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The Dark Knight
Do the decent thing
2008
Review: July 25, 2008
Director: Christopher Nolan
Starring: Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Gary Oldman, Aaron Eckhart
Sure!
THE SETUP:
Batman's crime fighting causes Gotham's criminal element to escalate.
DISCUSSION:
Hearing that this movie was pressed onto celluloid from the tears of Jesus himself, and that Heath Ledger fully redefines the art of screen acting, and that viewers have been miraculously cured of cancer and rhematism by watching it, I had naturally started to get my defenses up, and was preparing a Hellboy II-type attitude of 'Guys, this is NOT that great." But what do you know, while it isn't pressed from the tears of Jesus, it is a very good, very solid movie that engages ones mind in ways superhero movies usually don't, and leaves one with a lot to think about the next day.
So the deal is that Batman has been capturing criminals left and right, but rather than give up, they have been working together and escalating the violence. There are also a number of Batman-wannabees on the streets. Gotham is in worse shape than ever, and the only ray of hope is DA Harvey Dent, who many people, Bruce Wayne included, think can finally make a difference and bring real positive change to the city. Then along comes the Joker, who seems to initially want to unite all the city's criminals against Batman, but is soon revealed to want nothing more than to drive everything into chaos and fill the city with terror. This proves to be Batman's—and all the heroes of the film, all equally well-drawn and each given their own fully fleshed-out arc—undoing, as they are prepared for any villain that has a plan, a goal, and whose methods make sense. The Joker confounds them all because he doesn't, and, as is repeatedly made clear, has no problem with the notion of dying. And you know what? That's all I'm going to tell you about the plot.
Part of the reason for that is that this film goes in directions I truly didn't expect, particularly with the introduction of a new[ish] character in the final third that goes much further than I expected he would—and for once, none of this is telegraphed in the trailer. There are also several gadgets and gizmos that are so clever they deliver the delight things like that used to have in an old James Bond film—as opposed to the "Oh God, not another gadget" feeling of the more recent pre-Craig Bond films. Batman's exit from a Hong Kong skyscraper and the introduction of his big motorcycle being two particularly good examples. The action sequences are so well-integrated and organic to the story that, stunning as they are, one barely even notices them—as opposed to most action movies, in which you say "Okay, here's the first big action showstopper, okay, quiet scene, plot development, exposition, humorous scene, second big action blowout…" There are many main characters here, all of them have story strands that intertwine, and all of them are given their due in surprisingly complex ways.
Everyone was very good, with Gary Oldman and Aaron Eckhart being particular standouts. Bale is good, but is sort of absorbed by the movie around him, which is not a criticism. Maggie Gyllenhaal is a welcome upgrade from Katie Holmes, and her character does more than sling snide, wheedling criticisms Batman's way this time. The only criticism I have, character-wise, is that I didn't feel that Wayne's real belief and hope in Harvey Dent was drawn well enough to really be convincing—or even palpable. And Heath Ledger is very good, but didn't blow me away. Sure, he's consistently crazy, he's developed a series of tics and he cycles through them dutifully, but the very nature of his character precludes there being much depth there. The friend I saw it with observed that he is the only character that doesn't develop over the course of the film. He starts crazy and he ends crazy and yeah, he's crazy. He's fine, but I think all the acclaim is in fact due to his untimely death.
The most surprising thing to me was that this movie is actually pretty upsetting—and scary. It puts one in mind that one has come to accept a certain set of things from a superhero movie: if it's an origin story you'll get that, but in either case we have a person with a double identity that causes them conflict, sometimes humorous, they have a fatal flaw and usually some kind of crisis of confidence, you get 3-5 big action setpieces, there will probably be some lighthearted banter or other humor, then they face off against their villain which is somehow bigger challenge than their last one, overcome their flaw, and that's it. And also, in coming to accept these conventions, we accept their limitations: that it's all going to be a bit silly, even if it's handled as well as possible, and it's definitely only going to have the slightest relation to the real world. This movie varies from that in its piling on of serious, and extremely complex, moral quandaries. Furthermore, the stakes are personal, of course, but the emphasis is on the battle for the soul of Gotham City. I haven't seen very many movies that effectively convey the panic of a city in chaos, not really knowing what's going to explode next. Virtually every movie nowadays is said to have "9/11 relevance," but I would believe it in this case, for the vivid sense it conveys of being part of a populous that is trying to hold it together and find some way to keep hope, when everything around them is falling apart. Because of this film's ambitious subject matter and the themes it takes on, I found that afterward, I wasn't thinking of it as a superhero film—that is, taking place in some alternate reality with completely non-relatable characters—I completely accepted that Bruce Wayne was just this guy that sometimes acted like a vigilante, and The Joker was this psychopath determined to cause citywide chaos.
At one point our heroes have the opportunity to use what is essentially a universal surveillance device, obviously mirroring some of the surveillance issues we face today, and while the ultimate decision may not be one that is most preferable, the issue and its complications are dealt with seriously.
The movie is mostly a troubled reflection on our troubled times in that ultimately it asks the question ‘what do you do when there is no hope—when things are only going to get worse?’ Do you behave decently? Or do you try to screw everyone else and live and take as much as you can? The movie comes down to a very pointed decision in that regard [mirroring many other, similar but less flashy pointed decisions here], and to its credit handles it with grace and aplomb, and goes out with a strong, but earned, statement.
There is much talk of Ledger receiving a posthumous Oscar. I think that’s a bit of a stretch, but I think there’s a very good chance that this is the first superhero movie to be nominated for Best Picture. Some say this is the best superhero movie ever, and you know, I think it is.
SHOULD YOU WATCH IT?
Yes.
