The Dark Knight (2008)
The Dark Knight (2008) 10/10
With the Dark Knight smashing all box office records, you don’t need me to tell you that you should really catch this movie. Chances are, you have already watched it. But for those of you who need a little prodding, here’s why you should catch the Dark Knight: its the best movie you are going to watch this year, and possibly one of the best movies you will ever watch in your life.
In the earlier Batman Begins, director Christopher Nolan had to reboot the failed franchise after the disastrously campy BATMAN AND ROBIN(1997), and the 2005 movie had to spend time on exposition and background. With that out of the way, Nolan’s DARK KNIGHT jumps straight into the story, and the director weaves a compelling, haunting tale of morality and heroism. The film starts with a slickly crafted bank heist sequence that is tightly edited and brilliantly shot and then goes off alternating between adrenaline rushing action and serious drama. It is so rare that a film manages to be both critically acclaimed and blockbuster material but the Dark Knight transcends the divide between arthouse and mainstream, and escapes the confines of a superhero movie. Here, Nolan builds upon the dark, gritty and realistic version of Gotham City of Batman Begins and adds layers of moral complexity. The film itself plays so much like a gangland drama, and comparisons have been made about how Nolan’s DARK KNIGHT is the comic book equivalent of a Scorceses or Mann film. But a better comparison would be how Nolan has taken elements from serious drama like THE DEPARTED or HEAT and places it in a big-budget Hollywood vehicle that manages to please both lovers of serious drama and the action loving masses. It is a difficult balancing act, especially with a long runtime of 2 1/2 hrs, but Nolan creates a modern masterpiece that at once feels too long and too short. Too long because parts of the first half feels like padding, with a superfluous jaunt into HK and less important exposition. Too short because we just can’t get enough of Heath Ledger in his brilliant, magnetic performance as the Joker and because i wish some of the excellent supporting characters like Aaron Eckhart’s Harvey Dent or Michael Caine’s Alfred could have been given more screen time.
Heath Ledger deserves a paragraph unto himself. As the biggest selling point of the Dark Knight, Ledger’s performance is a cinematic tour de force that is as haunting as it is tragically memorable. For the longest time, Jack Nicholson’s Joker in BATMAN(1989) had been the definitive Joker, but Ledger’s interpretation of the Joker blows away all expectations. It is a mesmerizing, hypnotic and utterly unforgettable performance that has generated Oscar buzz for a posthumous Oscar. And rightly so, because Ledger proves that a superhero film can boast of the sort of dramatic performances normally found only in serious “drama” type films. It is a bravura performance of a lifetime and not only does Ledger deserve at least an Oscar nomination, he should probably win it. Ledger first won critical acclaim with his performance in BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN, and THE DARK KNIGHT was to have been his stepping stone as an A-list actor but his premature death cast a somber undertone to the his performance here. There is a tragic resonance to Ledger’s intense performance because he doesn’t so much act as Joker as he becomes the Joker. As the charismatic and chaotic Joker, it is equal bits unnerving and riveting to see how much Ledger gets behind the skin of the character and walks out of Jack Nicholson’s shadow. Ledger creates the best villain ever and a definitive Joker who will probably never be topped.
But Ledger’s performance should not take away the shine from the rest of the stellar cast. Christopher Nolan picked a first-rate cast with standout performances from one of the best supporting casts in comic book history. Morgan Freeman, Gary Oldman and Michael Caine are top actors in their own right who bring much welcome screen presence. The role of Rachel Dawes (played by Maggie Gyllenhaal) grows from being a damsel in distress role to a central plot element and without spoiling too much information is excellently played by Gyllenhaal given her limited screen time. And as the righteous district attorney Harvey Dent, Aaron Eckhart’s performance will probably be overshadowed by Ledger’s overweening screen presence but still Eckhart deserves praise for playing a fine line between good and bad and evolving from the White Knight into something else altogether.
And Christian Bale has grown well into his role as Batman. One quibble though is that i still don’t quite like the gravelly voice Bale uses while in Batman mode but whether as the playboy Bruce Wayne or the conflicted role of Batman he handles it well. In my original critique of Batman Begins, one of the key issues was the need for balance between the hero and the villian’s screen time. In the earlier films, from Batman all the way to Batman and Robin, the villian has taken center stage at the expense of the hero such that Bruce Wayne feels like an afterthought. This was most evident in Tim Burton’s BATMAN RETURNS when the film was packed with no less than 3 antagonists and Batman himself seemed like a supporting character than a main lead. Batman Begins, as an origin story, lacked a strong villian counterpoint which put it just shy of mastepiece status. But in Batman Begins, we not only see the moral dilemma that Bale’s Batman faces, but he faces a truly classic adversary in Ledger’s maniacal performance. In short, The Dark Knight manages the fine balance between Batman and the villains and even though Ledger’s performance is show-stealing, it is not to the extent of overshadowing the performance of Bale and the excellent supporting cast.
As for action, the film really goes guns ablazing from the very first scene with some really cool toys by Batman. The Batbike alone deserves a special mention for being totally awesome. Nolan handles the big set action sequences with better flair compared to his first outing and crafts some truly impressive car sequences that will more than satisfy the pop-corn loving crowd. Although his fist-fight sequences are a slight improvement over Batman Begins, i feel it still has too much of those jerky Bourne-esque feel such that you can’t really tell who is punching who. Nolan is more adept at crafting personal drama than shooting top notch fistfights so here is probably the one main quibble in the action department.
In terms of cinematography, the film looks great. In a dark, depressing but still good looking kinda way. The night shots are especially beautiful and i love it when Nolan chooses an overhead, eye in the sky perspective over Gotham City. Some critics have picked on the lack of effort in dressing Gotham City. Instead of creating a dark metropolis, Nolan has simply taken Chicago as a template with little dressing, and compared to both Tim Burton’s gothic visuals and Nolan’s Batman Begins, the Dark Knight’s Gotham City is a tad too normal. For example, the building used as Wayne Towers looks terrible in comparison to the version used in Batman Begins. But Nolan’s choice of not dressing up Chicago also works to his advantage. In creating his dark morality tale the familiarity of the locales adds a sense of faux-realism to the film. The Dark Knight is as much a political allegory of the world that has changed since 9/11 as it is escapist entertainment.
While the action entertains and thrills, it is the moral undertones and the blurring of black and white into a murky grey that lies at the soul of the film. The Dark Knight asks a question about what is right and what is wrong and what society’s limits are. It is these elements that elevate it from being just a great and enjoyable superhero movie such as Spiderman or Iron Man into another level altogether, the level which sees film not just as entertainment but as art. And as an artwork, The Dark Knight is a masterpiece that blends smart, intelligent drama with summer popcorn entertainment. As a bonus, those who watched Batman Begins will even see some subtle thematic links between both films. For example the ending scene of Batman Begins has a dialogue between Batman and Jim Gordon that is replicated with some modification near the end of The Dark Knight, sort of an Easter Egg for faithful fans.
Certainly, the movie has its flaws: the first half has some excess baggage, i wish Joker’s origin was more developed, more screen time for both Aaron Eckhart and Heath Ledger, less blurry fistfights but considering the final product, these are slight quibbles. The Dark Knight has earned its place in the pantheon of great films and hopefully a few Oscar nominations come awards time. At the very least, it is probably the first superhero film with a decent chance of snagging an acting Oscar and possibly even a nomination for either Best Picture or Best Director (though odds are the Academy won’t give the Oscar to a superhero flick).
The Dark Knight is not your regular superhero movie. You are likely to stagger out of a screening depressed and gloomy because the film itself is the antithesis of a feel good blockbuster happy flick like Kungfu Panda. It has more in common with classic morality tales than escapist fiction. The Dark Knight poses a question of morality, heroism and the value of society itself. It shows us the uncanny similarity of Batman and Joker, that they may just be the flip side of the same coin. As the 2 opposing forces collide, something’s gotta give and one wonders if, as Harvey Dent says: “You either die a hero or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain.”
This is a film that is basically 2 and a half hours of gloom, dread and morbidity. But its imagery, themes and Heath Ledger’s riveting performance will haunt you long after you have finished watching. This is the best superhero movie ever, and it is probably the best film of 2008.
“Watching “The Dark Knight” is like gazing into a mirror on a waning moon night: chilling and mesmerizing. “- Denver Post
“Like a symphony where every note is exactly where it needs to be, or a painting without a brushstroke wasted, The Dark Knight is an unabashed, unashamedly great film.”- Bill Gibron
“Sensational, grandly sinister and not for the kids, “The Dark Knight” elevates pulp to a very high level.”- Chicago Tribune
“Christopher Nolan’s “The Dark Knight” is a haunted film that leaps beyond its origins and becomes an engrossing tragedy.”- Ebert
