Bigger than Batman Begins...but not quite as good.

Rating: 8/10 (21 July 2008)

It was summer, mid-June, 2005. After seeing the previous and futile attempts at a good Batman movie fail miserably throughout the 90's, I was dragged to the theater by my brother to see Batman Begins. After LOVING Batman as a child, the previous installments of Batman movies made me disinterested in the franchise altogether. I had given up. Then...Wow! Batman Begins was an eye-opening masterpiece. It explained, for the first time, WHY somebody would want to dress up as a bat and fight crime. By the time Batman Begins came out, I had no clue WHY the Batman character would even exist. The development of Batman was about as good of "character development" as possible in a movie. It laid the ground-work for the masterpiece that became "Batman Begins", a movie I have now watched at least a dozen times.
Fast-forward to 2008. Needless to say, I was more excited for "The Dark Knight" to come out than any movie in my 33 years on Earth! I simply couldn't wait. I watched the two main trailers probably a hundred times each. And being a Heath Ledger fan (he was tremendous in "Brokeback") - my enthusiasm and eagerness was at an all-time high. I purchased my tickets two weeks in advance for the 12:05 AM showing on Thursday night/Friday morning. And then...
...though I liked the movie, it did not have the much-needed character development that existed in Batman Begins, therefor it was not quite as good in my opinion. I walked in expecting to see WHY the Joker became the Joker, just as WHY Batman became Batman in the previous installment. Think back to why Batman became Batman (in Batman Begins). Bruce Wayne explained to Alfred "People need dramatic examples to shake them out of apathy and I can't do that as Bruce Wayne, as a man I'm flesh and blood. I can be ignored I can be destroyed, but as a symbol, as a symbol I can be incorruptible, I can be everlasting." He was also afraid of bats as a child (there was a reason and background story for that too) and this was a way he could create a symbol and overcome his childhood fears, both at the same time. It showed, not only HOW he created the bat-suit, but the WHY! There was a reason for every piece of the costume, even the cape. It showed why he had a Batcave, why he needed to keep his identity a secret, why Commissioner Gordon began to trust him, and why he and Rachel had such a long-lasting love.
Now the Joker - how did they develop that character? In short, they really didn't. They quickly mentioned at the start why he wore face paint (one of the crooks claimed it was to scare people, like war paint). That was it, no background story at all. Why did he come to Gotham? Another quick answer, no background. Why did he have the hate in his heart to do all these horrible things? No background there either. The Two-Face character should have been scrapped (waited for a part 3 perhaps) and more background to the WHY's of Joker's personality should have been written in. (And since the only truly memorable scenes had The Joker in them, they should have made more scenes with him!) The Joker's childhood, like that of Bruce Wayne in Batman Begins, would have been enthralling. Instead, we get a couple of contradicting verbal sentences from the Joker on why his face was the way it was...and nothing more. To have shown a young Joker, perhaps getting abused by his father, perhaps wrongfully arrested and harassed by police throughout his teen years, then perhaps an accident which caused scarring and burning to his face...that would have been the way to go. Instead, in The Dark Knight, the Joker simply is the Joker because he is.
I also need to mention a quick scene that was beyond ignorant. When the Joker is captured and put in jail, he virtually evacuates the police station by telling the Batman the addresses of where Two-Face and Rachel were located. The Joker is in a locked interrogation cell with one-sided glass. Would have been quite easy to just leave him in there! Could have just watched him through the glass or not watched him at all! Instead, they put an unarmed guard, a guy who has had 6 of his friends murdered by the Joker, in the cell with him! WTF?! The Joker quickly and easily antagonizes him into a fight and wins, creating his escape from jail and prolonging the movie at the same time...big surprise there.
Still, on it's own, The Dark Knight is a good piece of action and adventure. And the Joker was played wonderfully by Heath Ledger. The feel of an epic crime drama was done well. But, simply put, this movie would have been better if Two-Face had been introduced at the end of the "TDK", like The Joker was introduced at the end of "Begins". And that would have opened up more screen time for The Joker's early background. Then it would have been perfect. Instead...
A good movie -- but, oh boy, what could have been...
8/10 - thanks for reading!
JD