"How about a magic trick?"

Rating: 10/10 (23 July 2008)

It's been a long time since I've been wildly excited about going to see a new movie in the theaters. I normally wait until the crowds die down, and see the big movies at least a week or two after they are released, if I don't just wait for the DVD. But the previews and reviews of The Dark Knight were so uniformly excellent that I was counting the days, and I was definitely not disappointed. I have heard speculation that a lot of the positive reviews are based in no small part out of respect for Heath Ledger's tragic and untimely death, but now that I've seen the movie I know that that is most certainly not the case. His performance as The Joker is one of the most consistently outstanding film performances I've ever seen. Brilliant!!
I've never been a huge fan of Ledger's, although I find his performances usually pretty good. But I've rarely seen an actor do something as brilliant as what he did for this movie. As for Christian Bale, I'll watch him do anything (you probably saw the preview before this movie for Terminator Salvation, and in my opinion, it's Bale that is the savior of that franchise, as he is of Batman). This is one of out most enormously talented and wonderful actors, and he fills the role of Batman perfectly.
What I love the most about the movie, however, is not about the performances or the special effects or even the action, but the way it delves so deeply into the psychology of all of the main characters. There is an astonishing amount of introspection given into the minds of The Joker, Batman, Two-Face, and others, and this psychological analyses give insight into the minds of the characters and gives reasons for their actions. Or, in the case of The Joker, the absence of reasons for their actions ("I just...DO things...").
In a lesser film, the villain explaining that there are no real reasons behind his actions, like there are for normal people, that he is just basically flailing wildly and there is no explanation for his villainousness, would come off as weak screen writing, a weak excuse to present an evil character with no moral boundaries. But The Joker is written and performed so well that, when he gives this explanation, you almost want to cheer for him. His brutal honesty counteracts his evil tendencies and makes him enormously watchable. Like Mickey and Mallory, writers Christopher and Jonathan Nolan (also responsible for the purely brilliant Memento) understand that a good villain must have plenty of public appeal.
All of the previous Batman films have dealt pretty simply with the hero Batman trying to save Gotham City from the evil villains, and this is changed completely in The Dark Knight. The citizens of Gotham are calling for Batman's unmasking, the revelation of his identity, and for him to face the consequences of laws that he has broken and other problems that he has caused, such as being a vigilante and even causing the deaths of police officers. There is a major identity struggle as Wayne watches in dismay the news reports of public masses calling for him to show himself, as The Joker has vowed to kill people every day that Batman keeps himself hidden. Wayne's options get slimmer and slimmer.
Seemingly in an attempt to undermine everything that Batman has come to represent, The Joker concocts brilliant schemes which force Batman to make a decision between two choices, each of which forces him to make a terrible ethical or moral mistake. He is forced to choose someone at the expense of another, to do something he would never normally do, each time lengthening his rap sheet, so to speak. You may begin to notice that, as in real life, when he starts doing these terrible things because he has no choice, his guilt is written in stone. No one cares that he was forced into anything, or that he made the best possible choice he could. The goal, of course, is to humiliate Batman and destroy his public image, and it's a little frightening how easy that is.
The transformation that the characters undergo is hugely unexpected, and it is not at all disheartening that the movie ends with virtually the promise of more sequels. I personally expect to see again Commissioner Gordon (Gary Oldman), Lucius Fox (Morgan Freeman), Two-Face, Gordon's son (that little blonde kid that Two-Face almost killed), and probably Salvatore Maroni. He has a relatively small role, but it's interesting that Batman dropped him off a building and shattered both of his legs, and then he was walking around again a few scenes later. He's gotta have powers of some kind.
It's not often that a movie comes along with this much hype and expectation and speculation, and not only lives up to the hype, but surpasses it. I have noticed that The Dark Knight has unseated both The Godfather and The Shawshank Redemption and has taken the #1 spot on the IMDb's Top 250 list. This is the first time in the ten years I've been using the IMDb that I have ever seen any movie other than those two at #1 or #2, and the movie definitely deserves it.
Christopher Nolan's second Batman film has not only elevated the Batman franchise, but it has both elevated and broadened the entire sub-genre of the comic book movie. While so many extra sequels these days come off as another movie tacked on to a successful franchise just to cash in on the popularity (Hear that, Jones?), the Nolan brothers have taken us deeper into the story and completely changed the direction. I am eagerly waiting to see what comes next!