A dark but effective take on an iconic Batman villain

Rating: 9/10 (19 June 2016)

In The Dark Knight, Christian Bale plays the titular character as he fights against the schemes of iconic villain The Joker played by Heath Ledger. Along with Commissioner Gordon played by Gary Oldman and Harvey Dent played by Aaron Eckhart, the movie does an excellent job of drawing you in to the chaos that the Joker brings to Gotham City while setting up another iconic Batman villain, Two-Face. Joker's scheme's take a toll on the idealistic DA when Rachel Dawes, this time played by Maggie Gyllenhaal and in a romantic relationship with Dent, is killed and he is injured. The physical injury, burns on half of his face and creating the Two-Face look, is only part of the damage once Joker convinces him to turn away from the law. As Batman fights to bring the Joker to justice, Two-Face goes on a mission to clean up the dirty cops and on-the- take detectives that have contributed to Gotham's decline. His method: random chance as chosen by his lucky coin which too has a side damaged by the fire. Ledger's Joker is superb and captures the psychosis of the source character's personality. Joker's philosophy that chaos brings out the true nature of people is reinforced as his scheme's get bigger and bigger. In some ways the aims of his character reminded me of V from V for Vendetta. Both characters are over-the- top eccentrics. Both characters seek to overthrow an established order and use terrorism to achieve their ends. Despite those similarities they have very different outlooks on society: V seeks to free people from an oppressive order so they live life in their own way, The Joker seeks to destroy order to prove he is right about what mankind is underneath the niceties of civility.
The movie paces itself well enough while keeping you interested as Gotham City goes from bad to worse. The action is underscored by an excellent soundtrack that at times is just a simple bass line. Simple, but effective. The deep bass emphasizes many of the movies dramatic scenes. The tension is heightened and the quick camera cuts during the action scenes keeps things movie. Most of the movie is dark, not just in theme but in lighting. It helps to show that despite Batman's efforts to clean up Gotham the criminal underbelly is changing and escalating and Gotham may have more trouble before things get better.
The movie is excellent and not just for the Joker. One wonders what the real world would look like when chaos disrupts normal civil life and it's not hard to imagine it looking a lot like Gotham. Though not an indictment of this movie, it's a shame the follow-up introduced a new villain in Bane with a more convoluted story instead of sticking to what this movie established. Perhaps a movie that wrapped up the hero-turned-rogue DA.