THE DARK KNIGHT (2008)

Country: U.S.A.

Genre(s): Action

Director: Christopher Nolan

Cast: Christian Bale / Heath Ledger / Gary Oldman

Plot

In this sequel to the “Batman Begins” reboot, Batman battles the maniacal Joker and his plans to bring chaos to Gotham City.

What I Liked

Ambitious in multiple ways, “The Dark Knight” is the best sequel to come out of the increasingly popular superhero action subgenre.  Some say it’s the greatest superhero film, period.  While I don’t agree with that second assertion (the first “Superman,” which is disappointingly not listed in my source book, is my pick for the greatest), I must say Christopher Nolan deserves tremendous credit for expanding the thematic possibilities of superhero movies, and really, mainstream action films overall.  What he has created is a standard, good versus evil effects extravaganza that has all the necessities for escapist entertainment, yet which somehow also has a great deal of moral complexity and intellectual substance.

There is a fabulous scene rather early in the film, where secret vigilante Bruce Wayne, his ballerina date, district attorney Harvey Dent, and assistant D.A. Rachel Dawes all sit at a nice dinner together debating things like the difference between law and justice, the dichotomy of chaos and order, the fragile balance between safety and freedom, and the corrupting nature of power.  The entire conversation boils down to what makes a hero and what makes a villain.  For the rest of the film, Nolan – who also co-wrote the script – constantly puts these concepts to the test, often using these same characters as his unfortunate lab rats.  Rather than having Batman show his heroism only by bravely putting himself in harm’s way, Nolan (through the Joker) presents Batman with tougher choices.  It’s not always so simple as throwing yourself in front of a bullet to save another life.  What happens when saving that one person means the sacrifice of something greater than that one person’s life?

For those who really don’t care about the moral quandaries of it all, there’s plenty of stuff going boom, some truly shocking plot twists, and enough fight scenes to meet the necessary action film quota.  Even more thrilling, though, than the bombs and guns and fists and blood is the character of the Joker, creepily reimagined by Nolan, actor Heath Ledger, and certainly plenty of costume and makeup folks.  This Joker is far less cartoonish and absolutely more terrifying than any seen on the screen before, not only because of his disfigured look and demented behavior, but because he is a man who no one can reason with or intimidate.  To Batman, for whom putting himself on the line physically has always sufficed, the Joker presents a new kind of psychological and moral challenge.  Heath Ledger’s performance is riveting, making the character at times haunting, at times disgusting, and at others somehow likable, sometimes all within the space of a single scene.  His Joker is the most larger-than-life villain I’ve seen in movies in a long time.

What I Didn’t Like

The final fight scene, where Batman uses a kind of electro-magnetic vision to fight through several floors of an office building full of baddies just feels like a poor excuse for video game cross-marketing.  I would have preferred that the filmmakers rely less on the special effects gimmick and put in some more interesting fight choreography.  Something other than convoluted shadows bumping against each other.

Most Memorable Scene

One of the things I find most intriguing about really good movies is the choices in the creative process.  Very often these are choices made by the director, in this case a choice Nolan makes following the movie’s most devastating moment.  After several minutes of mounting anxiety, one of the movie’s main characters is blown to bits.  Nolan follows with a montage depicting the surviving characters.  The terrific choice Nolan makes is to include no sound.

Think to some of the moments in your life where you or someone you know has experienced an overwhelming amount of emotion.  Maybe they said or did nothing, but just stared.  Maybe they laughed or cried so hard that no sound came out.  Nolan was aware of this and, instead of taking the easy route of following the death with the sound of fire, crying, or dramatic music, we hear nothing.  We see Jim Gordon standing silently; Harvey Dent writhing in fiery agony; and the Joker joy riding through the streets of Gotham in a police car, his head out the window like a dog savoring the smell in the air.  Because Nolan allows this moment to transcend at least one of our senses, the audience experiences the same shocked disbelief of the characters and finally realizes what is at stake with an evil like the Joker's set loose.

My Rating: 4.5 out of 5