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Thursday, July 17, 2008
‘The Dark Knight’ a terrifying triumph
I fully expected The Dark Knight to be an intense movie. However, I did not expect it to chill me to the bone.
Many reviews have called this the greatest comic book movie ever made, but I’ll go even further. The best live action film of this calendar year is one of the greatest crime dramas of any type, with or without capes. And yes, the late Heath Ledger’s performance as the Joker more than lives up to its buzz. Like the movie, it’s the stuff nightmares are made of.
When I saw an extended trailer for the movie last year, depicting a daring bank heist, I noticed that director Christopher Nolan, who also made Batman Begins, filmed the robbery in a very brisk, energetic style that reminded me of Michael Mann’s Heat. Even more than Batman Begins, The Dark Knight looks like a gritty, down and dirty urban thriller.
However, The Dark Knight reminded me even more strongly of another renowned crime story. The new Batman movie is nothing less than a 21st century version of The Godfather Part II, in which the Caped Crusader must lose his soul in his attempt to achieve the greater good.
Batman (Christian Bale) and police Lt. Gordon (Gary Oldman) have Gotham City’s crime families on the run, having dried up most of their finances. Then, a new figure arrives on the scene who makes even criminals’ blood run cold. Determined to reveal Batman’s identity, the Joker begins a crime wave so terrible that Bruce Wayne begins to doubt himself. He believes that another man, crusading district attorney Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart), may be better equipped to deal with Gotham’s ills.
Nolan’s movies always look great, but The Dark Knight reaches new heights of visceral excitement, especially since Nolan filmed parts of the movie using IMAX cameras. One of the IMAX scenes, with the camera swooping high over a city, actually made my palms sweat, even through my feet were touching the floor.
Even more powerful than Nolan’s eye is the way he puts the viewer in the characters’ minds. One of his trademarks has been to scramble timelines in movies like Memento, Insomnia and The Prestige. In The Dark Knight, however, he plays the chronology straight, so he can more effectively play doubles. Most everyone in this movie has their soul divided. Batman has trouble sorting out good and evil. Harvey has a dangerous way of mixing up fate with chance. And Bruce’s longtime love Rachel (Maggie Gyllenhaal) is torn between Bruce and Harvey.
There is one character who is absolutely not confused about who he is. The Joker enjoys making people squirm, preying on their worst fears just because he can. Other Jokers have been diabolical, but even Jack Nicholson’s was a debonair clown. Now, in Ledger’s hands, for the first time in the movies, the character is truly menacing.
The entire cast is excellent, but it’s Ledger people will be talking about, and this would have been true even without his untimely death. It’s an extraordinary performance. His Joker combines steely resolve, wild abandon, and above all, an utter lack of remorse, fear or sympathy. It’s one of the five scariest screen villains of all time. This Joker is nothing less than a terrorist.
Indeed, the screenplay by Nolan and his brother Jonathan resonates with strong echoes of 9-11. The movie shows not only mass-scale destruction, but also questions the morality of being able to spy on anyone at any given minute of the day, giving the movie an unsettling air that’s all too contemporary. My only misgiving is that I might have trimmed the climax a touch to let the film, and the audience, breathe a little more.
If I’m making the movie sound grim, that’s because it is. The Dark Knight is not a popcorn movie that’s fun for the whole family. It is not suitable for young children, particularly when young children are threatened at gunpoint on screen. Even for adults, it’s deeply unsettling. When the movie was over, as great as it was, I felt I needed to see something lighter like WALL-E to permeate the darkness.
However, that very intensity, coupled with Nolan’s razor-sharp action scenes, is what makes The Dark Knight transcend the “comic book movie.” It’s unrelenting, but it’s also unforgettable. Brace yourselves.
GRADE: A+
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