Review: The Dark Knight

This is my humble attempt at making The Dark Knight sound like something earthly. To be frank, I was expecting a lot even though I still had an impulse to doubt myself prior to seeing the movie. With comic book films it’s almost always common place to be excited and weary at the same time, even if the film is in the hands of an acclaimed director — we all saw the outcome of Ang Lee’s Hulk or Sam Rami’s third Spiderman installment. I would like to say my insecure thoughts were lifted once the reviews started to appear, especially since the critics I respect the most loved it. The Dark Knight’s strengths are hard to put into words without including what form of Batman you prefer and there was a lack of mentioning that in the reviews. Did they enjoy the campy Batman of the 60’s who often ran around with overly excessive explosives yelling “Confound it!” on a semi-regular basis? Or was the imaginative Tim Burton Batman more their style? All the reviews I read failed to suggest which they had a preference for. Thus, I was still left in the dark, no pun intended.

I’ve always preferred a Batman that’s resembled more of a detective rather than a true “superhero.” That’s probably why I prefer Nolan’s Batman almost more than any other. He’s turned the fictional characters from the comic books into plausible identities. Nolan also includes many other characteristics that go into my idea of what Batman should be, including Wayne’s split personalities that border on lunacy. The best part about Batman is that he’s more of an idea than a person; his legacy can continue forever, with or without Bruce Wayne.

Most of the talk prior to The Dark Knight’s release was tightly focused on Heath Ledger and his acclaimed performance as the Joker. I knew Ledger would impress me, since I’ve loved most of his earlier work especially in 2001’s Monster’s Ball and more recently in I’m Not There. It was an article just after his death that got me really excited. It stated that he had channeled Alex from A Clockwork Orange to be the main inspiration behind his performance. In my opinion there’s no better way to represent the Joker’s twisted view of the world. After seeing The Dark Knight I was blown away by the transformation he went through; he nailed everything, including the Joker’s mannerisms, impatience and sadistic laughing.

Of course everyone has almost forgotten that The Dark Knight is filled with an all-star group of actors. Christian Bale reprises his role as Batman, while Michael Caine returns as Alfred and Gary Oldman as Lt. Gordon.  Maggie Gyllenhaal replaces Katie Holmes and Aaron Eckhart joins the cast as Harvey Dent.

The most impressive thing about The Dark Knight is the transformation of Batman’s villains into plausible real world creations — all but Two Face really fit this sentiment. Each character has a rich back story, especially the Joker who manages to have a new embellishment for any occasion. They aren’t just given to you, rather they are feed through small but revealing details. Jonathan and Christopher Nolan also account for the recent spike in abnormal criminal activity with the same threat found at the end of Batman Begins.

Gordon: We start carrying semi-automatics, they buy automatics. We start wearing Kevlar, they buy armor-piercing rounds.
Batman: And?
Gordon: And you’re wearing a mask and jumping off rooftops. Now, take this guy: armed robbery, double homicide. Got a taste for theatrical, like you. Leaves a calling card…

One complaint I often hear is that the city looks too modern and reminiscent of Chicago where the TDK was filmed. I believe it connects perfectly with Christopher Nolan’s goal to create a realistic Batman and only adds to the experience. Why have realistic characters running around in a very unrealistic world? That just wouldn’t make sense to me.

Aesthetically speaking, The Dark Knight looks and sounds close to perfect. I often mention Hellboy 2 when describing TDK because both films are great examples of directors getting full reign over their films. Hellboy and Batman Begins both had moments where the director’s quirks shined but in both sequels they are fully realized and accomplished. Plus the addition of a fully functional Batsuit (meaning Batman can actually turn his head) is welcomed with two very open arms. The score by Hans Zimmer and James Howard will certainly be among the year’s best and often resembles a scratchy undertone of building hysteria.

While everything in The Dark Knight appears flawless I’m still taken back by certain characteristics carried over from the first film. Batman’s growling voice goes over the top more often than not. At the beginning of TDK I thought Bale might have mastered it, but as time went on I found it retreating back to its former self. It’s one of the most common complaints and is even cited among the film’s biggest fans. Before you ask if I realize why the voice is in the movie: yes, I know it hides his identity. This is just a minor complaint and for a vast majority of the film it really doesn’t matter. However, one of the film’s bigger missteps is the frantic camera used during action sequences which makes it hard to focus on the trained skills Batman has learned in the previous film.

Many people are itching to describe this as the best superhero movie of all time but I disagree. It’s a great movie and should be noted as one of the best sequels and crime sagas of our day. But Batman is anything but a superhero in the Dark Knight and its predecessor. It would be a vast understatement to just call it the best superhero movie and leave it at that. That title remains with Iron Man for the time being but the Dark Knight will always be recognized as the better film.