel. Bruce inevitably comes to the conclusion that it is in his best interests to help Dent, naively believing that Rachel will eventually leave Dent for him. Ironically, had Batman gone to rescue Dent instead of Rachel, she and Bruce would have had a chance of living happily ever after. Instead, Batman is fooled by the Joker, Rachel is killed, and Dent becomes Two-Face, going from an important player on Batman’s side of justice to an important player on the Joker’s side of anarchy.
It may seem that the Joker is less of a main character than Harvey Dent, but it is the Joker’s motivations that are at the core of what this movie is about. While Batman Begins explored how fear can be used and misused, The Dark Knight explores the theme of pushing people to their breaking point and what happens next. The Joker enjoys killing people, but he finds it much more fun to watch people kill each other when they feel they have no other alternative. He also tries to push Batman over his limit, specifically by getting the Bat to kill him. Batman doesn’t believe in taking lives – this much was established in Begins and throughout Batman comic lore – and the Joker delights in trying to get Batman to break his moral code. While he is unsuccessful with Batman, he is able to get Dent and many of Gotham’s residents to turn into murderers and would-be murderers. At the same time however, he also inadvertently brings out the best in certain people, as the standoff on the boats prove. There the story comes full circle – Batman wanted to inspire hope, and he did, but he also brought out some of the darkest nature in people. The Joker wanted to inspire chaos, and he did, but he also brought out the best in Gotham’s residents.
The Dark Knight didn’t have to deal with the origin story that was covered so well in Batman Begins, but by introducing a villain like the Joker, it forces Bruce to re-examine the nature of what it means to be Batman, just as he thought he had it all figured out. This allows for the character of Bruce Wayne/Batman to evolve, and it adds that much more to an already dense movie.
I realize that “jam-packed” is a cliché, but this movie fits an unbelievable amount into two and a half hours, without leaving anything feel like it was neglected or rushed. It has the Joker’s chaos, Harvey Dent’s transformation to Two-Face, a love triangle between Bruce, Rachel, and Dent, organized crime factions at war, someone who wants to expose Bruce Wayne as Batman, and the entire city of Gotham reacting to the madness that is swirling around them. I honestly can’t remember the last movie I saw that had so much going on all at once, let alone with everything being handled so seamlessly.
I would also be remiss to not mention the great action sequences in this movie, which are altogether mind blowing in their realism. The way that Batman extracts Lau from a Hong Kong skyscraper to a plane mid-flight was amazing, and the car chase with police trucks, the Joker firing a rocket launcher, the Batmobile and the new Bat-Pod made for some really memorable scenes. CG is used sparingly, and that further helps ground this universe in a sense of reality. That feeling is harmed slightly by Batman’s new sight sensor that is powered by cell phones. It’s a minor gripe, but that bit of technology feels a little too James Bond-esque to belong in this universe.
That aside, there is no arguing that this movie was masterfully done. The acting is top notch all around, the multiple stories are tied together thematically, the action is fast-paced, the photography is beautiful, and the score is intense. The movie ends with a great set-up for a sequel, but Christopher Nolan and company are going to have a tough time out doing themselves. Still, they managed to deliver a sequel that surpasses an amazing original, so they have certainly proven themselves worthy of the challenge.
Alan's Score: 9.8 out of 10
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