The Dark Knight

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I write film reviews for my local newspaper its a hard job for me since said paper is a small rag where front page news is “Catalytic converter removed from local truck.” Needless to say, the community probably wouldn’t jive with detailed, deep, reviews so I do the best I can to cater to my audience. They reimburse me to for tickets, so I’m a happy man. I reviewed TDK for them yesterday and tapped out a review almost immediately after the IMAX screening I attended yesterday with Joseph … aka Cinexcellence. So here are my glowing, albeit very generic thoughts on the best Batman film so far. I’ll update this post later with some more detailed observations, probably after a second viewing.

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Chances are you’ve already seen The Dark Knight if you’re reading this, but just in case you haven’t, grab hold of this small piece of advice: go see this movie. Director Christopher Nolan’s sequel to his phenomenal reboot of the Batman franchise (2005’s Batman Begins) is every bit as incredible as the hype suggests. In fact, it’s probably even better.

At the end of the last film, Gotham’s caped vigilante helped restore order to the city despite the many prisoners loosed from Arkham Insane Asylum. With many psychopaths still on the loose, Gotham’s district attorney Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart) does his best to restore order and justice by day while Batman/Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) guards the city by night. A just, true, and honest man, Harvey Dent is known as Gotham’s White Night. Bruce Wayne takes an interest in Dent, but not for those reasons. Wayne’s interest is a bit more personal: Dent is in love with Rachel Dawes (Maggie Gyllenhaal replacing Katie Holmes), the only woman the billionaire head of Wayne Enterprises has ever loved.

Enter The Joker, a supremely twisted, paint-faced small arms dealer played by Heath Ledger. Ledger’s last complete performance before his unexpected death earlier this year is the kind of acting superlatives are made for. Traces of his prior performances are completely absent – whether it be the humble rebellion of Gabriel Martin in The Patriot or the caged anguish of Ennis Del Mar in Brokeback Mountain. This is something new and completely evil. A close match would be Anton Chigurh (the brutal bounty hunter of last year’s Oscar-winning No Country for Old Men), but Ledger’s Joker is so gleeful, so aware of his unrelenting nihilism, that the only way to reconcile his behavior would be to call him an incarnation of The Devil himself: a cold-blooded lover of carnage with no motivation other than to watch the world smolder in ashes of his making.

Evil this frightening can often make good guys seem boring, but this isn’t the case with The Dark Knight … and it’s not just because of Batman. If you watch closely, Gary Oldman’s portrayal of Commissioner Gordon is one of the most compelling aspects of the film. Placed in opposition to Ledger’s Joker, Gordon makes virtue look exciting and when one of Gotham’s most trusted allies descends into the depths of evil and madness, Gordon has a chance to prove his worth not just as one of Gotham’s prominent public officials, but as a true hero – a man of substance and dignity.

Recent action films have sacrificed these kinds of complex characters on the altar of special effects explosions. Somewhere along the line audiences decided it was boring to have real people lighting up the movie screen, yet The Dark Knight has characters every bit as detailed as any of last year’s award-winning movies. “Awards films” usually top my year-end list of Best Films. Atonement was beautiful and I savored every glorious second of There Will Be Blood (the best movie of 2007), but The Dark Knight deserves a place on the same pedestal because it ushers rich drama back into mainstream commercial entertainment without giving anyone a chance to blink.

This is what makes grand, lasting entertainment like The Godfather, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Vertigo, and The Shawshank Redemption – the movie classics of years past. As with these timeless movies, The Dark Knight will continue to come alive with repeated viewings and live on as one of the very best films of the decade.

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Tags: Batman, Christopher Nolan, Harvey Dent, Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight