Epic, Maybe a Little Too Epic

Rating: 7/10 (21 August 2010)

Having just watched this on DVD, this is definitely a movie for the theaters. The pace, editing and action scenes really need that immersive experience to show best. At home with a repeat viewing, I start to ask myself questions. Questions like how did The Joker places himself and his men in the memorial ceremony without anyone noticing? And how did Gordon know he would need to take a bullet (or pretend to) for the mayor, then have a plan to fake his death in place to protect his family? And why even bother with a plot twist that has no real effect on the narrative? And how did Joker put bombs everywhere in the city without anyone noticing anyway? Or get into the hospital to talk to Dent unnoticed? I know, it's just a movie. But when it strives for hyper-realism, it becomes more important to deliver a plausible plot. At a certain point it is just rather convoluted; filled with good ideas but there's not enough time even in 2.5 hours to carry them all out. There's also a tendency for Nolan to have Gordon explain (with Dent in the hospital, in the very end) instead of either letting the audience think or showing the audience.
That's the bad. The good certainly outweighs all of those criticisms on the whole. Once the chaos begins unfolding with Joker forcing virtually every character into uncomfortable choices, a vast array of questions arise. This is the strong point of the film. The audience is asked to consider what makes a hero, and more importantly to consider the hero as an individual with conflicted motives. There's a beautiful inverse symmetry to Batman, who never truly wavered in his heroic intentions, assuming the role of outlaw, while Dent, who flipped to become a villain, is preserved as hero. Additionally, we are asked how far can one bend the rules in the interest of doing good. This in fact drives to the essence of Batman as vigilante wanting to make right while breaking all the rules. Joker, knowing the inherent contradiction, does his best to convince Batman they are no different. He doesn't succeed, but the question is one that needs to be considered.
On another note, the hospital scene with Dent and Joker is one of my favorites. It's here that Dent makes his transition to Two Face. Previously, he had claimed to make his own luck with his heads I win, tails you lose logic. But here he seemingly embraces the random chaos Joker espouses by letting heads be both live and die for Joker. Additionally, Joker's quote, "You know what I've noticed? Nobody panics when things go according to plan. Even if the plan is horrifying! If, tomorrow, I tell the press that, like, a gang banger will get shot, or a truckload of soldiers will be blown up, nobody panics, because it's all part of the plan. But when I say that one little old mayor will die, well then everyone loses their minds!" is a nice bit of social commentary as well. Is this movie overdone at times? Sure. But it's also quite rich and provocative for the audience. It manages to probe uncomfortable themes while ratcheting the action up several notches. That's a hard combo to pull off, and it's done skillfully here.