The Dark Knight
One of the best hero villian interactions of the year
Release: (2008 )
Runtime: 152 Minutes, PG-13
Starring: Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Aaron Eckhart, Gary Oldman, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman,
This film presented complex issues of justice and human nature though the interaction of a deep cast of characters in a captivating environment. Though it is disguised as a comic book film, do not confuse the Dark Knight with those campy versions you might have grown up with. I would say that the themes of this film if presented in an equally realistic manner by characters not in the batman universe, would cause that film to be noted as one of the best gangster/ crime movies ever made and it would certainly be praised all around. The fact that it is the Joker and Batman might actually hurt the credibility of this piece. I enjoyed every minute of the film, hardly relied two and a half hours had passed, (even at the midnight showing) and will certainly be seeing it again.
The overarching theme presented by the film is the question, “how will people react when pushed beyond their limits.” The most brilliant directorial choice was to not give any back story to the Joker. He is presented as an entity on its own that needs no cause or reasoning. We all know Gotham City is in the middle of a battle between the mobsters and the police. With all of the corruption, the good guys need Batman to gain the upper hand. Enter Joker, who has no purpose but to mess with the equation and stir things up. He is an agent of chaos. Pure insanity. He doesn’t really care what happens to him or anyone else, as long as there are long lasting consequences. Throughout the film he tests the limits of various police officers, criminals, and citizens along with Harvey Dent and Batman.
Rather than having this movie be about Batman facing a villain, it is the story of an internal conflict that happens to arise from the presence of that villain. That is why I feel it is completely necessary to have the Two-Face character introduced. I’ve read reviews where people say they wish that was in the third movie, but that is totally missing the point. See there is a balance created between Lt. Gordon, Dent and Batman. They are all fighting for the same thing, but each has to make a different sacrifice in order to succeed. Batman works with fear and at night, but works alone avoiding the corruption of the city. Lt. Gordon works from within the system, but because of limited resources, he must work with Police officers that he knows are corrupt. Harvey Dent tires to work from within and to avoid corruption. This naive idealism makes him many enemies, but seems to be working with the help of the other two. Joker pushes all three to the limit though.
Through elaborate and exciting circumstances, the Joker creates situations where Batman can not work alone, Lt. Gordon can not trust a large team and Dent is pushed to the edge of his limits. Because of this, Gordon has to fake his own death, so the information does not get to any moles, Batman almost turns himself in, to save lives, and Dent is repeatedly pushed up to take justice into his own hands, even to a further point than Batman.
This is why Two-Face is needed. He serves as a foil to the Batman character, who we all know will not kill villains. That is Batman’s one rule, and everyone knows it. The Joker wants to make him break it, just to stir things up. If Batman starts killing, the rules are changed, and the police will not longer be able to work with him, the people won’t trust him and criminals will fight that much harder because being tied up isn’t their greatest fear. When Harvey Dent looses Rachel, he is put in the same situation as Bruce Wane was. He is now alone in a city where corruption rules and he is going to do something about it. Dent chooses the dark path however and takes the lives of criminals. Two-Face is in no way a villain in the Dark Knight, he is an anti-hero at worst. We have all asked why doesn’t Batman just kill the bad guy. I think that is why we get to see the Scarecrow at the beginning. To remind us that Batman doesn’t kill and because of that, the criminals will always break free and continue to do evil. The presentation of Two-Face in this way is brilliant, they make it completely realistic and even work in the coin. He is able to remove the guilt from himself by flipping the coin.
This is the biggest internal issue Batman faces and this film presents it brilliantly! Will you kill in order to save lives. The fairy scene shows us a man almost willing to kill the criminals to save himself, but that is not an easy thing to do. As we saw, most of the boat voted to do it, but no one could. The Joker further pushes this issue by telling people they must kill the guy on TV or he will blow up a hospital. The issue is one of boundaries and systems of trust. Who is to be the judge when the system is corrupt, is there a time when it can’t be trusted, who are you to decide the fate of lives.
Numerous times there are moments when everything is blowing up and the Joker takes away all chances of hope. It is at once as if the Joker is not there, and in fact Bruce Wane’s metaphor for the Devil and at the same time Heath Ledger takes over the movie. My favorite plot twist was that the Joker told Batman the opposite addresses of Rachel and Dent so that whoever he wanted to save most died, and he would have to live with that.
There are some things the movie could have done without, but none, I felt were story wise, just details in the action and logistics of fleshing out the story. Bat-sonar, awesome idea, fits in with the character, but it removes the movies from its own sense of reality. The whole mob thing could have been fleshed out more as well, I wasn’t really sure what they were doing most of the time or why they didn’t react more and become a entity of their own. That really would have added to things because then you have; Batman, the Police, the citizens, Joker, Harvey Dent and the Mob, all with different motives that conflict and intertwine. Complexity of that sort is rare in Hollywood and for it to be in a comic book movie is awesome. Really there was a lot to chew and I will have to see it a couple more times to wrestle with the issues. I will probably post more then.
As you might have noticed, I got away from a straight up review of the acting and how much I liked it, I think that is cover thoroughly by other people everywhere, so I will be moving more into a presentation of key themes and how they tied together. I would love to hear comments on what I thought, what you thought and if those were the biggest issues, or if I missed any details that add to the complexity.
Accessibility: 9
Technique: 8
Thought Provoking: 9
Originality: 8
Entertainment: 10
