The Dark Knight (2008) Movie Review

It would be perhaps cliché to praise the posthumous performance of Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight, as it seems almost unanimously decided that his Joker, adds a layer to the villain one already knows, and probably knows well. But, sometimes clichés are clichés because they reflect common true experience. That being said, his performance is what makes the Dark Knight the film it is, a worthy sequel to Batman Begins and a film that eschews some of the trite idiotic things about the superhero movie, with a decently functioning brain in its skull. Ledger’s Joker, is among other things, a veritable embodiment of evil, so much so that he has no dental records, no fingerprints on file, no family that can be traced…some sort of force, an agent of “chaos” as he calls himself. He exists merely for the pleasures of the debauchery he engages in, not for the notoriety, the money offered, or anything else. He is simply a force. This is of course a departure from Jack Nicholson’s Joker, who was someone with a discernable, paternal identity, and someone who had a goal: “to become the first homicidal artist.” When Ledger acts in this role, he molds and shapes his voice to an eerie cackle, that pervades his every line, his tongue moving in and out of his lips, smacking them as though he constantly thirsts for something else to test, someone else’s life to disrupt. He does not want to become anything. He is, as sure as Mephistopheles is the embodiment of a creature who merely provides choices for his victims, instead of orchestrating their fates correctly. And he must be, if he is to be the Batman’s nemesis. Batman, though he is troubled, a man divided by his birthname, and his life as the dark knight, is a man striving for order. The Joker played by Ledger is the only real counterbalance that can exist, one that plays on the instability of the dual identity by acting as pure chaos. Plus, he finds a really nifty way for a pencil to disappear. The rest of the film is still very good, the metropolis of Gotham very much a breeding ground for criminals merely by its production design. The streets are almost always dark even in daylight, there seems to be an omen through out the entire film that something, everything is not going to turn out in the Batman’s favor, and that he is dealing with a force, that emanates from the buildings themselves. And, in its form, it seems to take the shape of a crime epic, evidenced by Christopher Nolan’s admission that “Heat” was an influence on the film. And yes, it succeeds on these fronts. And as other films by Nolan, like the Prestige, creates a real tangible time and place besieged by a supernatural or overly preternatural force that still has a real, logical effect on that time and place. It is his insistence on an aesthetic sense of logic and realism that makes Nolan’s Batman series effective. The evil is real, coming from the weakness of men, not fantastical or from some mystical place. Gotham has its share of monsters, lurking under the purest of them, and provides fitting fates for the poor few who attempt to rise above dirty tactics to seal evil. In this way, it is a real story, one that works on a level beyond that of the comic book pages. However, the film does not eschew all of the bad things about the superhero genre, and does contain many parts that detract from the aesthetic Nolan set up previously. And this detracts so much form the overall film that it is not, unfortunately, the great film others have called it. For one thing, there is a subplot involving Batman spying on Gotham City’s citizens to locate the various goons the Joker has influence over throughout the city. Yet it is dealt with as mainly a plot device, with no real understanding of the political implications which can arise, which turns it into a half baked attempt at something meaningful. Another unfortunate part that is an off shoot of this is that Batman uses sonar vision to detect where people are at particular points in the city, like an advanced GPS one stores in their goggles. Therefore, there absolutely has to be a ridiculous sequence involving zooms into the sonar vision. And by the way, sonar “vision” is an oxymoron. It seems like with parts like this and others that Nolan occasionally gives up his normally keen sense of aesthetic in lieu of comic book fans seeing stuff blowed up real good. The best part of Batman Begins was the origin story, how Batman came to be and to develop the mask, the mask that would inversely become the mask of Bruce Wayne, the truer self being that of the Batman. Then of course, comic book fans had to be pleased with complex action sequences and the obligatory pseudo philosophical stances on crime fighting in Gotham that seem to parallel urban cities not unlike our own. Batman Begins was a victim of catering to its fanbase to this degree, but only by a little. The Dark Knight seems to strip it away a bit more, albeit only a bit. The film to me, along with Batman Begins, is the best a superhero movie can possibly be while attempting to be something more. I don’t believe a superhero movie can be anything great beyond the context of a superhero movie unless it deals with its subjects on an honest level, meaning, an honest portrayal of myth, and of human interaction where the characters are more than just caricatures. Batman Begins and the Dark Knight are examples of films that do ALMOST that…and in fact elevate themselves above camp and into mature stories about crime, law, and the nature of good and evil within man. But, with that in mind, I am perplexed as to why this film is so highly elevated, ranked 9.6 out of 10 on imdb.com as the 3rd greatest motion picture of all time. This troubles me, though I know it will soon pass, as its ranking will decline bit by bit until it reaches a more reasonable spot. The film is good, let there be no doubt, and yes it is far more morally and psychologically complex than pop tales about good and evil generally are. But on the whole, “enduring art” it isn’t, as much as many who laud it perhaps too much claim. I found the Dark Knight occasionally wonderful and far more real than most comic book films in its representation of tragic turns in the world of Batman, but also nowhere near a modern crime masterpiece or a brilliant psychological study of evil. Heath Ledger’s Joker still shines through all of the rest of the film after all of this because though it deals with its subject matter in a mature way…it by no means makes strides in the understanding of man, at least any more than other mature tales about good and evil do. Still, there is a tiny smudge on this film that does not escape notice. For how wonderful Ledger’s performance is, and how he exists as a force of evil and still manages to be a challenging, interesting, nuance filled character even without the benefits of being dynamic, there is no real knowledge of how he came to be. Granted this works so well within the context of him as a force, that agent of chaos that forces people into terrible decisions. Yet, with Ledger’s death, this amazing new creation, perhaps the best, and most intelligently realized vision of the Joker, has no history and will not have a history, as Ledger’s performance will probably keep anyone else from taking the role, thus preventing any knowledge of the character’s origins. Overall, it is a very good film, but it not great. The Dark Knight has a genuine grasp of modern myth, and is more than just a flick about a guy in a batsuit, but it is not an example of a great modern myth. It does have some interesting questions it asks, but none are so deep that cannot be found in films by Martin Scorsese, or other urban films that truly qualify as great modern myths. That this is a complex, challenging, study of good, evil and the nature of man, is an inflated statement, and is indicative of the pop minded masses, who see one story that is beyond the normal drivel offered by Hollywood, and begin to see it as a deep, metaphor laced literary art show masterpiece. It is smart, it is engaging, it is powerful, it is tragic, and it is good, let that be known. But it is not without its flaws.