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The Dark Knight 10 out of 10 Posted: 07/17/08
Running time: 2:30 MPAA rating: PG-13 (Intense sequences of violence and some menace.) Peruvian rating: Mayores de 14
Cast: Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Michael Caine, Aaron Eckhart, Gary Oldman, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Morgan Freeman, Cillian Murphy, Eric Roberts.
Director:
Christopher Nolan
Photography:
Wally Pfister |
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Note: This is my "bare-bones", spoiler-free review for The Dark Knight. If you've already seen the film and want to read a more detailed review full of spoilers, then click here.
The Dark Knight is, hands down, the best motion picture I've seen all year. What's more, is the best superhero movie ever made in the history of superhero movies. But you know what? That's not enough. Since The Dark Knight breaks so many genre barriers and succeeds at being so many different kinds of films, that saying it's the "best superhero movie ever" sounds a little too... vacuous. The Dark Knight is, simply put, a perfect motion picture. It's got excellent performances across the board, tense and exciting action sequences, an amazingly interesting storyline that keeps providing surprises until the end credits start to roll, a top-notch screenplay, and a dark and moody sense of visual style. But it's not just visually uncompromising - the whole movie is uncompromising, and is as good as it is because it's unlike any other comic book or superhero film ever made. Putting The Dark Knight alongside movies like The Fantastic Four or Elektra would be an insult to the caped crusader's latest endeavor.
The movie tells the story of the Bat-man (Christian Bale) who, after the events of Batman Begins, has become a mythical figure in Gotham City. The population of the city doesn't really know if he should be considered a hero or a criminal, and what's worst, there are "copycats" everywhere using cheap Batman-ish suits to commit vigilante-like acts. Batman's nocturnal activities have been bothering the mob of Gotham City, and now the newly-elected D.A., Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart), has decided to finally defeat them instead of co-existing with them by means of payment or other "less violent" fashions. Encouraged the nicest and most honest police lieutenant in the world, Jim Gordon (Gary Oldman), Dent meets with Batman and the two come to an agreement about how to finally defeat crime in Gotham. The thing is, a new threat for the city, a madman who calls himself The Joker (Heath Ledger), has offered to become the mob's enforcer in any goal they might want. He is a creator of chaos and confusion, and doesn't care about things like money or honour; he's beyond that. And because of this, he has to confront Batman. He has one request: either Batman reveals his identity, or he will keep killing people and creating chaos, so when the caped crusader decides to keep his identity secret, things basically go to hell.
Superhero or comic-book based films are normally pretty simplistic: they tell stories about good versus evil, about a man - or sometimes a woman - who suffers a physical or emotional transformation and gets him/herself a nemesis from who he/she has to protect people. I guess The Dark Knight could be described by using these parameters, but I'm afraid it wouldn't be enough. This film is about chaos and people who exist just don't create it; it's about what normal people would be able to do if involved in a tense or life-threatening situation; it's about a haunted man who feels obliged to protect the population of the city from whatever could be threatening it, and how he's capable of even transforming his image to make people remain hopeful. Batman is not the hero the city deserves; he's the hero the city needs as the moment, so he can transform in anything Gotham might need at the moment in order to be saved. The Dark Knight is a film that treats its hero, Batman, in a way that few motion pictures would even dare to treat him, and that's why it works: because it is different from the average superhero flick.
The film also works because the audience is never certain about what will happen. While watching most movies of this kind, the audience is almost always sure that the hero will succeed and emerge triumphant. Not so here. The forces of evil, the mob and the image of the Joker, seem to be almost invincible. The latter always has something of a backup plan or some idea in order to emerge from a tight situation, and every time you feel certain that Batman, Gordon and the rest have finally managed to defeat him, something happens that turns the table round. This gives a sense of uncertainty to the picture, a sense that Gotham is a messed-up city that has absolutely no way of saving itself. No one is safe - not even the hero itself who, despite being really good at what he's doing, is living in a really dangerous word where anything could happen to him or the people near him. Unlike Tim Burton's Batman film, (a pretty good movie, by the way), which provided with merely a visual dark and depressing vision of Gotham, The Dark Knight presents the viewer something worse: a city that is populated by dangerous and sometimes mad people, and that is dark not only in a visual sense, but also inside the heads of the characters inside it.
Performances, for lack of a better word, perfect. Christian Bale is the ultimate Batman/Bruce Wayne. Unlike Michael Keaton and Val Kilmer, who created a pretty intimidating Batman but a lackluster Bruce Wayne, and George Clooney, who provided with a so-so Bruce Wayne but a lackluster caped crusader, Bale manages to give an impressive performance in both roles. He is an amazing Batman because he's so different from Bruce Wayne, and because he's incredibly intimidating. One can believe that this is a being criminals and punks would flee from because of the roaring, scary voice he uses, and the way he dispatches the bad guys. Wayne, on the other hand, is a softer character, but only when he wants to give the city a soft image; although we don't spend as much time with him as in Batman Begins, we nevertheless understand Wayne and the reasons why he makes the decisions he makes.
But what would be Batman without the Joker? Much has been said about the late Heath Ledger's performance, that it's the best character he's ever interpreted, that his acting is Oscar-worthy. And you know what? Everything you've heard about him is true. Unlike Jack Nicholson's Joker, who wasn't very credible as a criminal, Ledger's Joker is an intense, cruel, twisted and intelligent bad guy, the sort of classic villain that doesn't stop at anything in order to fulfill his goals. Many well-known bad guys have been given origin stories in previous superhero films; not so here. When The Dark Knight begins, the Joker is already a criminal, but we nevertheless get to know the character because of the way he's written, and because of the way he is interpreted by Ledger. His reasons? He just wants to create chaos; he isn't interested by things like money or power, he just wants to see "the world burn." And because of the way the character acts, we believe that that's what he wants.
The rest of the cast are, of course, excellent. Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman are back, and both of them give amazing performance. The former acts as Bruce Wayne's advisor and most trusted ally, while the latter is more of a technical aid. Gary Oldman's Gordon is also here, and now with a more prominent role. The great thing about The Dark Knight is that it feels like a mob/crime drama that could actually happen in real life, and the way the cops and the mafia and the corruption are involved makes everything look believable. Gordon? He's a ray of light, one of the few honest cops out there, and one of the few who dares to work alongside Batman. Rachel Dawes is also back, but this time she's played by Maggie Gyllenhaal. What does this mean? Well, the moment I saw her onscreen I totally forgot about Katie Holmes. Firstly, she's a much better actress who surpasses Holmes's performance in every way, and secondly, she manages to make the role her own. But the real surprise comes in the form of Aaron Eckhart's Harvey Dent. The man gives an intense and credible performance, and acts as Gotham's "white knight", the city's only real hope of peace and prosperity.
Even though The Dark Knight provides with a lot of material to think about, it nevertheless contains a lot of exhilarating action sequences. Unlike other big-budget summer movies, though, action in The Dark Knight wasn't made just for the sake of having action. These scenes feel like consequences of what happens before, like natural extensions of more plot-based scenes. These sequences have a reason, and not only are they superbly written and shot, they also have an overall meaning to the plot and the characters of the film. Also, they are incredibly tense and exciting, the sort of thing one would expect from such a master director as Christopher Nolan. The best thing about the film, though, is not that I got chills while watching the actiony parts, but that I got them also while watching more talky or calm scenes. The Dark Knight is a movie that keeps surprising the viewer every time it's got the chance to do it, and manages to do so without cheating or feeling false.
In a more technical level, the movie is flawless. Christopher Nolan's direction is masterful, both in the more dramatic and plot-oriented scenes, and the more actiony sequences. The explosions and chases through Gotham (in which Batman uses the new, cool-looking "Bat-pod") are shot in such a way that the viewer understands everything that is happening. The screenplay is also masterful, dealing with many complex and interesting themes while providing with three-dimensional, believable characters and a great plot - the movie has a great sense of balance - it's got everything from low-key humour to action to drama to deep talking and a little romance - that most "prestige" motion pictures would envy. James Newton Howard and Hans Zimmer's score has evolved; Batman's theme is now more evident throughout the course of the film, and is used effectively. This is one of the most memorable and powerful motion picture scores I've heard in a long time, and the best thing is that it works both inside the movie and as a really cool composition by itself.
I have nothing "bad" to say about The Dark Knight. Every rumour you have heard about it being a masterpiece and the best superhero motion picture ever made - everything is true. Until yesterday, I thought Iron Man was the best comic-book movie release this year. Well, I was wrong. As entertaining and well-crafted that film was, The Dark Knight is superior in every possible way. It's not only a simple superhero film - it is an experience, a complex and moody crime drama that manages to be more than the average film from Marvel or DC. It's impressive and, dare I say it, awesome in every possible way - from the performances to the cinematography to the directing and the screenplay, The Dark Knight is pretty much flawless. The only thing that worries me is that, now that Heath Ledger is gone, Nolan and his team will have to take the franchise in a different direction. Will there be a Batman 3? Of course, and I just hope it'll be as excellent, awe-inspiring and, yes, perfect, as The Dark Knight.
©2008 Sebastián Zavala - GG site