Let me first say this: I am not a superhero comic book fan, so I've never exactly felt affinity with the huge tide of superhero movies this past eight years or so. I took them all as standard popcorn fare as a kid, and as money-making movie studio vehicles as an adolescent. I did not like the Batman franchise either -- watching the TV reruns of the Joel Schumacher and Tim Burton versions, I found them caricature-ish and campy. The stories paralleled, the villains one-dimensioned, the protagonists left wanting. Michael Keaton and Val Kilmer drained along in my slightly amnesiac memory, so my faintest recollection of that early era was that of George Clooney's Batman -- a role the actor himself does not relish.
Coming across 2005, we saw a redefinition of the almost teetering franchise in "Batman Begins", envisioned by Christopher Nolan (of "Memento" and "The Prestige"), and enlivened by Christian Bale (of "American Psycho"). This version of "how it all started" became a tremendous hit, as it captured audiences, fans, and critics alike -- because it depicted Batman as a man of the modern times, just as human as all of us. We got to see the hero stripped down of the myth and followed him as he fought the bad guys while searching within himself in the process. Following "Batman Begins"' success was a sequel, which the world eagerly awaited.
The sequel did not disappoint.
"The Dark Knight" is a carefully constructed action movie -slash- morality play, something you don't see quite often in genres such as this. The films are always some monstrosity caused by the bad guys, the hero tracks them down and saves the day. Here, as much as the hero is flawed as he is redeeming, the villains are multifaceted and just as ordinary as we are. The movie starts, of course, with a bad thing -- a mischievous bank robbery orchestrated by The Joker (Heath Ledger). Where else does he get his funds for ammunition, anyway? The act leads to some knee-trembling within the bad elements of Gotham City, who are becoming increasingly handicapped because of "the triumvirate": Batman (Bale), the police force led by Jim Gordon (Gary Oldman), and the new district attorney Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart). The thugs desperately need to restore the "natural order of things", and The Joker comes along and offers them a solution.
Meanwhile, Bruce Wayne as Batman's alter ego, lives atop a hotel penthouse (The Wayne Manor burned into ashes in the previous film) and has a makeshift "batcave" below an innocuous cargo trailer, albeit still in good company with loyal butler Alfred (Michael Caine) and technology expert Lucius Fox (Morgan Freeman). His relationship with longtime friend, lawyer Rachel Dawes (Maggie Gyllenhaal, taking the role left by Katie Holmes) has fallen into a standstill as she is presently Dent's girlfriend and she says to Bruce that they can never be together in "his chance for a normal life".
The Joker loves anarchy. A series of chaos ensue, and the city has turned into a virtual ticking time bomb, unpredictable as to who the next high-profile victim or innocent casualty is. District Attorney Dent, brimming with idealism, vows to prosecute the criminals and rid them of the place. Commissioner Gordon, who has been fighting crime all his life, straddles on the fine line. Batman wonders whether all this recklessness has been the result of his doing, and ponders on giving up the battle.
This particular story is the centerpiece of the film. Beyond the amazing action scenes -- and there are a lot -- the "morality play" I first mentioned is deeply evident in the actions of these three men. How much are you willing to sacrifice for the greater good? How strong is your conviction? That these men, impenetrable as they may seem are fallible too.
To say that "The Dark Knight" is a gloomy film is partially true. Apart from the dark undertones and violence and bleakness, there is still some humor inserted alongside, sometimes in the more unexpected situations. There is one scene with The Joker in a hospital that is particularly hard to forget (and laugh about).
What I love about the movie is the moving pictures themselves. Being the first full-length movie shot entirely in IMAX definition, the shots are very clear and crisp that you don't have to squint to look for clues because everything's visually exciting. Chicago is turned into a 360-degree underworld. When Batman travels halfway around the world to Hong Kong, you can just marvel at the astounding skyscrapers and take a breathtaking view like a virtual bungee-jump as he suspends himself on one.
The cast, main and supporting, gave a very strong, stellar performance. Bale is effective in portraying Batman's vulnerability, and is downright amazing in the action sequences. Gyllenhaal takes one notch higher from Holmes' Dawes and gives it more personality and assertiveness. Eckhart earns major chops for portraying a very impassioned Dent (and then Two-Face), because it makes for a good character study -- is he a villain or simply a hero gone astray? There is certainly no other man to reprise as Gordon than Oldman with his subtlety; and Caine and Freeman makes the most of their screentime as Wayne's dependable counsels, at the expense of wit. The cast also includes Eric Roberts as a mob boss, Nestor Carbonell as the mayor; and if you observed earlier in the film, Cillian Murphy returned in a split second as "Batman Begins" nemesis Scarecrow.
The one character I have evidently missed out is mentioned especially last, because he is the best thing about "The Dark Knight". Heath Ledger gave a terrific, superlative performance as The Joker. When I first heard news that he was cast as the new Batman villain years ago, I felt skeptical about it. He never really played the bad guy in films, and I couldn't imagine himself undertaking such a major role as this. I was dead wrong. Every tic, every enunciation, every line is simply pitch-perfect. He essayed the role of The Joker so well he was unrecognizable. He stole every scene he was part of. I laughed a lot because he played The Joker with delirious delight that it was infectious. To think that this his last movie is saddening indeed, because if he were still making movies, I'm sure that he would've made his succeeding roles as great as this, and showed everyone his full potential.
Overall, "The Dark Knight" is one I'd definitely recommend anyone to watch -- if you're looking for a great story, great action, great scenes, great cast -- I have never seen a better movie in years.
Rating: 5/5
(P.S. I saw the movie three times!)
