Warning: Moral Spoiler Ahead!

Rating: 5/10 (20 July 2008)

Don't worry-- this review doesn't contain any plot spoilers. You can't spoil a movie that doesn't have a plot.
As I was walking out of the theater I asked another man who had just seen this movie, "What did you think?"
He said, "I liked it."
"Why?" I asked.
"There were really good performances in it," he said. "And the special effects were great."
This made me feel a whole lot better.
The moral perversity of this blockbuster movie which had sold out all shows at the theater I saw it at, which is breaking box-office records, and which was applauded by the audience at the end, apparently went over the head of the audience. I realized nobody actually expects good storytelling or anything approaching moral rectitude from a movie anymore. Moviegoers are happy if the movie has high production values.
Look, this movie lives up to its hype. Heath Ledger's final performance is brilliant. The movie is a spectacle from beginning to end. Things blow up and cars fly through the air. Lots of people are killed in creative ways.
I started yawning about halfway through its 152 minutes.
It's not that there isn't good versus evil in this movie. There are scenes that any member of the clergy could use to illustrate a Sunday sermon.
The problem with this movie is that there is one and only one character who has a clear and consistent moral vision, who is heroically dedicated to his chosen mission, who is strong and resourceful throughout, who is always one step ahead of his opposition.
Where's the problem, you ask?
The problem is that this character isn't Batman, who is about as morally tortured as Hamlet.
The problem is that the only character with any moral certainty in this Batman movie is the Joker.
True, the Joker's mission is the generation of chaos and random destruction. He tests the moral fiber of the heroes and by the end of the movie has compromised all of them.
I commented to a friend while walking out of the theater, "I hate this movie for making me feel as if I'm living in Germany in the 1920's."
He answered me "That's why I love it. It's a documentary. You are."