Seduced by Evil. A Hero's Struggle

Rating: 10/10 (30 July 2008)

This is the first Batman movie that's not about Batman. It's no traditional yarn about a protagonist fighting a villain, with audiences hoping the hero beats the bad guy. On the contrary, it's a thrilling story about the cost of heroism and seduction by evil.
Tim Burton explored anti-hero themes with Michelle Pfeiffer's brooding Catwoman in "Batman Returns," and although Burton failed to flesh it out, many people agree Catwoman was the best part of that film. Director Christopher Nolan knows better, having demonstrated a Hitchcockian mastery of psychology with themes of guilt (Insomnia) and competition (The Prestige). In his film, we meet Joker (a chilling Heath Ledger), a sociopath with a taste for anarchy. He doesn't want revenge or power. In one scene, he burns a mountain of cash. The mobsters call him crazy, and before he cuts them to pieces he mutters "It's not about money. It's about sending a message." Right away, we know he isn't a villain we can predict or understand. Consequently, he's pretty terrifying.
Ledger's Joker is so compelling that he has the best lines and the most memorable scenes. Usually we watch superhero films to see how the protagonist overcomes the villain. But in "The Dark Knight," we strangely cheer as the Joker kicks ass at robbing banks, manipulating the mob, and even destroying a hospital. Strangely enough, we walk away from the experience not wanting to be Batman. We want to be Joker.
But that's not what I mean when I say this movie isn't about Batman. It's actually about DA Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart, whose strong performance will be overshadowed by Ledger's). He is Gotham's White Knight, and his tragedy revolves around an anecdote told early in the film about the Roman who guards his city not out of power lust, but of civic duty-- to which his girlfriend and Assistant DA Rachel Dawes (Maggie Gyllenhaal) wisely refutes, "Don't forget, the last man given that duty was named Caesar." Here lies the central theme-- a man holds power until death or long enough to see himself become the villain.
It's deep stuff for a Batman movie, but it works extremely well. Many may leave the film wondering why, but it has to do with what we missed from "Star Wars Episode III." Although we're horrified by Joker's mind (whose villainy rivals Anthony Hopkins' Hannibal Lecter), we can't help but be strangely drawn to his eerie confidence, manic charisma and unstoppable power. Due to some grueling and unexpected events, Dent falls from grace and becomes seduced by Joker's evil.
Let's not forget Batman, who is common-denominator (but not centerpiece) to the war between Dent and Joker. Dent proclaims Batman as Gotham's hero, but others don't agree-- including Bruce Wayne. Wayne is still a jealous, self-absorbed, and emotionally tortured brat in many ways, as we learned from "Batman Begins." He doesn't see himself as a hero. And although he despises Dent for stealing Rachel away from him, he deeply admires him.
Here we draw the dichotomy of "White Knight" (Dent) and "Dark Knight" (Batman). Bruce Wayne knows that he can't have Rachel unless he gives up Batman forever. But there's a pain within him that keeps him out at night fighting his personal demons. He loves Rachel, the same way Dent loves Rachel, but he won't give up being Batman. Bruce Wayne is not a noble, self-sacrificing hero. He has his cake and wants to eat it too.
Equally, Dent wants to fight a hard line with crime. He's incorruptible, unwilling to compromise, doing it for principles of righteousness rather than personal glory. He, too, refuses to be a hero. But unlike Batman, he is self-sacrificing, fighting in broad daylight in full vulnerability, even if it puts him and his loved ones at risk.
Don't worry-- Nolan never lets this character drama drag the story. The movie is wall-to-wall action, with sensational stunt sequences that exceed any prior Batman film, primarily because it uses very few digital effects. It's got a gritty, organic feel of urban combat, like Michael Mann's "Heat" which brought us into a downtown LA war-zone where gunshots echo off the walls of buildings. As we witness a chase between an 18-wheeler and a SWAT truck, we know it's actually happening. Many filmmakers neglect what Steven Spielberg calls "geography," and consequent quick-cutting and stylistic shots make the viewer lose their sense of setting. But Nolan keeps things very real, using helicopter shots and wide-angle lenses the way he did with prior films that depended on atmosphere (Insomnia, The Prestige).
Most people familiar with the comics know that Dent becomes the villain Two-Face. But Nolan makes a statement with Dent's transformation to evil. Harvey Dent succumbs to crime because his life has endured tragedy, and everything he's stood for has fallen to pieces. Meanwhile, Joker isn't so much a villain as a sardonic force of nature, reminiscent of Javier Bardem's Anton Chigurh in "No Country for Old Men." For most of the movie, Batman merely assists Dent in his war on evil. But in the end, Batman takes the fall for Two-Face's crimes, allowing Dent's legacy to live on. In this, he truly becomes "The Dark Knight," because he allows the White Knight to triumph. Even though evil has apparently won the battle, Batman refuses to allow evil to win the war.
I think many people write off superhero movies assuming they don't hold literary merit-- this was the case with Burton's zany Batman and Joel Schumacher's cartoon-like Batman. I hope "The Dark Knight" proves that such a belief is untrue. Check out the original comics or the animated series and you'll see there's a lot more being said with these characters. The Joker is not funny, like Jack Nicholson or Cesar Romero. He's scary. He's scarier because he doesn't take the world seriously. Fortunately, the film takes itself seriously, and it's one of the best in recent years.