The Dark Knight - first review
Christian Bale and Heath Ledger do battle in The Dark Knight
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Tuesday, 22, Jul 2008 12:01
There's no joking about this genuinely terrifying, dark and brilliant masterpiece of modern cinema - read the inthenews.co.uk review of The Dark Knight.
Directed by Christopher Nolan, out July 24th, in cinemas, starring Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Aaron Eckhart, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Sir Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, running time 152 mins
In a nutshell...
Masterly thriller is no laughing matter.
What's it all about?
One year on from Batman's scourge of Gotham City's criminal underworld, the unorthodox team of the Caped Crusader, (Bale), the idealistic Lieutenant Jim Gordon (Gary Oldman) and a square-jawed 'white knight' in the shape of newly-installed District Attorney Harvey Dent (Eckhart), is doing a sterling job in cleaning up the city streets. But when a new terror surfaces in the scarred, smeared face of The Joker (Ledger), the Dark Knight faces a chaotic, psychotic foe the likes of which he has never seen. And as the battle between good and evil grows increasingly personal, the future of Gotham rests on a knife-edge.
Off-screen, The Dark Knight comes to the screen as one of the most eagerly-awaited films of all time, with fanboy glee transformed into worldwide anticipation after the tragic death of Heath Ledger in January 2008 saw the sequel to a superb comic book reinvention becoming that most stupendous of beasts - an event movie. Expect box office records to tumble like a pack of cards.
Who's in it?
Teaming up with director Christopher Nolan for the third time, Christian Bale returns to play Bruce Wayne/Batman while Maggie Gyllenhaal proves a far superior incumbent of the love interest role of Rachel Dawes than its previous holder, Katie Holmes. Sir Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman and Gary Oldman are back as faithful butler Alfred, inventive genius Lucius Fox and good cop in a bad world Jim Gordon, while Aaron Eckhart takes the crucial role - if you know your Batman stories, that is - of Harvey Dent, who faces an unfortunate future.
Oh, and Heath Ledger takes on the mantle of The Joker. You probably already knew that though.
As an example...
"The fact that they're trying to kill you means we're getting to them." - Rachel Dawes
"I'm glad you're so pleased Rachel." - Harvey Dent
"I need a new suit." - Bruce Wayne
"Three buttons is a bit 90s." - Lucius Fox
Likelihood of a trip to the Oscars?
The genre is nominally given derisory treatment by the Academy, with technical achievement recognised ahead of directorial dexterity or acting might. Not so with The Dark Knight. Even without the subtle Oscar buzz created by Caine and co - to the delight of Warner Bros, presumably - there's no denying that Ledger's performance is Oscar-worthy. A ruthless, unforgiving villain, The Joker is a character of otherworldly evil and Ledger strips him of all humanity as his creepy voice and punkish intent makes his frequent gags elicit a nervous laugh, with the audience fully aware that something wicked their way comes.
What the others say
"An ambitious, full-bodied crime epic of gratifying scope and moral complexity, this is seriously brainy pop entertainment that satisfies every expectation raised by its hit predecessor and then some." - Justin Chang, Variety
"To see it is to understand that Nolan and his co-writer brother Jonathan saw a chance to go deeper into familiar characters and mythology, a chance to meditate on darker-than-usual themes that have implications for the way we live now." - Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times
So is it any good?
You have no idea. This is a film of dark and terrible - in the ancient sense - proportions. Even with a precursory viewing of Batman Begins, the viewer has no idea what they're letting themselves in for.
Nolan's deliberately given the film a grounding in the real-world, with Gotham as authentic a city as New York or London. The excursion to Hong Kong - which reveals that Nolan has become a filmmaker of immense stature - cements the idea of The Dark Knight as a superlative crime epic, which just happens to have a twist of comic book added to its tale of psychosis on the rocks.
As buildings collapse and 18-wheelers flip, you can envisage Michael Bay squirming in his seat at just how accomplished and well, real, the action is, and with some wry visual beats thrown into the mix, scope and grandeur as watchwords for the entire piece and an intensity that rises to uncomfortable levels, Nolan's pre-release comments about wanting to ape the shooting style of Michael Mann are proved to be more than fair.
An unexpected death is dealt with briefly but you get the impression that the relentless pace of the plot is deliberate on Nolan's part, while the camp of the Batman predecessors and, for example, the Bond franchise, is entirely devoid from the gadgetry scenes, with the technology unveiled by Fox (Freeman) never seeming anything other than valid and necessary.
The plot itself is more complex than the above synopsis might suggest, with troubling ethical dilemmas included and a questioning of Batman's very being spiralling from mere queries about his motivation to eventual loftier investigations of boundaries between right and wrong. The true triumph of the film lies in its ability to make us forget that this is a movie with a profoundly silly concept, that of a billionaire playboy - Bale's clearly having great fun in these scenes - who dons a suit to fight crime by night. Instead, we become entirely engrossed in the vivid horror of The Joker's machinations and their awful consequences.
And it wouldn't be a Dark Knight review without examining the performance of Ledger. In short, it's extraordinary. His second scene, in front of a criminal council, takes your breath away, with his initially giggly appearance steadily growing wild-eyed and terrifying. The late, great actor seems to chew the scenery throughout, his maniacal presence overshadowing the (undoubted) talents of all who surround him. The tragedy of his death cannot be overstated, its significance as a loss to the film industry equally so, and whether a posthumous Oscar is awarded purely out of sentiment or true recognition of the greatness of the performance, it will be deserved either way.
It is not solely his film, however, with Bale mining a shudder-inducing ferocity, Gyllenhaal coquettish and complex and Eckhart so noble - and later haunting - that you can't help but feel sympathy for the actor that Ledger's unfortunate demise has overshadowed his contribution to the film. Even those who already know the fate of Harvey Dent will be stunned by its handling and it's in this terrifying twist that a - very, very minor - flaw is revealed; yes, this is a new, grim generation of comic book film but a DC Comics adaptation is still likely to attract younger viewers and if The Joker wasn't scary enough, the eventuality of Dent will linger long in their nightmares.
Then again - why shouldn't a Batman film be frightening? He's a bleak, brutal character, conditioned into his freakish state by a harsh world. Just as The Joker stands for a primal evil with which we cannot reason, who wants "to watch the world burn", Dent represents the hopeless moralist who may be doomed to failure. In these desperate times, Batman is the only hero - if you can call him that - who can save us, even when truly desperate measures are necessary.
This is a masterpiece and Hollywood should take stock and be aware of its limitations as it looks on the majesty of Nolan's work and despairs.
10/10
Lewis Bazley