The Dark Knight Review - By Kelsey Zukowski

Starring: Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Aaron Eckhart, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine, Gary Oldman
Directed By: Christopher Nolan
Written By: Christopher Nolan, Jonathon Nolan
Released: 2008
Grade: A+

Batman Begins is perhaps the best superhero prequel. It brought justice and understanding back to the Batman films. There has been massive hype around The Dark Knight for the past year as the sequel and continuation of the previous success of Batman Begins. Luckily, this is a case where it didn’t hurt the film one bit and it actually exceeded my already very high expectations. The Dark Knight manages to reign supreme in the series and outdoes every other Batman movie to date with such strength and extremely memorable moments that piece the film together.

Batman (Bale) has teamed up with Lieutenant James Gordon (Oldman) and the new District Attorney, Harvey Dent (Eckhart) to get the rest of the criminals on the streets locked up. Soon things get much more difficult though. Massive amounts of money have been stolen from mobsters, who are already weakened from the power that Batman has shown against their kind. A vicious criminal mastermind known only as The Joker (Ledger) has decided to get involved, but only by threatening the mob in to letting him. His plan is to “kill the batman”. He announces to the entire city of Gotham, that if Batman takes his mask off his games don’t need to continue. However, as long as Batman keeps his mask on people will die under The Joker’s evil and sadistic methods of slow painful death to make a statement. A lot of people already see Batman as a villain of sorts, but with his refusal to follow The Joker’s commands, they attribute him with the numerous brutal murders that are happening to important figures and their loved ones.

Batman continues to try to save people, but lately is having little success against the sick intellect of The Joker. He desperately wants to beat him and is willing to do almost anything for defeat. During all of this craziness, Bruce Wayne (Bale) still longs for his closest friend and the love of his life, Rachel Dawes (Gyllenhaal). She had promised him that she could be with him if a time came where he was no longer Batman. Bruce looks at her current boyfriend, Harvey Dent, and realizes that he is the most pure and good person, really trying to make a difference and to create a Gotham where good can triumph over evil. The community hears his words and are given a bit of light amongst all of the darkness. Because of all of this Bruce believes that Harvey can and should be the next Batman. After all, Bruce doesn’t want to do this forever. He wants more of a life outside of Batman, a life where he can be with Rachel, and feels that Harvey is the one to give him this life and to give a protected and safe life to everyone in the city. The Joker has no intention of letting Harvey have any type of success through Batman or even by himself. He knows what Harvey is capable of doing as he has put over 500 mobsters in jail with only having to convict one. The Joker uses this as well as the two people that Batman cares for most: Rachel and Harvey. The two of them are at different address, set in a trap that will brutally kill them, giving them no hope of stopping it. Batman has the choice, he can only save one of them. He is forced to choose between the love of his life and the one person who could not only enable him to be with her, but could save Gotham, the one who is the strongest representation for good; the white knight. Meanwhile, The Joker is turning everyone against everyone, if they don’t follow his murderous lead, than they all die. He has proclaimed that anyone left in Gotham is under his power now, making no one remotely safe and will fall victim to his maliciously dirty deeds.

The ensemble cast in the film works so well together and makes it truly a sight to behold in every moment. Heath Ledger, already a very accomplished and gifted actor, gives the best performance of his life. When he was announced to portray The Joker there were doubts of whether he could fill the shoes of Jack Nicholson. Knowing the talent that Ledger possessed, I was very confident he would do well. He does so much more here than could ever be expected though, it simply amazes. Ledger gives us one of the best revitalized characters ever. He does great justice to Nicholson’s Joker, but still adds an overall much more disturbing portryal. One thing that makes this performance stand out so much more than anything else Ledger had done before is just how different it is for him. For the vast majority of the film, you can’t even really see Ledger. Yes, it is partially because of the massive make-up and heavy clothes he wears, but even more so because everything he created in the character. Ledger changed his posture, the way he carried himself, and especially his voice. There is one and only one moment in the film where we are able to reflect upon the fact that it is Heath Ledger behind this amazing performance. This is a shot where he is in jail and just the way that the camera is looking down on him, it is able to capture the man behind The Joker.

The comedy of The Joker is absolutely priceless. It is very Freddy Krueger-ish, using the same funny one liners in an alarmingly and unnatural subtle and casual way, riding the line of sarcastic fictionalized politeness and the true cruel and vicious intentions that are underneath it. This comedy makes him seem all the more crazy. As described in the movie, The Joker doesn’t want money like most criminals do and he can’t be reasoned with. All he wants is to simply act on his insanity through violent and sadistically intelligent methods that put him in control. He just wants to “watch the world burn”. This level of craziness mirrors that he may be indestructible since there doesn’t seem to be an ounce of humanity in him. He even claims that he isn’t a villain, that this is the future of humanity and he is just the first to act on it. The origins of The Joker aren’t revealed and because of this we are constantly toyed with, trying to make us believe a story, that just shows intensity and eagerness to pain others and confuse them by having the intellectual power. The character is more than complete and we don’t need a reason, the mystery does much more than any story ever could. After seeing this and just what Heath Ledger is capable of; virtually anything, it is sad to know that he will never get the chance to give truly magnificent performances like this again. On the other hand though, it hit perfection so well and created something so new that it was completely addictive and exerted overwhelming admiration that this performance is such a memorable one to go out on and will surely give respect to Ledger’s memory that will last.

Christian Bale continues the Batman legacy and gives equal dedication to both Batman and Bruce Wayne. He works wonderfully with everyone in the film. The interactions with him and Heath Ledger are truly beautiful as is the chemistry with him and Maggie Gyllenhaal, creating a great love triangle, which is rare. Gyllenhaal did a terrific job, taking over as Rachel Dowes. It is no question that she is a far superior actress to the one who previously played the character, Katie Holmes. There is truly no comparison. Still changing an actor of a character when the previous film was so well received is always risky. Gyllenhaal rose to this challenge and gave us a more pure, strong Rachel Dowes, that we respect and care for. These same type of characteristics were present through Aaron Eckhart in his portrayal of Harvey Dent. He was a good man who strived to spread light to fight the evil. He is able to make criminals pay, but unlike Batman he was able to do this to massive numbers and all through the legal system, rather than becoming a vigilante. I still think Eckhart’s performance as Nick Naylor in Thank You For Smoking is his best just because he truly became that character and did so with such charm, rebellion, and attitude. Eckhart still owns the role of Harvey and adds much more compassion, understanding, and determination than I initially expected from him. This even remains to be true when he is faced with the worst and his values are risked, still Eckhart shows these features and brings the most out of them. These three characters are some of the most noble and worthy of everything they want and wish to accomplish. I think the triangle especially remains to be interesting among everything else that is going on, because Harvey has such faith in Batman and Bruce feels that Harvey is the future that Gotham needs more than anything else and Rachel has such love for both of them. There is no bad guy in the triangle and we desperately want to see all of their happiness come alive.

Gary Oldman did a lot for the character of Lieutenant James Gordon, constantly keeping us on our feet. He was helping Batman and was clearly against The Joker, he was layered though. It was clear there is more to him than meets the eye, it is just a matter of figuring out which one of his layers defines him. Both Morgan Freeman and Michael Caine gave us insight and intelligence as their characters who were friends and helped Bruce/Batman to guide him as even his rough morals were being questioned.

The atmosphere of The Dark Knight is stimulating as well. It was filmed in Chicago and uses the beauty in the city in a dark manor. Still, it creates Gotham in this context and exerts the meaning that it holds. The visuals were a site to behold. 4 of the major fight/disaster scenes in the film were made for IMAX and this feature enhances them and really makes you part of the action. Theses scenes as well as the kills and just the horrifying situations are invigorating, exciting, and completely shocking.

The Dark Knight deals with so many important and powerful themes that really shape the film. Just like in any other superhero film, good vs. evil is dealt with. However, it goes beyond this and questions how evil can impact good. This is most clear with The Joker and Harvey and showing just what loss can do and how scary it is and can turn it in to a life or death situation for everyone. Another great questioning of the film is whether you can be a decent person in a world full of evil and immorality. Trying to can just lead to further destruction and damage of the world. If you can’t beat this than ultimately that means that there is no hope for good or any type of normalcy, making life and the world itself pointless. Could all this stealing, killing and turning your back, hurting others to save yourself be the only possible future for us? Perhaps, the more sick and twisted ways will be stricken upon us in the future for the behavior that many have exerted and established for the rest of us. If a lack of hope for something better leads to this, than this hope becomes more important than a literal truth and in the long run is the only way for sanity and decency to have a chance. The brilliantly written script and spot on direction deserves recognition to both of the Nolan brothers. It was a terrific story that was given complete life, using great action, a group of unbelievable characters, and powerful themes that were shown through very intelligent wording and logic that colored the film. The Dark Knight is by far the best Batman film, the best superhero movie, and one of the best films of the year.