The Dark Knight
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THE DARK KNIGHT - film review
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The plot, while extremely detailed, is relatively straight forward. Batman must come up with a new strategy to combat an adversary who exercises no boundaries in his criminality. Batman and Gordon enlist the help of Gotham’s District Attorney Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart) to trap The Joker but this leads to fatal consequences. Dent is dating Rachel Dawes, the never-explicitly-stated love of Bruce Wayne’s life, and the pair pays a heavy toll as The Joker kidnaps both her and Dent. It came as little surprise that the role of Rachel was recast as Katie Holmes was regarded as the weakest acting link in Batman Begins. In The Dark Knight, Rachel is played by Maggie Gyllenhaal and her performance adds some much needed spark between her and Bruce that was lacking with Katie Holmes.
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Subterfuge exists on both sides, as Batman and The Joker match wits to see who can out-position the other. All appears lost when The Joker detonates a bomb that changes Brice Wayne’s life forever and severely disfigures Dent. In this version of Batman mythology, The Joker is instrumental in creating the villainous Two-Face by convincing Dent that the blame for his situation lays squarely at the feet of Batman. Not only does Batman have to spend the final act of the film trying to prevent the death of hundreds of Gotham’s citizens by The Joker, he is also faced with a no-win situation when Dent, as Two-Face, kidnaps Jim Gordon’s wife and son. The film’s denouement is akin to The Empire Strikes Back, where, racing into the night, Batman’s fate hangs in the balance. A small victory may have been achieved, but the crime, villainy & evil that almost permanently engulfs Gotham has not been defeated. Not by a long way.
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It’s a rare type of blockbuster that can make “downbeat” work. The Dark Knight does it and leaves the viewer wanting for more. There are three reasons why this film works so well. The first reason is that Nolan pays respect to his audience by presenting his story & characters as authentic. He does not allow the characters to become caricatures. The second reason is the film uses relevant cinematic references throughout its story to demonstrate that it’s a film to be taken seriously. The film’s opening bank robbery sequence is a great example of how Nolan uses similar visual cues, style and pacing to that of Michael Mann’s 1995 Los Angeles crime tale Heat to signal to the audience that the audience must now concentrate and pay attention. Nolan adds a dimension to this sequence with the use of IMAX photography to capture the Gotham streetscape below. The third reason that this film works so well is Heath Ledger’s portrayal of The Joker.
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Ledger’s death in January 2008 was sad and untimely. It’s easy to suggest that many viewed his performance more sympathetically than had he been alive, but this undervalues the contribution that his version of The Joker makes to The Dark Knight. The previous benchmark for the character had been Jack Nicholson’s in Tim Burton 1989 Batman movie. Nicholson combined elements of the Caesar Romero 1960s Batman TV show Joker with his own 'Nicholsonesque' mania that audiences had seen in his previous performances such as Jack Torrance in The Shining. There is, however, an element of the ridiculous in Nicholson’s performance and on too many occasions throughout the film, the audience sense that he has the urge to break-through the fourth dimension and wink to them to suggest that he knows that they know that he’s laying it on thick and heavy. This is not the case with Ledger.
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Despite his zombie-like make-up, there’s nothing ridiculous about The Dark Knight Joker. He is a character of pure evil and criminality, enjoying the opportunity to see the world burn before him. One of the many definitions of insane is a person who is in a state of mind that prevents normal perception, behaviour or social interaction; seriously mentally ill. By definition, Ledger’s Joker is clearly insane. All of his interactions throughout the film lead to violence closely followed by death. What’s most frightening is the manner in which Ledger underplays the character. He imbues the character with physical attributes that suggest the mental aberration that exists underneath, such as the creepy manner he flicks his tongue about his mouth in between sentences. It’s a performance designed to contrast Christian Bale’s straight up and down Batman and it works for all the right and all the wrong reasons.
Every performance in The Dark Knight manages to hit the right note, as nobody overplays their role; adding to the realism that Nolan seeks to present his audience. Christian Bale is solid as Bruce Wayne and Batman, although his Caped Crusader gravel tone still seems a little ridiculous. Aaron Eckhart manages to capture the slickness of Harvey Dent and the madness of Two-Face extremely well given he only has a limited number of scenes in which to make an impression. Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman are as reliable as ever, returning in their roles as Alfred and Lucius Fox, as is Gary Oldman as Jim Gordon. Maggie Gyllenhaal, as mentioned, replaces Katie Holmes as Rachel Dawes and she repays the decision by Nolan to cast her displaying greater depth and emotional range than Holmes was able to bring.
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Technically, The Dark Knight is almost flawless. Nolan brought many long-time collaborators on board the production to ensure his vision was translated as intended. Most importantly, Wally Pfister continued on from Batman Begins as Nolan’s Director of Photography, marking his fifth collaboration with Nolan. There’s no doubting that the combination of Pfister & Nolan has realised some of the most ambitiously composed film scenes since the early 2000s and The Dark Knight is no exception. Australian Lee Smith returned as Nolan’s film editor, marking his third collaboration with him, along with Nathan Crowley as the film’s Production Designer; his fourth film with the director. James Newton Howard and Hans Zimmer also returned to provide their unique mix of talent to the musical score and expand upon their Batman Begins collaboration with one of the most powerful comic book movie film scores.
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The Dark Knight: IMAX featurette |
The Dark Knight is a powerful story about sacrifice. It asks its hero to forsake himself to make the world, in particular Gotham, a better place for his sacrifice. It shows that, in life, there are no easy answers and that good and evil are a matter of perspective. The audience has no difficulty in accepting this because these messages very real and relatable. It’s the reason why The Dark Knight stands, arguably, as the best comic book feature film of all time.
The Dark Knight Production Posters
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