Movie Review – The Dark Knight

Christopher Nolan has somehow found a way to trump his previous success with Batman Begins and remakes the super-hero genre in the process, changing it from a simple battle between men in tights to something deeper, darker, and oh so much more interesting, which is saying quite a bit, because Batman Begins was an excellent film.

The plot of The Dark Knight, one of the best-reviewed films of the decade, centers around the Joker, and his various games. Throughout he puts Batman and the rest of Gotham through a series of moral quandries and situations to test their ethics (and not incidentally provide some amusement for himself). Along the way, major characters die and one is horribly scarred.

This film is unlike any previous super-hero movie. While things like Batman Begins, Superman, Superman II, Spider-Man 2, X-Men 2 and this summer’s other great super-hero film, Iron Man (movies which are generally regarded by many, including myself, as being the best super-hero films to date), were excellent super-hero films, none of them have been exceptional artistic achievements.

This film is. It tears apart the conventions of the super-hero world and peers, darkly, into our own world, showing a post-9/11 super-hero enviroment unlike any we’ve seen before. It’s a world with a terrorist dressed in clown makeup, where the savior of the city is a man in a mask who monitors everyone’s cell phone calls, and where even the whitest of knights can have the steepest of falls.

There are serious layers to this movie, and a depth absent in most films, let alone “genre” pieces like this one. The film has received favorable comparisons to crime dramas like Heat, and LA Confidential, and though I’ve only seen the latter of the two, I can say that yes, it holds up favorably.

Are there any real flaws to this movie? Some have criticized its 2 1/2 hour run time. I had no problem with that. Some thought Aaron Eckhart didn’t make for a very convincing Harvey Dent. I mostly disagree there, though I would’ve liked to have seen more hints at a darker side. Though the only real complaint I have does center around his character in that I really wish his eventual fate would’ve been a little different.

On a different note, all the praise you’ve heard for Heath Legder’s performance is not exaggerated. Here’s a man who has created a character every bit as memorable and twisted as Hannibal Lecter, but while Lecter at least had some rules, this fellow has none. You’ll laugh at some of what he does, but a lot of that will be nervous laughter. If he doesn’t get the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor next year, something is seriously wrong with the system. He deserves it completely. In fact, don’t be surprised to see the film be nominated for Best Picture. It won’t win, but it should, and probably will be, nominated.

One final note, do NOT take your children to this movie. Not if they’re younger than ten or so. This is an adult film with adult themes to it. The Joker alone is likely to give kids nightmares, as is what becomes of Harvey Dent. How the film escaped an R-rating, I’ll never know, except that the MPAA is less likely to give one for violence than they are for sex. If there’d been some tits in this movie, now, that might’ve been a different story!

So not for kids, but for everyone else? Go see this movie. Even if you don’t like super-hero movies. See it.