The darkness of the human psyche

Rating: 9/10 (23 November 2013)

It is interesting to note that this is the first Batman movie that does not have Batman in the title, though I suspect that most of us will be able to identify the Dark Knight as being Batman. In fact I believe that there was a series of Batman comics entitled The Dark Knight, which I feel defines the nature of Batman's character much better as it gives the idea that he is a knight (usually associated in fairy tales as being somebody that does good and seeks justice – unless of course you are referring to the Black Knight, then that tends to bring about opposite images) and the darkness refers to the nature of the human soul, or even the torments that he experiences within himself.
This I feel is very much the pivotal movie in the series, and of course, unlike most sequels, it actually surpasses the previous movie in many regards. However, I suspect that the first movie was merely designed to introduce the character of Batman and set the scene, and the final movie (The Dark Knight Rises) finishes the story off quite well. However this is the main movie in the series as it seeks to explore the nature of the human soul, and the double lives in which many of us live. In many cases this movie is very existentialist in tone in that it seeks to define who we are through the characters coming to define themselves. We see the Joker who is in many cases a very ambiguous character who creates a past that is so contradictory (there are three explanations as to how he got his scars) that we are not able to define him based upon his past but are only able to define him based upon what he lets us believe, and that is somebody whose only goal is to watch the world burn. Needless to say that is that Ledger's best role, which in the end ultimately killed him (and who said Roleplaying games do not have an effect upon your psyche).
We see two characters who effectively live double lives, though it is debatable as to whether Harvey Dent does have a double life. Throughout the film Dent is portrayed as the white knight, and image that he must maintain least all his efforts to have a lasting impact upon Gotham all come to nothing. Many suggest that it is the day when his fiancé dies, and half is face is burnt, is when he finally snapped, but I would suggest that it has been happening for a while. With the huge amount of pressure that is on him to maintain the white knight persona, when the tragic events of that night occur, he finally snaps, and goes off to seek vengeance (though the whole tossing of the coin to determine people's fate seems to be a little underdone since there was not much time in the film to actually develop his two faced persona, and it is also clear that he is driven by vengeance as opposed to letting his decisions rest upon the fate of a coin).
The other character that lives a double life is Bruce Wayne himself, and we see the difficulties that that entails. Him falling asleep during a board meeting shows us that his exploits as the capped crusader take so much out of him that it is difficult for him to actually be involved in the running of a business. However, it is the image of the billionaire playboy that he tries to portray (and in a way seems to fail) that creates the double image. For instance we see him take an entire ballet company on a trip to Asia, but that is only a cover so that he may go to Hong Kong as Batman. We also have him walk into the fundraiser (were, incidentally, Harvey Dent says that this is not his scene) with three woman, but seems to quickly dispose of them so that he may take on the persona of Batman. In a way, this is only an image to throw people off so that they may not realise that he is actually Batman, however I suspect that we may see more of this evidenced in the next film.