A jaw-dropping experience

Rating: 10/10 (21 July 2008)

Yesterday I traveled 250 km to Athens, Greece to watch the "Dark Knight", since I was in a town with no cinemas!! I was anxious after having watched "Batman Begins" and also curious to see for myself just how accurate the reviews that praised the film were and also just how good could Heath Ledger's acting really be.
As a quick overall conclusion I must say that "The Dark Knight" is a masterpiece. Don't get me wrong but calling a film a masterpiece doesn't make it flawless and doesn't automatically grant it a 10/10 mark. Anyway, in my opinion, classifying a work of art as number 1,2,63 or 134 of all time is a total waste of time. There cannot be any objective criteria in art and especially in films. There are so many genres, so many different things a film can offer you and so many themes explored in the art of cinema that such a classification doesn't do any justice neither to the creators nor to the audience of a film.
Starting with the storyline. "The Dark Knight" can be watched without having watched "Batman begins". That is a very essential point. This is what makes a film whole and unique. Those ready to watch a cartoon -like comic book superhero film should not even bother... This is Christopher and Jonathan Nolan's vision of a realistic 21st century metropolis, controlled by organized crime (actual mafia) and every level of its infrastructure corrupt by it. Everyone knows that you don't want to mess with such a "regime" because the consequences will be catastrophic and unpredictable, as in a war. And people are obviously scared. Therefore what is needed is someone to take this fear and through a symbol or an idea, lash it out on the crime lords. This is Batman. But this will inevitably lead to war. A war where anything is acceptable and the heroes morals and methods are always put to the test, because as symbols, their actions can be checked only by themselves. But Batman is human and therefore flawed. Who gives him the right to decide what's wrong or right? Therefore, out of this war, social instability grows and anarchy rises. That is what the Joker represents!! No morals, no apparent motives, other than the destruction of the social network. In "Batman begins" Ra's Al Ghoul wanted to create a new order of justice through chaos. Joker goes one step further. He wants to establish chaos itself as the new order. The world is in a state of chaos anyway. Crime rules and the only one willing to fix things and give people the justice they deserve is a man dressed up as a bat!! Congratulations! This is an idea worth watching on screen! Why stay true to the cartooned image of previous Batmen when you can explore such a brilliant idea? And the film is filled with several plot twists, agonizing dilemmas and very meaningful dialogue. Of course there are minor flaws plot-wise. Sometimes the various events are a little confusing. The Scarecrow's cameo appearance is out of place. He should have a larger part in the film or not at all. The "mutation" of Harvey Dent into Twoface near the end of the movie should have been explored more and at a slower pace. If there is one more film to complete a trilogy with Twoface as the main villain, I would be content.
The directing by Christopher Nolan is fast-paced and tight. The movie stretches to 2,5 hours, but in such a relentless pace that in the end all you want is more!! The only objection is that some action scenes near the end are a little too chaotic. You can't really make out what's happening. But, others could object that that's the way Batman works! The villains can't really make out what exactly hit them (in the end it's all a matter of taste).
I've left the acting for last, because of the hype surrounding Heath Ledger's portrait of the Joker. Well, the rumors are true: Heath Ledger is breathtaking. His Joker is so believable and realistic that sometimes you think that the actor actually IS a homicidal psychopath and not just acting!! The comparison to any other actor in this movie is completely out of place. Heath Ledger is in a league of his own. And that is extra credit to him considering that the rest of the cast did a fantastic job also. My personal favourites were Aaron Eckhart as Harvey Dent, Gary Oldman as Jim Gordon and Morgan Freeman as Lucius Fox. Michael Caine should have more screen time though. Least favourite was Maggie Gylenhaal. Contrary to the general opinion I preferred Katie Holmes. But overall the performances were outstanding. Christian Bale is left for last: This is my favourite vision of Batman. Bale continues the work he did in "Batman begins". He creates a character complete in every way, but in this film he somewhat lacks the emotional strength he had in "Batman begins".
Overall, "The Dark Knight" is a complex crime drama of epic proportions, filled with fast and banging action scenes, ingenious storyline and brilliant acting by an all-star cast lead by a monumental performance by the late Heath Ledger. His Joker is not only the best comic-book-villain-on-film, but also one of the best villains in the history of the film industry. Whether or not he'll get an Oscar is totally irrelevant. After all Jack Nicholson never won an Oscar for his Joker... (Who by the way should not be compared with Ledger's Joker, because the logic behind each role is different. With Christopher Nolan behind the camera an actor as great as Jack Nicholson could have pulled off something similar or better. You can never know.)