Dark Heroism and Twisted Technological Hubris...

Rating: 8/10 (31 May 2016)

This is a fascinating exploration of heroism and the nature of moral conscience. This quite frankly began with Frank Miller's graphic novel THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS, which examined how a childhood tragedy and trauma could twist a man's psyche well into middle age and cause him to take drastic violent measures to exorcise that pain. Pretty heavy for a 'comic book'? You bet. It is definitely not your Boy Scout's version of BATMAN.
I have read many of the reviews here; including Roger Ebert's very insightful take on the merits of THE DARK KNIGHT. The opinions are wide ranging and sometimes poles apart. I also found the data from Wikepedia to be quite helpful and highly recommend that you refer to it as well. I found all of the comments about the intricacies of plot and character and certain logical inconsistencies that may have proved grating to the intellect and sentiment engaging as well. This proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that THE DARK KNIGHT is a thought provoking piece of Cinema.
I grew up revering a more lighthearted spin on heroism, having watched THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD, THE MARK OF ZORRO and THE CRIMSON PIRATE in my youth. I rarely dwelt upon the fact that permanently injuring or killing others is in real life a grim and dirty business to be disapproved and dismissed as one of the more unworthy activities of human pursuit. This was all make-believe, right? So let's make believe that sending the unjust to the hospital ward or Hell or Valhalla is nothing more than a simple exercise in Fantasy. After all, nobody is really getting hurt or killed here. This is all stagecraft and special effects and the actors get to laugh all the way to the bank after giving us an exciting and hopefully cathartic manipulation and massage of emotions.
That is right, isn't it? That is what this is all about, right?
"Well," the parent explains to the child with a wry smile, "...yes and no..."
THE DARK KNIGHT is true Comic Book Opera. Definitely not the first and original entry into this genre, but it would seem to me, when considering it attractions and limitations, a very successful one. It's a long way from Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon and even the original Batman movie serials. These were primarily for kids with little or nothing to do on a Saturday afternoon. But, I don't think anyone can deny that THE DARK KNIGHT is one of the latest incarnations of what began as children's entertainment and is a direct extension of this.
I found THE DARK KNIGHT has a marvelous musical flow and faithfully obeys the logic of it's own world. There is no use pretending this is a Batman for kids. It is not. The adults have hijacked the Superhero genre and medium to use for their own emotional needs and purposes. That is particularly true with regard to the events of 9/11, which I have seen referenced in the cinematic medium until it is fast becoming a cliché.
Owing to the influence of RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK, this version of THE DARK KNIGHT begins with a compelling, relentless musical score that never lets up and counterpoints itself well with the action on the screen. One could argue that there is way too much violence in this current saga of Batman, but it was Bruce Wayne's idea to solve crime with punishment coming from a stiff right cross and a pair of handcuffs, so what are you going to offer as an alternative? It is good of filmmaker Chris Nolan to at least subtly contemplate this idea without abandoning the principles and cinematic techniques he knows will pack them into the theaters to munch that popcorn. The plot has all the convoluted cliffhangers of the original Batman serials; albeit presented with a high-tech sophistication that the original version of the Dark Knight could not have possibly possessed, and packed into two and a half hours so that it comes across as either a jackpot of action or somewhat cloying to other tastes.
One of the reviewers here commented that he watched this epic bored out of his skull in a nearly empty theater and another reported that he could predict everything that was going to happen because he understood the formula so well. This suggests to me that the aesthetics and mechanics of the roller-coaster ride may be wearing thin and its slip is showing. Personally, I did not feel this way. There is a deft and flamboyant handling of the concept of moral dilemma, and it was interesting to see black men step forward in a couple of cases and resolve these dilemmas with decisive conscience.
No, I did not miss that in a couple of scenes the true heroes were a 'common' criminal and a highly trained scientist in service to big business and high technology.
At the end, the titular hero resorts to fleeing in the night with the dogs coming after him like any runaway slave, attempting to escape a mindset of violent solution that has shackled him and reduced him and his hoped for replacement to fallen idols. This is an interesting turn of events with its own dark implications. Does the solution to the end of crime lie outside the domain of revenge and the redress of injustice with vengeance and punishment?
I told you this was a thought provoking movie...