The Dark Knight at his darkest

Rating: 9/10 (2 November 2003)

In a bare squeaker decision over its predecessor, this one gets my vote as the best of the Batman movies. This is the Batman mythos as it should always be: a dark, twisted world populated by deeply damaged people. Batman has never been a typical superhero, and this is no typical superhero movie.
Yes, it has its share of action and mayhem, but the central pillar holding it all up is the interaction of profoundly disturbed people in bizarre outfits, and the question of what really makes Batman any different from the villains he thwarts.
The Penguin, a villain I've never really cared for, is given a great new background here; a tragic, twisted, past worthy of the hero himself. DeVito comes off very well in the role I was convinced Burgess Meredith would own forever. The Catwoman has also been rethought with a strangely ambiguous origin and an unexpected feminist theme. I was originally convinced that Pfeiffer was wrong for this part; I should have learned to shut up after the Michael Keaton controversy.
Special mention should go to Bo Welch's production design, which bounces back and forth between skewed circus-from-hell to Speer-like Aryan designs with out-of-control proportions. While very different from Anton Furst's designs of the first film, it complements the story perfectly. Another special mention goes to Danny Elfman's score, still one of his operatic and atmospheric best.
From its stunning wordless opening sequence to its actionless melancholy ending, this is the thinking person's superhero film.