The Dark Knight: a 'Comic' Greek Tragedy

Rating: 10/10 (20 July 2008)

The hype over The Dark Knight reached preposterous planes before the midnight release, and I won't lie: I scoffed at the Oscar buzz. The Academy would never dismount their high horse and reward a "Batman" or a "comic book" film.
Now I believe. I believe in Harvey Dent, and I believe Nolan created a tour de force worthy of Best Picture. If the film had been directed by Scorsese, it would be in a sure in (or maybe not, you know, took him only twenty years to get the damn thing). Nolan created a modern Greek Tragedy.
Tragedy is the downfall of a great man caused by either the Gods or by hamarita (a tragic misstep). Harvey Dent was a great man, the "White Knight" to Batman's "Dark"  and The Joker, a self-described agent of chaos, swoops into Gotham like an angry messenger from the Gods.
Did you feel the fear and pity? I did. And I felt it for every character  most of all, I felt disturbed. Watching the Batman beat The Joker in the holding cell is probably the most haunting scene in the film. I almost could not watch it.
I've seen the film three times. Its elegance only grows on me, right down to Aaron Eckhart's cleft chin. Not only is Aaron just as good as Heath  if not better  the casting director selected a man whose face visually splits in half, even before the transformation.
I cannot speak highly enough of Gary Oldman, as the supreme Jim Gordon. Oldman brings all the sentiment without sentimentalism, all the fragility without weakness, and all the humanity without melodrama to our beloved commissioner.
As for Batman becoming a secondary figure to the villains, I say reread your source material. Batman is an elusive figure that not even members of the Bat Family understand. Here Bale plays Bats as the detective on the trail, and Wayne struggling with his choice to become The Batman. It's a quiet performance, and full of the grace.
The convict on the boat steals the film. His actions in the time of crisis live with you long after the credits roll. He is the essence of the film: brief rays of dawn over coming the darkness. For anyone that calls this film too dark, too depressing, too sadistic, and too nihilistic, I say look again. If it wasn't Batman, I'd said it believed in Truth, Justice, and the American Way. Just a 21st Century version.
(The only problem I had with the film: why Jim Jr instead of Babs at the end? Why!)