The Dark Knight (2008) – Review

Brian Reinbolt - psicosismark@yahoo.com

Remember Tim Burton’s 1989 big screen adaptation of Batman? It left an imprint on my childhood and to this day is one of my favorites, while it wasn’t the greatest film ever produced it was indeed a turning point in major studios accepting directors who weren’t afraid to think outside the box and who were able to paint their own canvas of storytelling just as effectively as already established heavyweights without alienating the audience.

Just like Burton’s Batman got people re-interested in one of the most durable and ageless comic book titles in existence director Christopher Nolan’s “The Dark Knight” has done the same but with such haunting reality that it may have leaped out of its own restrictions to become on par with the best of the best that film has to offer, starring the terrific “Christian Bale” as the caped crusader, “Maggie Gyllenhaal” substituting in place of “Katie Holmes” as Rachel Dawes (the only character not in the original comic book story arc) and an impressive lineup of villains with “Heath Ledger” as The Joker and “Aaron Eckhart” as Two Face, the mood is exactly like the title indicates; dark… and brooding.

I was very surprised at its subtle ability to move me, from the wide exterior shots of Gotham’s finest surveying his city, the excellent performance of Heath Ledger’s portrayal as the insanely disturbed Joker to the replication of real life issues that we deal with on a daily basis such as twenty four hour news cable outfits spreading fear by reporting up to the minute information on every kind of political spectrum available, it has everything going for it.

After the opening scene that involved the Jokers goons robbing a bank shooting each other one after the other until there is only one left in a comedic fashion (obvious tip of the hat to the infamous Kids in the Hall sketch; “Seven Things to Do”) it picks up where “Batman Begins” left off with Bruce Wayne still early in his career as a crime fighter and still collecting his thoughts while evaluating if this is truly what he wants to do with his life, he quickly realizes that the good deeds he has taken up are affecting his health like a few scenes in particular where butler Alfred is attending to the wear and tear his master has received from his late night crime fighting escapades while another has Wayne falling asleep in an important business meeting.

Wayne also finds his devotion to cleaning up the streets is not appreciated as much as he had hoped by the people surrounding him causing friction between the media and the focal point of his life; Rachel Dawes, the on screen love interest of the hero, she plays a crucial part in Batman’s motives throughout as he’s depending on an answer to a question that he presented to her in the prior film of the new franchise in which he asks “If I decide to retire from fighting crime would you be mine forever?”.

Things become complicated when a high rank political figure by the name of Harvey Dent (dubbed Two Face by his supposed friends due to the fact his decisions rely on the flip of a coin he carries with him) has become the new man in Dawes life which ignites sparks of jealousy between Wayne & Dent engaging in a war of wits, as this is transpiring a new villain calling himself The Joker takes the city by storm and establishes himself as a ruthless psychopath with a knack for anarchy and “upsetting the system” as he puts it.

Ledgers final performance on screen before passing away at the early age of 28 and just before the film went into the early stages of editing is a tour de force and only reminds us of the complete tragedy that his untimely death was. This man was going to go on to be the main attraction of his medium but went out while he was just starting to scrape the surface of his peak.

The Joker shown in this story is my favorite part of the feature and its obvious Nolan installed beliefs (albeit more sinister and twisted) of the punk rock scene of the late seventies into his character traits, in a scene where The Joker visits a disfigured Harvey Dent (that was entirely Joker’s fault) he is seen dressed in nurses clothing and a wig while throughout the film can be heard spouting intelligent but sadistic psychological based whims at his opponents, anyone familiar with anti-commercial advocates such as The Sex Pistols “John Lydon” or other influential society shaking figures (who told the truth at the disapproval of certain politicians) such as Nirvana’s “Kurt Cobain” will right away catch on to what The Joker in The Dark Knight is about, in a way he’s the anti hero you want to love but cant because of his despicable actions like the several scenes in which he explains why his smile is permanently scarred to his face, each time he offers a different back story and the more he explains it to his victims the more unsettling it becomes.

In closing I highly recommend this to anyone wanting to indulge themselves in a 152 minute roller coaster ride of all kinds of emotions, you won’t be sorry and I have a feeling we’ll be looking back at this one for years to come as in my opinion it truly is the most mature piece of work the “comic book to film” genre has produced.

****1/2 out of *****