The Dark Knight

Last night I was given a screener of The Dark Knight, because I’m not able to get out and see it right now and I wanted to see the movie and review it desperately. I have been excited about The Dark Knight since it was announced that they would be recreating batman again. 

Can Christopher Nolan make it any clearer that The Dark Knight, sequel to Batman Begins, is about Batman’s free fall from stratospheric heights to subterranean depths?

The Dark Knight is two hours of heady, involving action that devolves into a mind numbing thirty two minute epilogue. 

It’s a broody mix of urban chaos that catches and runs with a throwaway comment once made by actor Michael Caine (who reprises his role as Alfred, Batman’s servant). As he put it, Superman is how America sees itself, and Batman is how the rest of the world sees America.

If so, and it has that clang of truth, then the world sees the States as a place where:

1. Gangsters and terrorists hold cities in a grip of fear;

2. Mayors and district attorneys are overwhelmed by the rising crime wave;

3. Heroes and villains wear masks;

4. And the public isn’t told the truth.

A grim snapshot of America in the wake of 9/11?

In the middle of the film between reluctant hero and arch-villain, the Joker has the edge, in both meanings of the word. His face a smear of Kabuki-white, his eyes circled in black to suggest bottomless sockets, and his mouth has a slash of bloody red, the Joker is unnervingly creepy, but brilliant.

Anthony Perkins as Norman Bates creepy. Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lecter creepy. Ledger bobs his head, bares discolored fangs, and flicks his tongue to intimidate and snare his prey. Initially a muscleman for mobsters (led by Eric Roberts), the Joker by his chaos freestylings becomes the undisputed king of Gotham City’s underworld.

Is it sad to see the late Ledger on screen? Surprisingly, it is not. While the prospect of his last complete performance gave me anticipatory melancholy, thirty seconds in I responded not to Ledger as the Joker but to the Joker himself. Believe the buzz: This unsettling, mesmerizing performance is indeed Oscar worthy. Heath Ledger entirely blew me away with his performance. 

The Dark Knight contemplates good and evil as if they were forces illustrating Newton’s Third Law of Motion. Batman’s crime busting incites the Joker’s equal and opposite criminal reactions. The screenplay written by Nolan and his brother, Jonathan, is compulsively symmetrical that way. It also results in a movie that is sadistic and unrelentingly grim, much more R than its PG-14 rating would suggest.

As the caped crusader behind the neoprene mask and beneath the molded muscle suit, the self-contained Bale speaks in a voice modulated rasp perilously close to Darth Vader’s timbre. I found his modulated voice some what annoying throughout the film. He moves like black lightning. His performance was at par I believe. I did not enjoy him as much as I thought I would. 

Batman believes in rules and that there are no limits to his powers. The Joker disabuses him both conceits. To misdirect the diabolical mischief-maker, Batman and the police chief (Gary Oldman) conspire to make him believe that Batman is square jawed district attorney Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart), who is keeping company with Batman’s former girlfriend, Rachel Dawes (poorly portrayed by Maggie Gyllenhall, in the role originated by Katie Holmes). Which puts Batman in the position of making a political alliance with his romantic rival.

I believe that Nolan’s The Dark Knight emphasizes character not through personal style but through ideology, which doesn’t so readily lend itself to visual cues. Order is expressed by the cold, hard surfaces of modern architecture, social vulnerability by breaking glass (the windows in skyscrapers are perpetually shattering), anarchy by the smudge and smear of the Joker’s war paint and his unpredictable strikes. 

I highly suggest that you see this film and I’d give the movie five out of five stars. This is also the time where I’d tell you where you can see the film online for free, but I’m not going to. This film deserves more than that.