Excellent for what it is.

Rating: 8/10 (24 July 2008)

Transcending the shallowness of most superhero movies, The Dark Knight is a brooding thriller that could very well be an excellent film even if its protagonist was a tough cop than a masked vigilante. For, the movie explores the flimsy psychological balance between good and bad which a crime-ravaged city and its citizens try to maintain. Perhaps, the greatest testament to that is the presence of villain who like possesses no superpowers but a sinister mind and careful planning abilities. In having an exaggerated, but very much human, villain (and hero), the film moves much closer to reality than a lot of films in this genre can. It is true that master director Christopher Nolan has to give into fancy action scenes to rudely break the psychological tension in the movie. And yet, a Batman movie with buildings blowing up and trucks overturning would be cheating the fans, even if these scenes could be dispensed. So while being completely realistic, The Dark Knight jumps into superhero style action that transports viewers back to a simpler times. It is a difficult balance to maintain and it has been admirably done by Nolan. Being 152 minutes long could be one grouse against this movie. However, the story is gripping and the action scenes come just at the right time. I thought I would be counting minutes toward the end, but was pleasantly surprised when I realized that not for once in the two and half long hours did I lose interest in the film. A part of the credit goes to Nolan much acclaimed story telling skills. While he is not as mysterious in the treatment of the story in Memento and Prestige, he intrigues you with very interesting scene construction. What stops the movie from being a defining crime thriller of all time is that Nolan, at times, has to succumb to the superhero clichés to bring a plot element to a convenient conclusion. Some scenes are too cheesy, especially the one with the two boats, which is inconsistent with the complex psychological dilemma between good and bad. The scene does nothing but preach about the inherent goodness of people even under crisis- a concept that has been beaten to death in Hollywood. Despite these small objections I have with the movie, I could not sit in the theater without how refreshing it is to have a movie like this. There is a good reason why the film has just blown people off their foot. It is a superhero movie that the world deserved for a long time. This is what Spiderman 3 should have been, but was not. Hancock promised to take the superhero genre in a new direction, but failed miserably. In fact, 'Batman Begins' set the stage for a film like and anything less intense or less disturbing would have been a step back for Nolan, who has presented a completely new understanding of Batman. With all due respects to Tim Burton, Joel Schumacher, Sam Raimi et al., Nolan adds an angle to the superhero genre that has not been tried a lot. By choosing a story littered with ethical complications, ironical decisions, complex human emotions and sinister villains, Nolan creates a movie that is so dark that it is scary. I would never be able to watch those harmlessly funny Batman cartoons without thinking about how dark someone has imagined this superhero to be. Dark may be an overused word to describe this movie, but that is the most accurate word. And if there is one thing, apart from the story, elevates this movie to this disturbing level is the Joker. His portentous shadow lingers in every scene of the movie even when he is not present in it. Partly because the character is so written to be so sinister and partly because Heath Ledger plays him with an eerie and a haunting touch, the Joker would be remembered as one of most scary villains in the Hollywood history. While all the other major characters play their part adequately, Ledger steals the show by adding those brilliant little idiosyncrasies to his character that makes him creepier, and thus, more real. However, the movie is dragged down by plot holes and requires leaps of faith that invariably comes with movies of such genre. Nolan, despite the new bold direction he may have given of the superhero movies of the future, has produced better work in the past. And that is no reflection how well he has directed The Dark Knight. It is just that, in my opinion, the thrill-a-minute spirit of The Prestige and crispness of Memento would have required a far greater effort. The Dark Knight may not be the best movie of all time, neither may it be Nolan's best movie (arguably), but it definitely is one of the best superhero movies I have ever seen.