He who laughs last laughs best

Rating: 9/10 (7 August 2008)

To be perfectly honest, I'm not the kind of moviegoer who waits to see the critics' reactions or to witness the box-office numbers in order to determine if I go watching a movie or not. Usually, my mind is made up several months before the release.
I love Batman movies, but I expected to wait until the DVD release of "The Dark Knight" to get hold of it instead of going to the theater right away. But after hearing about the numerous laudatory reviews about the movie and witnessing the box-office records being beaten one after another in so little time, you'll understand that I couldn't resist. And now being able of talking about the movie in a retrospective way, I can tell you that I would have regretted my first choice.
If "The Dark Knight" is that much praised and that much seen, it's because it's well deserved.. Whether a moviegoer is a fan of Batman or not, whether (s)he's curious about Heath Ledger's final role or (s)he doesn't give a damn, it'a movie that can satisfy anybody, independently of what's looked for.
The story begins shortly after "Batman Begins" ends. How much time, exactly? The movie isn't very clear about that, but we quickly figure out that there hasn't a lot of time spent between the end of the first movie and the beginning of the second one. The Wayne Manor is still under re-construction, so Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) and his servant Alfred (Michael Caine) have to live in a penthouse for some little time.
Meanwhile, criminals haven't been totally eradicated from Gotham City's map. And one of them, the manic and schizophrenic Joker (Heath Ledger, in the role of a lifetime and a death-time) appears and doesn't take much time before spreading even more chaos and terror in the streets of Gotham.
Harvey Dent (a surprising Aaron Eckhart) is the new district attorney in the city and his energy, his ardor, his determination and his intelligence fascinate the inhabitants of Gotham. He has fallen in love with Rachel Dawes (Maggie Gyllenhaal), Bruce's childhood sweetheart, and he works closely with the few honest cops of the city, all personified by scrupulously honest Lt. Jim Gordon (Gary Oldman).
Obviously, when you think about the Joker, you can imagine that it won't be an easy game to win. But even if you're anticipating a lot from him and his performer Ledger, let me tell you that you'll be completely spellbound once you see it for real.
Many journalists and professional critics imagine that Ledger could be granted a posthumous Oscar for his performance. Even if there are a lot of movies that will be released until the ceremony, and that many great roles will be unveiled before that date, I have to say that if Ledger receives a nomination, I wouldn't be surprised at all. I can imagine many of you having a suspicious look about the possibility of seeing a comic book villain awarded with an Oscar, but believe me, Ledger's performance is breathtaking and will silence many skeptics. It's simple: Ledger didn't play the Joker, he WAS the Joker. His appearance is very convincing (thank the make-up artists), but his voice, and especially his twitches with his tongue demonstrate the whole scale of his role. It's too bad that he's dead, because Ledger had everything he needed in order to become a new Brando or De Niro.
But the biggest drawback about Ledger's performance, it's that he steals almost all the publicity, while another actor who deserves some recognition is almost completely overshadowed. I'm talking about Aaron Eckhart as Harvey Dent, transformed at the end of the movie into Harvey Two-Face. Eckhart is astounding and he also delivers the performance of a lifetime. He is completely convincing as Harvey Dent and he is even more as Two-Face. As for his facial make-up, you can see it, but you can't believe it. It completely flabbergasted me for the rest of the movie. I think that "The Dark Knight" deserves a nomination for Best Make-up.
The story is particularly complex and the movie, with its two and a half hours, may be a bit too long. Some would say that the movie is impossible to follow, that he contains a lot of useless characters and that some scenes could have been shortened up. I shall acquiesce to these complaints, but I also think that director Christopher Nolan deliberately created a film based upon the Joker's personality: manic, chaotic, merciless and full of surprises.
Nolan proves once again his great mastery of mixing action scenes with the psychological side of his characters. The cinematography here is even more extraordinary than in "Batman Begins". Here's another man who should be awarded with an Oscar in a more-or-less distant future.
Besides Ledger and Eckhart, the other actors play their own role with professionalism. My only complaint concerns Maggie Gyllenhaal, who I think is totally miscast, especially after that Katie Holmes played the role of Rachel Dawes in the first movie. If you compare both pictures, it looks like Rachel has aged of about fifteen years between both.
This film makes us realize two things. First, Heath Ledger had a lot of potential and his premature death will earn him a place in the category of the stars dead too quickly, among with James Dean and River Phoenix. Second, Ledger's performance, paired with Jack Nicholson's one in the 1989 "Batman" proves that the Joker is the #1 villain in all of the comic book medium.
"The Dark Knight" will probably be venerated as Heath Ledger's swan song and as Aaron Eckhart's breakthrough. It will also be probably treated as cursed, considering Ledger's death, Bale's arrest and Freeman's accident. One thing is sure, it will forever be a great movie and the immutable testament of a legend gone too quickly. Hence the saying: "Only the good die young."