The Dark FREAKIN' Knight!

Without further adieu, your The Dark Knight review!

Shock of all shocks, I thought the movie was absolutely phenomenal. I'm a bit of a Joker mark (I own somewhere between 5 and 10 Joker t-shirts, and there's a classic comic book version Joker bobble head on my desk at work), so I was obviously looking very forward to this movie, and my expectations were understandably high.

And boy, what an effort it was to see this! I saw Batman Begins at an IMAX theater, and what a difference it made. So I was determined to see The Dark Knight on the (super) big screen as well. I figured I'd try to see it at an IMAX theater at a mall near me on Tuesday night, so on Monday I called my friend to make arrangements. We had both pretty much figured that we wouldn't have much trouble getting tickets for a Tuesday evening show at a relatively random theater. In fact, we were just going to drop by the theater before showtime and get the tickets then. Nevertheless, we decided to check availability online. Much to our surprise, tickets for every showing the next night had ALREADY sold out. Long story slightly less long, we ended up having to go all the way to White Plains (over a half hour from my house and about an hour from where I work) in order to see it on an IMAX theater. But boy, was it ever worth the effort.

Anyway, click the link below for my full (and it's a long one!) review of the movie (spoilers within).

Of course, the true tragedy of Heath Ledger's death is that his parents lost their son, and his young daughter will now have to grow up without a father. But as a movie goer, after seeing this film, his death really hit me. For one, I think it's absolutely tragic that so many people are proclaiming that he is only receiving so much praise because of his death, because I was personally blown away by his magnificent performance. I really thought that it would be a surreal experience seeing him on screen -- considering how much publicity his death has received -- but honestly, I'd watch him portray the Joker, and I would completely forget that I was watching a young man that had recently died. In fact, there were select moments when I would momentarily think to myself, "I really hope he's in the sequel."

And that's the other great loss signified by his death. In my opinion, there's still so much fuel left in the Joker character, and Heath hit such an incredible home run with his portrayal, that he can easily be integrated into one of the next installments. I don't think I'd make him the focus of another film, but I could have easily seen them using him in a brief cameo, much like they did with Scarecrow (by the way, what an unexpected treat that was). It would have been great seeing him stir the pot in prison, perhaps paving the way for the next great villain to attempt to take down Batman.

The fact is, this man WAS the Joker. He totally became the character, and you got completely lost in his performance. I honestly believe that Christian Bale does a fantastic job as Bruce Wayne and Batman, but, to me, at the core I'm still watching Christian Bale portray Batman/Bruce Wayne. On the other hand, I really did feel like I was watching the Joker, and not Heath Ledger with some clown makeup splattered on his face. From his distinctive walk to his voice to his devious cackle to his great lip smacking, it would be a tremendous disservice to deprive this man of an Oscar nod. And this is coming from a guy who said "What the hell are you thinking?" when it was announced that Heath Ledger would be taking over the iconic role.

I absolutely loved the psychological aspect of this film. Everybody has one of those friends who asks "would you rather drink a pint of your own piss or a small piece of your own shit?" In my case, that person is my friend Mark. Well, this movie pondered similar predicaments (albeit less gross and more twisted). Would you kill an innocent man to save a hospital full of people? Would you kill a boat full of other people to save yourself or somebody you love? Would you reveal your true identity if it spared the life of one of the people you were trying to protect (knowing full well that the revelation of your identity could essentially destroy the hero and lead to more deaths in the future)? And, of course, is it ever appropriate to break your code of honor and kill somebody who is pure evil?

That's one of the brilliant things about Joker's character: He was fully willing to die if it meant that Batman crossed that line and killed him. Hell, he WANTED Batman to kill him (hence his "hit me....hit me...." when Batman was heading towards him in his Batpod, and his laughing hysterically as he was dropping to his death, only to shrug in disappointment when Batman caught him -- an awesome moment).

Of course, Joker wasn't all doom and gloom. Indeed, there were some moments that made me laugh. I especially loved when he first met with the mob, and he opens up his jackets and reveals all of the grenades. One of the mobsters says something along the lines of, "you think you can steal all of our money and just walk in here and make demands?" and Joker deadpans, "yes." And was there a more disturbingly funny scene than seeing Joker walk around in that nurses outfit? I loved when he stepped out of the hospital and started blowing it up, only for one of the detonators not to work, forcing him to fidget with it for a bit.

While it's not completely fair to compare Heath Ledger's Joker to Jack Nicholson's (they're too different), I do believe that The Dark Knight captured the magic between Batman and the Joker better than the original. The first Batman needlessly attempted to connect these two characters by making Joker the person who murdered Bruce Wayne's parents, and making Batman responsible for Joker's disfigurement.

From my admittedly pedestrian understanding, The Dark Knight is more in line with the comics, where Batman and Joker are essentially both victims of circumstance, but while one character used this as motivation to do good, the other used it to create chaos. This is the theme of The Killing Joke, perhaps the greatest graphic novel ever written (go out and buy it now. Really). The premise of the story is that Joker had "one bad day," which made him the maniac that we know him as. As a result, he's determined to prove that any average Joe could be driven to insanity if his day is bad enough. One of my favorite lines is when he says to Batman: "You had a bad day once, am I right? I know I am. I can tell. You had a bad day and everything changed." These two iconic characters -- Batman and the Joker -- are essentially mirror images of each other. As the villain says in the movie, "we cannot exist without each other."

You can also tell The Killing Joke helped inspire this movie based on Joker's "Why so serious?" retelling of how he got his scars. He tells one character his father did it, he tells another that he did it to himself. As the comic book character says (in regards to his "one bad day"), "Sometimes I remember it one way, sometimes another... If I'm going to have a past, I prefer it to be multiple choice!" In hindsight, this makes you realize how unnecessary it was to do a back story for the Joker in the Tim Burton film. Truth be told, the lack of origin and motive makes Joker's actions that much more disturbing and frightening. Hell, the reason why so many people were freaked out by The Strangers is because there was apparently no motive for terrorizing these innocent people. To paraphrase Alfred's assessment of the Joker, "Some people just want to see the city burn."

I don't want to go on TOO much about how awesome Heath Ledger was, because virtually the entire cast nailed their roles. I thought Harvey Dent was portrayed perfectly. He was indeed the "white knight" (opposed to Batman's "Dark Knight") that could save Gotham without resorting to a cape and cowl. This is reminiscent to one theory on the Batman character: Batman attempts to stop crime by putting on a costume and creating terror, when in actually Bruce Wayne -- as a billionaire -- may actually be a more promising solution. Perhaps Bruce Wayne should use his enormous wealth to ensure that the next generation of citizens have the opportunities necessary that they won't need to resort to crime later in life. In my view, Harvey Dent fills this role. He's a public persona that's out there in broad daylight doing what he can, by the books, in order to make Gotham a better place. Indeed, he's so effective in this role that even Bruce Wayne feels the need to gush over him -- despite the fact that they're both pining over the same woman -- and Batman first considers retiring altogether, before ultimately taking the blame for a series of murders.

Gary Oldman was also great as Lt. Gordon, a character who was enormously mishandled and underutilized in the original movies. When it appeared that he had been killed, I was legitimately saddened. Like, it upset me that he wouldn't be in any of the other movies. That's a HUGE contrast to the whole-lotta-nothing Gordon contributed in the original four movies. And is it me, or is a jump from lieutenant to commissioner pretty significant (by the way, LOVED Joker clapping during that scene)?

I suppose it would be unnatural to do a review of the movie without mentioning, ya' know, BATMAN! One thing I do love about this re-imagining is that there's a concerted effort to try to hide the fact that Bruce Wayne and Batman are one in the same. Sure, the "Batman voice" can get a little distracting at times, but honestly, it does very adequately mask his actual voice. Considering the fact that Bruce Wayne and Batman often interact with the same people, this is an important tactic. I also love how Bruce Wayne is not portrayed as some altruistic saint, like he is in many of the animated series. He's portrayed as rude and disrespectful in the business world, and overall snobby and spoiled in the social circuit. Even when he does something heroic (by saving Mr. Reese's life), he blows it off and presents himself as being self centered and ignorant to the world around him. This is all necessary, as I often muse that our society has somehow, someway, for some reason made people who are rich into celebrities (the Paris Hiltons of the world), so being a billionaire with a secret life is a lot easier said than done.

But make no mistake about it, this movie was ALL the Joker.

There were some portions of the movie that surprised me, though.

Perhaps most of all, I was shocked that they screwed the pooch and used Two-Face as a villain. I thought for sure that they were setting him up to be the next installment's central villain. If Two-Face actually is dead (the jury still seems to be out on that one), then I'm even more perplexed. That being said, I thought the character was handled perfectly. It drifted away from the whole split personality thing, instead focusing in on a man so consumed with rage that he believes that the ends ALWAYS justify the means. I really liked how Bruce Wayne and Harvey Dent are put at some odds -- with Dent admirably playing the white knight, as Wayne hides behind a mask to become the Dark Knight -- when in actuality, Batman honors his code, while Two-Face abandons his (the former isn't willing to kill, the latter is).

I also appreciated the fact that, for better or worse, Two-Face left all of the major decisions up to his coin. It drove me crazy how in Batman Forever, Tommy Lee Jones' Two-Face repeatedly flipped the coin until he got his desired result. That act shows how much they totally missed the point of the character. On top of all that, Two-Face looked freakin' bad ass. That eye STILL freaks me out.

I wasn't expecting them to kill off Rachel, although I thought it was brilliant that they did. First off, her character had already served her purpose (especially if Catwoman is ever incorporated into one of the movies, hence giving Bruce a new love interest), and secondly, it was a wonderful way to (a) show how deliberately cruel Joker's humor can be (purposely sending Batman to rescue the wrong person), and (b) give Harvey Dent the motive to completely lose it and become Two-Face. It also showed "what could have been" in a sense, as Harvey ended up taking the path that Joker had paved for Batman.

One thing I didn't get, though, is why exactly Batman had to take the blame for the Two-Face murders. Yes, I understand that they had to preserve the noble image of Harvey Dent, but why exactly is Batman taking the blame the only other option? Why not say Joker did it? Some might argue, "but he was already captured by that point." That doesn't really cut it for me. As viewers we are aware of the fact that Joker was captured at x o'clock and that the murders happened x hours later, but the citizens of Gotham City don't know that. Or why not say that one of the Joker's goons committed the murders? I follow that they were sending the message that Batman is truly heroic because he's NOT the white knight....and I see how this is setting up the premise for the next movie, but it just seemed contrived the way it was handled.

Provided that there's a third installment (and really, there has to be after the boatload of money this version made), who should be the next villain? Personally, I'd love to see either Penguin or Riddler, or Penguin and Catwoman (although, obviously, this pairing has already been done). I'm actually not a huge Penguin fan, but considering that the Christopher Nolan movies tend to take a more realistic approach to the villains, I think a "re-invented"/old school Penguin could be great. In the comics, Penguin is actually a high class crime lord, a la the Kingpin (of Spider-Man fame). With Joker behind bars (or in a padded cell), and the mob apparently disintegrated, the next movie seems tailor made for Penguin to swoop in and take over the mob (in fact, if I recall correctly, there was a nightclub scene in The Dark Knight. In the comics, Penguin's nightclub business is the cover to his criminal activity). I actually think an overweight Tim Curry could excel in this role. The rumored Philip Seymour Hoffman would also be interesting.

The movie could easily be spiced up with a separate storyline including Catwoman or Riddler. With Catwoman, you can do the obvious romantic story, and the juxtaposition between high class mobster and petty cat burglary could be interesting. To tell you the truth, I think the Catwoman character could carry a handful of movies, provided she's never the central villain. She can escape capture, and essentially become the "one who got away." To Batman, she's the one person he couldn't capture. To Bruce Wayne, she's the love he can't be with. Perhaps in the fourth movie (which may never come to be), she can be the anti-hero that fights by Batman's side. I think somebody like Charlize Theron would make a wonderful Catwoman, for what it's worth.

I actually think they can take a really intriguing route with the Riddler's character, however. I actually think somebody like Johnny Depp would do great in this role. They can make the character light and quirky (Penguin can handle the "dark" load), but I think it'd be really cool to focus on the psychological compulsions of the Riddler's character. They can hone in on the fact that this criminal is powerless to his obsession -- he MUST leave clues as to what his next crime will be. He has no choice. And he can't just kill somebody, he HAS to put them through some elaborate trap. Imagine Monk, but a criminal genius instead of a genius detective.

One final point. I also love how slowly but surely, the caped crusader is becoming the Batman we are accustomed to. With the demise of the tank-version Batmobile, I have no doubt that we'll see the slicker, more familiar vehicle in the next film. With Wayne Manor being rebuilt, I think it's fair to say the same will be true of the Batcave.