"The Dark Knight" Is Too Much Of A Good Thing!

Rating: 10/10 (29 July 2008)

"Batman Begins" writer & director Christopher Nolan's new Caped Crusader saga "The Dark Knight" qualifies as too much of a good thing. In other words, the movie boasts greater ambitions than its lengthy 152 minutes can accommodate. Mind you, "The Dark Knight" is every bit as good as "Batman Begins." The chief difference is that this Batman sequel flaunts bigger and better production values as well as loftier aims.
Not only does "The Dark Knight" align our hero with Bob Kane's original vigilante creation, but it also reinvents the Batman's nefarious nemesis, the Harlequin of Hatethe Joker. The Joker drives Batman over the edge! He ranks as an unforgettable villain. While Nolan and his brother Jonathan remain faithful to the spirit of Kane's Batman, this sequel indulges in derring-do more outlandish and audacious than its predecessor and depicts the showdown between Batman and the Joke as a duel of titans.
During its initial two hours, this white-knuckled, larger-than-life, adventure epic keeps you on the edge of your seat. Unfortunately, it sacrifices that momentum in the last 30 minutes with a convoluted subplot that turns into a predictable and pretentious mediation on good citizenship. Although Batman has been around since 1939, the Nolan brothers deserve kudos for taking this unique American crime fighter to the next level. Furthermore, amid all the adrenaline-laced activities and high octane explosions, the Nolans have concocted a crackerjack near-classic with more on its mind that hair-raising heroics.
"The Dark Knight" opens with an imaginative bank robbery. Gun-toting, clown-faced robbers kill each other as each completes their phase of the crime. The hold-up and the getaway are nimbly staged, except there's an inherent flaw. If you think about it, how can the Joker recruit high-class henchmen if he has them knock each other off? Nevertheless, we learn quickly that the Joker is the ultimate anarchist. He refuses to play by the rules, and the Nolans generate a lot of melodrama about Batman's vigilante efforts to apprehend him. "Hancock" beat "The Dark Knight" to the punch about the price of vigilantism. Not only do the authorities want to catch the Joker, but they also wouldn't mind nabbing the Batman.
Incorruptible Lieutenant Jim Gordon (a mustached and bespectacled Gary Oldman of "True Romance") is the only cop that Batman trusts. Naturally, Gordon is reluctant to let crusading Gotham City District Attorney Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart of "No Reservations") into the loop. Although the mobsters have been piling up loot, laundering it, and then hiding it in Gotham's banks with a Chinese gangster Lau (Chin Han of "3 Needles") protecting their earnings, Batman and Lt. Gordon devise a clever way to identify mob money. Inevitably, the Asian mastermind skips Gotham for the sanctuary of China where he expects to escape extradition. Batman shocks Lau with a surprise visit. The Caped Crusader's excursion beyond Gotham City constitutes a first for the film franchise. Batman's abduction of the Asian crime lord resembles similar abductions from the John Wayne Vietnam war movie "The Green Beret" and the Timothy Dalton 007 caper "License to Kill." No sooner have the authorities jailed Lau than the Joker approaches Gotham City's criminal cartel with a new plan. The Joker's first scene where he makes a pencil disappear is hilarious. Meanwhile, since Wayne Manor melted down in "Batman Begins," our hero has had to relocate to make-shift quarters. Bruce Wayne realizes that Batman is something bigger than he had imagined, including the copycat Batmen prowling the city. Being the Batman, as "The Dark Knight" shows, is no picnic. Our hero has acquired his share of bruises, wounds, and dog bites, and he has his top man at Wayne Enterprises, Lucius Fox (Morgan Freeman of "Unforgiven"), developing a dog-proof Bat suit. Despite his crime busting exploits, Bruce yearns for the day that he can drop the masquerade and wed childhood sweetheart Rachel Dawes. The nihilistic Joker doesn't give him much breathing room in this installment.
Warner Brothers, DC Comics and the Nolan brothers will have to manufacture a miracle to top this slam-bang, gravity-defying actioneer. Christian Bale surpasses Michael Keaton, George Clooney, and Val Kilmer as Batman. Bale's Batman is more realistic, more sympathetic, and the Welsh star's lean wolfish looks make him look treacherous. In short, Bale is the best Batman since Adam West! The late Heath Ledger really gets under the clown make-up as the Joker. Aaron Eckhart's vigorous performance as Harvey Dent is no less sterling. Alas, the Nolans give Dent the short shrift when they shoehorn his dramatic makeover carelessly in the final half-hour. Leggy Maggie Gyllenhaal isn't much of an improvement over Katie Holmes as Rachel Dawes. Composers Hans Zimmer and John Newton Howard provide a powerful, atmospheric orchestral score that sets the mood and accentuates the cliffhanger heroics. At the same time, Christopher Nolan wastes no time getting the action in gear. Nolan maintains momentum and suspense while scattering surprises throughout the mayhem. Only during the last 30 minutes does the story begin to unravel. No, "The Dark Knight" isn't the masterpiece that "Iron Man" was, but this latest entry in the Batman franchise proves you can have your Cape and eat it, too!