The Dark Knight
emotional angst, dastardly villains, sinister plots? yes, please
2008-07-18
By Sergio Mims

CAST: Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Aaron Eckhart, Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Gary Oldman
WRITTEN BY: Jonathan and Christopher Nolan
DIRECTED BY: Christopher Nolan

RATED -  PG-13
**** FOUR STARS

 The fanboys who are expecting the usual CGI special effects laden superhero movie are going to be sorely disappointed, but The Dark Knight is an absolute triumph.

A gritty, hard-edged crime drama infused with meaty fantasy elements, The Dark Knight aspires for something else. Richer, bolder and more involving, it’s more akin to the crime thriller films of Michael Mann or even Sidney Lumet than Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk  or  even the recent Hancock. A morally complex, richly satisfying film, Dark Knight reinvigorates and re-defines the tired comic book movie genre.

As with most sequels to popular films, The Dark Knight is bigger (in large part due to certain important scenes and action sequences shot and projected in the super-wide screen IMAX format), bolder, louder, more action packed. However, the core of the film is the psychological give and take, yin and yang between the virtuous heroes and the nasty villains. 

Not content to be a simplistic thrill ride like the underwhelming Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, The Dark Knight is an action film of substance and intelligence with fully realized characters.

Having established the tortured psyche and guilt ridden complex of the Caped Crusader  in Batman Begins, The Dark Knight moves at a fast pace, even relegating Batman, at times, to a supporting role as other major characters take center stage.

Set, of course, in Gotham City  (gleamingly photographed mainly in the massive, big shouldered city of Chicago)  the film begins as Batman (Bale) along with Commissioner Gordon (Oldman) and crusading, hard charging DA Harvey Dent (Eckhart) attempt to shut down crime lords in the city by seizing their bank accounts.

However the criminals have an ace up their sleeve with a plan to have their money laundered by a Hong Kong banker way out of the reach of Gotham City authorities.

The one big fly in the ointment is the sudden appearance of  the mysterious Joker who makes a deal with the gangs to kill Batman in exchange for a huge chunk of their take.

But as the film winds its way through sudden and jarring plot twists, it become clear that The Joker, who always seems to be one step ahead of Batman and the law, has a more sinister plot in mind which reveals him to be more than a cold blooded criminal, but rather a nihilistic anarchist intent on exploiting our basest instincts and  destroying the  world as we know it.

With this film, director Christopher Nolan (Batman Begins, The Prestige, Insomnia) who, along with his brother Jonathan, also wrote the screenplay to The Dark Knight, leaps to the top as one of the best film directors working today.

One of the few directors who actually direct their own action sequences (the usual practice is to hand them off to 2nd unit directors and stunt coordinators), Nolan approaches Dark Knight with a compelling ferocity. He understands the moral dilemmas of the main characters and while so many blockbuster films feel small despite their expense, Nolan gives Dark Knight a genuine epic scale and scope.

The entire cast including Bale, Caine, Freeman and Oldman are all stand outs, especially Eckhart who, as Dent goes through a horrific change to become the evil nemesis Two Face. But no doubt everyone will be talking about the late Heath Ledger in his last film role as The Joker.

Totally distancing himself from Jack Nicholson’s jokey performance in the 1989 Tim Burton directed Batman, and even Cesar Romeo’s hilarious, overripe Joker for the campy 60’s TV show, Ledger’s Joker is a total re-imagining of the character. Completely twisted, sadistically violent and a master manipulator Ledger, with his odd, creepy vocal and physical mannerisms,  gives the sort of spellbinding, take-no-prisoners performance that blows away everyone else on screen. It’s the greatest performance of his career and certain to win a posthumous Oscar next year for best supporting actor.

If there is only one flaw in the film it’s the strange casting of the droopy faced, unsexy Maggie Gyllenhall as Rachel Dawes, the love interest of both Bruce Wayne and Dent. It’s a big stretch to believe that these two powerful, influential characters would be besotted and head over heels in love with a dumpy, plain Jane like Gyllenhaal. Better casting would have put Kerry Washington or Eva Mendes in the part.

Despite that minor problem, The Dark Knight, perhaps the most anticipated film of the year, not only reaches those
expectations, but exceeds them and is without question at the top of the list of best films of the year . This is what great filmmaking is all about.

Film critic, lecturer and festival consultant Sergio Mims covers all things film from the city that works, Chicago. He is a regular contributor to ebonyjet.com