Batman - The Dark Knight
The Joker Steals the Show!
In The Dark Knight, Batman joins forces with Lieutenant Jim Gordon (Gary Oldman) and District Attorney Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart) in order to free Gotham from the remaining criminal organizations that have overtaken the city. Bruce Wayne throws his support behind Harvey Dent, hoping he can become Gotham’s new hero, effectively ending the need for Batman (Bruce still has his eye on Rachel Dawes and a normal life, after all), but the appearance of the criminal mastermind known as the Joker (Heath Ledger) changes everything.
The Joker is the ultimate purveyor of chaos, believing that Gotham “deserves a better class of criminal.” As the Joker introduces his special brand of anarchy, showing the schemers how pathetic their attempts to control things really are, Batman’s plan to hand the reigns over to Harvey Dent are derailed. His struggle against the deranged Joker turns personal, and once again, Bruce Wayne is forced to face his own shadow and the fact that, as Batman, he must stand alone.
Heath Ledger’s portrayal of the Joker was absolutely phenomenal, riveting, even….and it’s true that it made Jack Nicholson’s smiley-faced, plaid-panted version look no more frightening than my grandmother in an egg-white facial cleansing mask and hair net. Heath Ledger made me squirm in my seat (well, he was at least a component in my squirming) and that alone is worth the price of the ticket. Every time the Joker licked his lips and twitched, I thought to myself, This guy is no ordinary comic book villain. In fact, his portrayal of a psychotic criminal was all-to-real. (Unlike Jack Nicholson, who seemed more interested in romancing Vicky Vale than in bringing Gotham to its knees. But let’s face it: Nicholson’s a ladies’ man. Even in The Shining, I kept expecting him to break out into dance singing, La Vie en Rose.)
But let’s talk about the Dark Side of The Dark Knight.
Christian Bale, who was amazing as the brooding playboy turned crusader in Batman Returns, was an afterthought in this movie. He was overshadowed so much by the Joker that it was a wonder they still chose to call this movie Batman.
The gravelly voice of Bruce Wayne’s vigilante alter-ego seemed more prominent in this movie than in other Batman films, and it did get annoying. But he had more cool toys—the new Bat-Pod, for example, with its .50 cal. machine guns, 40 mm cannons, and pneumatically launched grappling hooks. But what made Batman Returns stand out—the chance to get a glimpse at the inner-workings of Bruce Wayne, and finding him far more deep and interesting than he’s been portrayed by the likes of Clooney, Keaton, or Kilmer—was sorely lost in this film. We’re granted only small glimpses into his character this time, and only a taste of the startling contrast between the Bruce Wayne selfish playboy persona (which Christian Bale has done better than anyone) and the fiercely determined Batman. We watch the Joker reek havoc instead, and witness the birth of Two-Face. Fascinating stuff, but still mildly disappointing.
Morgan Freedom as Lucius Fox, the recently promoted CEO of Wayne Enterprises, had a slightly larger role in this film. How did he do? Well, Morgan Freeman is Morgan Freeman. It’s hard to make him look bad. Even in bad movies, he’s still good. The sound of his voice alone is enough to make you wish he would come to your house and read you a bedtime story.
Maggie Gyllenhaal played Rachel Dawes, Batman’s love interest. This was a massive improvement over Katie Holmes’s near heatless portrayal. Still, the character contrast was almost too startling. The first movie portrayed Rachel Dawes as someone who aspired to a near morally faultless character, full of reproachful looks from wide, wounded eyes; yet in the hands of Gyllenhaal, Rachel is cocky, teasing, stringing Batman along with kisses and promises to wait for him—all the while setting herself up to marry D.A. Harvey Dent. But so what, right? Who is Rachel Dawes anyway? She was never in the Batman comics.
However, what does matter, in regards to Rachel Dawes, is the fact that her relationship with Harvey Dent was poorly developed…but also a critical component to the story. And well, if you haven’t seen the movie yet (seriously, you haven’t seen this thing?), I can’t give away what that critical component might be—but let’s just say it would have been good to get the sense that the two were actually in love, something I didn’t believe for a second.
I started to squirm at the two-hour mark, and not because of the psychotic antics of the Joker this time. It was because I suddenly felt like I was watching the sequel to the movie I hadn’t yet finished watching. Another villain arrived, and how can you need more villains when the Joker is still at large? Compared to the mayhem the Joker unleashed, all else is mere shenanigans. Then there were additional difficult and dangerous entanglements. More people needing rescued. More things being blown up. More morality statements. More setups for future Batmans. Holy Gadzooks! I started to wonder if this movie would never end. They had a lot of story to tell. (Or, they decided to give Heath Ledger as much screen time as possible, and chose to keep footage they would otherwise have edited out.)
If so, who could fault them for their good intentions? For the most part, the scenes were sharp, the characters were well directed (hats off to Chris Nolan). The dialogue was good. Heath Ledger as the Joker was amazing. The set was well done, and once again, Gotham came alive. So, let’s not bicker too much over twenty-five minutes, give or take, of overkill (literally) extraneous footage, and obvious sequel setups.
Am I being harsh? Maybe a little. Only because no one else is. Is this movie worth seeing? Yes. Go to see Heath Ledger, whose last performance was also his best. Buy yourself one of those vats of soda. Settle back and prepare yourself for a long movie. Even if you don’t see as much of the caped guy, it’s still a good action flick.
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