Dark k(N)ight of the Soul

Rating: 8/10 (8 February 2010)

(Note: this is a pretentious essay, if you want a standard review read the thousands of others)
The 2008 summer blockbuster & sixth Batman film surprised many with its bleak vision of a crumbling American landscape (Gotham here) beset by two opposing forces of pure will, aiming to re-mold the charred urban wasteland in their own image.
Superhero films are a dime a dozen in our brave new world, but Chris Nolan attempts to one-up them with his new take on the caped crusader: quasi-realism. His Bats, disregarding pretty boy Hollywood exterior, is more damaged goods than valiant hero (much like Christian Bale IRL ha ha)more walking wounded than champion of the few, something shared by the whole cast.
In its two archetypal bogeymen Batman & Joker, we see not so much hero & villain as wannabe Nietzschean over-men, two soul-mates liberated of the slave mentality that besets our Gothamite rabble; one walking-GPD rich & the other rising from ash clogged gutters- both driven by demons projected onto the besieged cityscape.
This is Batman for the 9/11 era: no more glitz or gay rubber of the Joel Schumacher/Tim Burton schools, terrorism has downgraded the conversation into something more severe. Shades of grey & hard decisions abound, with that collective sense of teetering on some unfathomable edge worse than ever (in no small part due to the soundtrack - like straight razors cutting up a string section)
Only the post modern probings of Alan Moore's master thesis WATCHMEN (itself something of a Holy Grail) matches the scope found here; of note particularly is its rather obvious examination of the shared plight of Bats & Mr. J, two heads of Harvey Dent's scarred silver coin (& of course, in nowhere but the two-party country of the film's origin do we find such a binary nation).
Batman & Joker are textbook psychotics (if we are to run with the conclusions of Dark Knight's heart of darkness)toddlers trapped in the intellect of adulthood. Batman is the Ego to Joker's ID, his quest to clean up the streets as flat out batsh*t as Joker's sermon of brimstone & hellfire.
Joker is so much easier to understand & revile then the seemingly admirable intentions of deeply messed-up Bruce Wayne, and yet,If Batman & Joker represent equal sides of the same coin then Thesis + Antithesis= Synthesis.Both sides of the movie's duality make it possible for the other to exist: If Batman killed Joker during the disappointing climax, he would no doubt create him again with just his mission statement alone.
Batman would also have to kill himself if he killed Joker, defusing the escalation both figures have brought upon crime wave Gotham (....assuming both sides aren't emboldened by the psychotic actions of our sick costumers & rise up to take their place. Monkey see monkey do, as the film's hockey mask wannabes demonstrate) Batman didn't kill Joker- not so much out of his awesome dedication to morality & the good fight but because he couldn't kill himself; he doesn't want to stop playing Cops & Robbers (he too, would follow Depression addled Americans into permanent unemployment)
His spoiled palette only savours the thrill of the Cause, not the plebeian mores of the slaves below. Joker's savage tastes meanwhile co-inside, preferring the wisdom of the Abyss to the hypocritical masses living above. Both live or both die to maintain proper balance & both hold their subjects in secret & not-so-secret contempt, terrorists of the first order who make their mutual destructions seem like a ball; Joker especially with his 'anarchy for dummies' platform, exploring that on-going, uniquely American dilemma of extreme bootstrap individuality in our Global age, finally turned on its head to expose the rotten belly beneath.
Batman arrives at stalemate, not relinquishing the mantle of hero yet, determined to play martyr & sacrificial lamb/jihad leader as long as he can avoid the implications of truly succeeding in holy war (and paving the way for the sequel 'natch).
....Enter third wheel Harvey Dent, Superego, midway point between titans, the Gotham District Attorney waging a battle of his own with big talk & bigger plans, daring to reach for the sun but balking at the price when his moment arrives.Failing to either throw in with the light or dark, Yin or Yang leaves all hostage to the Jokers & Bruce Wayne's of the planet.
White Knight Harvey Dent ends the film literally torn in two by awesome extremes he deftly skated prior, losing his foothold when the game gets too real, the vanity behind his bluster exposed.His symbolic scarring remains forever a reminder of being pulled in two directions at once.
Predictably, our fallen knight sinks back into victim mentality, the lesser way favoured by the plebes he sought to transcend, raging at the stars that he could've lost so much & holding all accountable in his rush to vengeance except himself.
Binary is Blase.