10 Years Later. True Heroism.

Rating: 9/10 (12 October 2018)

There's obviously a lot that's been said about this movie. Most call it a masterpiece, some say it's overrated, but at this point I don't think anyone can deny that it's had an impact. What I love about this and all Nolan movies is how it has the kind of story that I appreciate more every time I see it. This was my least favorite of the Dark Knight Trilogy when I first saw it at thirteen, but now it's probably my favorite. The story is so tight and well thought out.
But I really want to talk about a few of the characters individually here and how they contribute to the theme of true heroism in the movie. As he states, Bruce Wayne is trying to embody an incorruptible ideal of justice in becoming Batman. While he is never truly corrupted in the movie, the limits of his abilities and ideals are proven by the Joker. A moment that I think is often forgotten in the movie is when Bruce goes to turn himself in. As Alfred points out, this would be in violation of the ideals behind Batman and proves that Bruce is only human as much as he tries to transcend his weaknesses. He also refuses to kill the Joker after crashing his truck, which ends up having indirectly disastrous results. Though Batman never specifically justifies this action, I think Jon Snow sort of put words to it in the final episode of Game of Thrones Season Seven when he refuses to make a promise he knows he can't keep. I mention this because I think it gives voice to how being truly heroic sometimes means making choices that you will regret and even end in disaster. The truly heroic action would have been for Batman to kill the Joker before he could cause more death, but it would have come at the cost of corrupting the idea of Batman. The ending with Batman killing Harvey could be viewed as Batman learning from his mistake of letting the Joker live.
The character of Harvey Dent is a great foil to Batman and perhaps the character that brings this movie to the next level, even more than the Joker. Harvey is, as Bruce admits, the person that Gotham deserves and needs. At the start of the movie, he is just as incorruptible as Batman, but is also a human being with a face who people can strive to emulate without resorting to vigilantism. However, he proves to be incredibly corruptible once he begins to suffer for his good intentions and has people to blame for his pain. As Harvey prophesies, he lives long enough to see himself become the villain.
Finally, the Joker tests the heroism of both Harvey and Batman. Whether the Joker actually has an endgame at any point in the movie is questionable, but regardless of his intentions, he brings out the weaknesses in both of Gotham's Knights. It is somewhat convenient that Rachel is important to both of them, but they differ in how they react to it. What I find most interesting about the Joker's "plan" is how he does not make it foolproof. He puts himself and his plan at risk in many cases. I may be wrong in my reading of this, but I think he does this to show Gotham and its Knights their imperfections and that the forces of good in the city are not strong enough to stop forces of evil and chaos like him. This idea is carried on by Bane in Rises, but that's another topic. He gives Batman and Harvey each a legitimate chance to kill him, but both living and dying are wins for the Joker because he either gets to continue his reign of chaos or he proves the corruptibility of one of Gotham's Knights. Same with the situation on the boats. If one boat chose to blow up the other, he has created murderers out of common people. But if he had been successful in blowing up both boats, he would have proven that none of the common people had the strength of will to kill for the survival of others.
I know people talk about how great the Joker and Heath Ledger are, but I just love how this movie does so much more with the concept of heroism than most superhero movies do. It would be nice to have an incorruptible deity-like figure in the world, but the fact is that we are all corruptible. I don't think that means that human beings cannot become heroes, but I think it does mean that we should re-think what it means to be a hero and remember that everyone is imperfect and will not just slip up sometimes but even make terrible decisions with terrible consequences when faced with powerful odds. On a completely unrelated note, this is the 300th review that I've written. I know nobody cares about that, but I'm glad that I chose such a special movie for that milestone.