The Dark Knight - The Review

A quick note before I jump right in. I saw a lot of kids there, and I don't think this is a movie for kids. It's title only just hints at how dark this movie is. It is very dark, very intense. Use discretion when taking kids to this movie.

Edit: as a response to a comment I received for this note, I don't think kids should see this because I don't think parents, for the most part, are capable of taking this and turning it into a life lesson. now there's faith in humanity for ya!

Now, on to the good stuff!

Where oh where do I begin? This movie really begins and ends with Heath Ledger's Joker character, so let's start there. I was skeptical when we learned at the end of Batman Begins that Joker was going to be our villain. I thought back to Jack Nicholson's exceptional Joker, and thought to myself "Who could beat that?"... Then they announced that Heath Ledger would play the part and then thought to myself, "Not him."

Don't get me wrong, I have liked Heath Ledger in most of the roles he's played, but I was worried about several things, not the least of which was how the Joker character I was familiar with would translate into the darker Batman of this new series, and also how such a character would stack up to fun version played by Nicholson.

Fast forward through time to the point where I saw the first trailer for TDK. I was acquainted to Ledger's Joker for all of 30 seconds or so, and already, I was quite positive that it was a phenomenal performance. Already there were twitches and ticks and mannerisms. From 30 seconds of seeing his character, it was obvious that the Joker would make the leap to the dark side rather successfully.

Fast forward to today where I was counting down the hours to see this movie. Everybody had told me that it blew expectations out of the water. I read some very positive reviews and some not so positive ones. But the theme in the downer reviews was constant: too dark. Hello! "The Dark Knight" doesn't give you some clue that the movie is going to be dark?

And now we arrive...

At what point does a superhero movie step out of its cliched and done-to-death rut that so many superhero movies get stuck in? For that matter, when does a movie transcend the medium and become something more than a 2-and-something-hour experience, something that sticks with you and may stick with you for the rest of your life?

That point is here.

I'll admit, I like superhero movies. They're generally good fun with a few laughs, some cool action, and a couple of nice explosions. My favorite was Spider-Man. Good story line, a lot of very cool plot points, and engaging characters. Then I saw Batman Begins. Everything else looks like children's Saturday morning cartoons now. Everything. Then came TDK, which blew even it's predecessor out of the water. This is the bar by which every future superhero movie will be judged. It's also the bar by which any movie that comes out claiming to speak about society will be judged.

Yes, there's action, and some explosions, and even a car chase scene, but that's not what moves the movie. Yes, Christian Bale, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Michael Caine, Aaron Eckhart, and company are all great actors, but it is Heath Ledger that pushes this movie forward, it is from him that this movie derives all of its power. As the Joker, he becomes chaos, and as chaos, he brings what otherwise would have been a great movie into the realm of art.

The Oscar buzz started well before the movie came out, mostly stuff along the lines of "he's dead, give him an Oscar." Do NOT give him an Oscar because he's dead. Give him an Oscar because there has not been a better acting performance in... a decade... at least... I almost daresay ever. And this performance is at the heart of the psychological tension that this movie creates, and it is because of this that this movie is... perfect... or at least, the closest people are capable of creating.

It's mesmerizing, those moments when the Joker is on screen. The way he moves, the way he acts, the way he talks, it draws you in, and you become absorbed by the character. And he is evil. There, I said it. This is not the old goofy Nicholson Joker, this is the dark Joker who is evil, and he revels in it. The way he conducts the events in the movie as if they were all instruments in his orchestra, the way he fights for the hearts and minds of the citizens of Gotham, the way he takes the good and turns them evil.... it's beyond words.

Unlike your ordinary superhero movie, this is not your standard good versus evil. No, no, that would be too easy. Not worthy of this Joker character. This is about the struggle to remain good in the face of unstoppable evil that is bringing the world crashing down all around you. This is about the power of the human spirit in the face of death and catastrophe. And through its story, TDK speaks passionately about society and about human beings as people. It speaks to our capacity for evil and panic and our tendency to jump at whichever solution seems easiest. But, at the same time, it speaks to our strength, our courage, and the determination of those precious few who are willing to stand up in the face of such evil. At least, says the movie, we have those things when the world allows us to have them.

**** SPOILER ALERT **** If you haven't seen the movie, don't read any more.

The goodness in people is shattered by the evil that is the Joker. And this is where the movie really shines. Harvey Dent is the knight in shining armor, he is the noble hero with a spotless record who is willing to accept the consequences of doing the right thing. And he sweeps the streets of Gotham clean. And then, in walks the Joker. He takes Dent, and he brings him down, he shatters Dent's pedestal. He takes the white knight Dent and he breaks him and turns him into a monster. And it is through this decline that we see shards of Lord of the Flies, in which William Golding attempts to show that people are, at heart, evil. Without consequences, without rules, people are evil.

According to the Joker, people are only as good as circumstances allow them to be. In the face of panic, their morals fail, their sense of right and wrong abandons them. And the movie goes to great lengths to show it.

The one light of hope in the movie is that neither party destroys the boats. This may seem like a ringing endorsement of the human spirit, but think again. The boats did not blow up because the people were too indecisive to turn the key. 75% of the people were willing to vote in favor of destroying the other boat, but not one was willing to turn the key. Does this mean that they are good people? No. The fact that they voted to do it says everything we need to know. Just because they could not bring themselves to act does not automatically qualify them as good people.

So, in the end, you realize that even though Batman was the one who walked away, it was the Joker that won.

And once the credits start to roll, you start to think to yourself, "What if...?".

What if I had the detonator? Would I pull the trigger?
What if I was Batman? Would I reveal myself?
What if...?

When a movie can make you question yourself as a person, when it can shine a light on that which makes us weak, it is at that point that it becomes more than just a movie.

In short, the movie was perfect. It grabs you from the get-go and it does not let go until the credits start to roll and you wake up, realizing that the Joker is not blowing the world up right outside the door. It was, after all, just a movie.

I need to take a moment to point out the score. Anybody who knows my music tastes knows I'm a huge movie score geek, and I am a huge fan of both Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard. I loved the score for Batman Begins to death, and this one is even better. Its intensity matches the movie, and it complements the action on the screen perfectly. I already bought it.

I saw it with a friend who asked me if I thought they'd be able to pass this movie up with the next one. In short: no. In length: this movie was so perfect, because so many things came together so well. You have a perfect Joker; you have a supporting cast who are top notch and who were cast, again, perfectly. Perfect score, perfect writing, perfect directing... too much perfection in this movie to think that it can be beat. But... we'll see.

I have only one regret when it comes to this movie. It hit me quite hard as I left the theater. We will never see a continuation of the Joker character in this form. So amazing was he that I would've been happy if the movie were 24 hours long just so I could watch. It's been a long, long time since an on-screen character has been so engaging and so perfectly captured (I'm still thinking that it's never happened before), and it will undoubtedly be a long time before it happens again.

Rest in peace, Mr. Ledger.