The Dark Knight

Review by Loc

The fanboys keep asking for the definitive comic flick. Each iteration, each step in the evolution seems like someone in Hollywood gets it. Then the genre lulls into the same formula for a while, then the next evolutionary step creates a new gap that date the old flicks. You had Blade, which made comics non-goofy. Then came X-Men and the realism of the world around us was brought to life. You got the first Spider-man, which merged both realism and comic sensibilities seamlessly. Batman Begins gave us the Batman that comic fans believed no one outside the local comic shop knew existed. Just this summer, Iron Man brought big budget fun to the silver screen. But my friends, the leap witnessed by the newest Batman flick will not be matched for a long, long time. Quick hit: it captures the ultimate essence of Batman’s universe in a grand, entertaining joyride that transcends the genre and delivers one of the best films, not of the summer, not of the year, but one of the best this decade.

First and foremost, The Dark Knight is an intelligent, magnificently written movie. There is a plot, a real story that allows our characters to move and interact with actual purpose. Batman exists, not to look cool in a big, black bat-suit, but to live and breathe in Gotham City. Gordon, Rachel Dawes, Harvey Dent, they’re citizens of this corrupt, heaving city, tiny rays of light in the darkest, grimmest urban sprawl known to man. And beyond the seedy underbelly controlled by two-bit thugs and greasy mobsters, a Joker appears to throw chaos and destruction into the equation. Yet, the Joker, for all his grandiose, pompous embracing of disorder, puts a plan in motion so convoluted that no one can outthink his scheming. The story is a twisting mashup that takes you on an actual ride.

In the 1A slot, Heath Ledger’s Joker is masterful. To say he owns every scene is an understatement. There was the fear of critical hyperbole, the thought that his untimely death led to unwarranted praise. However, this isn’t the case, as Heath Ledger defines the Joker in a way that is so menacing, so overwhelming, that he is the centerpiece of this film much like the entire story revolves around Joker’s plotting. Heath Ledger’s Joker is a force onscreen, a personification that wipes away any comic goofiness and instead, delivers a frightening examination of the mind gone awry.

What about Batman? Honestly, this flick truly is an ensemble story. It takes you from Joker entrance to Batman crime-fighting to Harvey Dent idealism to Joker plotting and so on. Yes, Christian Bale is back as the definitive onscreen Batman and he’s excellent. Yet, the performances by Aaron Eckhart as Dent, Morgan Freeman as Lucious Fox, Michael Caine as Alfred, and Maggie Gyllenhall as Rachel Dawes make this movie a fully realized film. And what about Maggie, who brings vibrance and charisma to the character. It’s becomes clearly evident how Katie Holmes played the character with limited range while Gyllenhall brings an actual person into Bruce Wayne’s life. She is easily the biggest surprise and adds depth to the entire picture beyond the perfunctory damsel in distress.

The action is a very nice throwback to real explosions, real car chases, and real real that pushes CGI to the back. More importantly, this is straight-up action, where the camera is super-close-up-shaky-cam that’s become so en vogue as of late. The fact that you can see cars crashing and swerving, that you can see Batpods flying through the streets, that you can track what’s actually happening is so refreshing, so fun, so good, it’s amazing to think about how bad action flicks have become in recent years.

If there’s one major drawback to this film, and it is significant, is the pacing and length. This movie runs two-and-a-half hours, and for the final 30 minutes you can get squirmy. Most of the plotting and scenes are good, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be tighter and more streamlined. Cut out twenty minutes and you have yourself an all-time great. As is, you have a great movie nonetheless.

Overall, there’s poignancy and weight to this flick. You have a Batman story that showcases why the mythos lives so passionately with its fans. You have a drop-dead kick-ass performance in Heath Ledger, making the unexpected tragedy of his death that much more disheartening. From the opening scene that would give a movie like Heat a run for its money, to the excellent, grand plot of the Joker, The Dark Knight hits all spots. Out of 15 minutes till detonation, The Dark Knight saves the day with 13.5 minutes left on the clock. It’s a great flick. Seriously. Or maybe, not so seriously, as Joker would want.