THE DARK KNIGHT

“You can either die a hero…or live long enough to see yourself become the villain.”

This is the choice at the core of this story. It focuses on the duality of every good intention, and becomes the decision facing every hero in the story. It’s an interesting concept, and it’s what makes THE DARK KNIGHT such a great film.
THE DARK KNIGHT comes in approximately one year after the events of BATMAN BEGINS. Played again by Christian Bale, Batman’s fight against crime has criminals fearful – low level thugs and high powered bosses alike. His incorruptible, rule breaking fight is pushing hard against the corruption that had been taking hold over Gotham City. Very slowly – peace and order are being restored. This is welcomed by it’s citizens, but loathed by those losing power…and entering the fray right on cue is The Joker (Heath Ledger).

Joker calls the top criminals together and puts it very plain – Batman has taken control of the city from the crooks. He says, it’s time to take the fight to The Bat, and he’s ready to lead the fight.

Back on the side of the righteous, Batman is backed only by Lieutenant Gordon (Gary Oldman) – one of the few honest cops who seems to be the only sliver of law enforcement Batman trusts. Gordon’s rise in the police department, and his solidarity with Batman catches the eye of Gotham district attorney Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart). His star is on the rise with his legal push to pull criminals off the street, and he sees how much Batman could help his effort. All the same, he also sees himself as the yin to Batman’s yang…the light to his darkness…the justice to his vengeance.

Even Bruce Wayne seems to see that Dent can do what Batman cannot – he can be an unblemished hero, the sort of figure Gotham desperately needs to look up to. They begin to work together to stop The Joker. However, what they fail to understand is that it will be difficult to win a match against The Joker when he keeps changing the rules mid-game.

That’s about all you need to know about the plot, the details I have left out are those which should reveal themselves at the proper time.

Director Christopher Nolan recently admitted that he was hesitant to film this movie, since so many sequels fail to match or eclipse their part-one’s. Well I hope Nolan is sleeping well tonight, because few sequels have ever built upon their origins as well as this movie has. THE DARK KNIGHT is a long look at the struggle to avoid becoming what you hate the most. It examines why we fight for peace, why so many good people have to stoop so low to get ahead. It questions how far into the darkness we are willing to go, in order to bring things back to the light.

Much like BATMAN BEGINS, it achieves great heights by grounding itself in a real world. Scenes of true tension and mass panic are all the more rattling when they are set on real streets, in a believable city. The action is tense, well paced, and amazingly produced. The centrepiece of it all is a chase through the Gotham City core involving a police caravan, and a tractor trailer, with Batman in hot pursuit of the fray. It is so well constructed and so well edited, that I believe it should be required viewing for any director considering any further fast, furious shoot ’em ups.

Much of the excitement leading up to this movie has centred around Heath Ledger’s Joker, and indeed the buzz is deserved. He brings a level-headed insanity to the part, and loads the character with nuances. The character is deeply intriguing and deeply disturbed, like Hannibal Lecter’s misfit nephew. He is indeed, the best manifestation of The Clown Prince of Crime to date.

What many people aren’t aware of, is the appearance of the second villain Two-Face. For me, he was one of the best things about this movie. Visually unsettling in a way seldom seen, he dog-piles on to the fight in the final act. Making him all the more twisted is the way he tries to remain just in his wrath – letting the fate of a coin-toss decide the outcome of a pointed gun. He becomes Batman without the conscience, and he’s most interested in settling his own scores than anything else in the world.

If THE DARK KNIGHT has a weakness, it’s Maggie Gyllenhaal as Rachael. Her character isn’t given as much to do this time out, and Gyllenhaal ends up getting dwarfed by the rest of the cast. It’s a minor flaw in this otherwise fantastic film.

I’ll spare you the declarations of whether this is the best comic book movie yet, whether Heath Ledger deserves award consideration. What I will tell you is that this movie is dark, engaging, and proof that a big-budget franchise film doesn’t have to be mindless fodder. It should be studied and re-studied by Hollywood as how to make a blockbuster, and should be the measuring stick before millions of dollars are sunk into movies audiences don’t really want to see.

Matineescore: ★ ★ ★ ★ out of ★ ★ ★ ★

What did you think? Please leave comments with your thoughts and reactions on THE DARK KNIGHT.