Review: The Dark Knight

Incredibly... almost impossibly... this movie actually lives up to the hype!

In preparing to brave the crowded theatres for the already-critically-acclaimed The Dark Knight, wife Vicki and I took in our third or fourth viewing of Batman Begins over the past weekend. Christian Bale's first turn as the Caped Crusader has been one of my favourite movie-watching experiences since I first took it in three years ago, but I couldn't help but wonder: how would you ever top it? I mean, BB is the ultimate origin story, cut together perfectly by director Christopher Nolan as a series of flashbacks-within-flashbacks (almost but not quite venturing into the sort of territory that initially caught our attention within his first masterpiece, Memento). It does such a great job of making us believe that a childhood trauma, of the sort that befalls poor little rich boy Bruce Wayne could truly lead to a life of obsessive, not to mention dangerous, behaviour. And while the Scarecrow was a bit on the lightweight side as Bat-villains go, you can't beat Ra's al Ghul in terms of grandeur and scope. So with that kind of a kick-off, where could this latest Batman franchise really go, but down?

As it turns out, Nolan really was just getting started with Batman Begins (making the choice of titles all the more appropos). He took what could've been an onerous task - setting the stage for Batman to play upon, including an origin, a living, breathing Gotham City, and a stable of supporting characters, some old and some new - and turned it into an outstanding Bat-relaunch. But it's now apparent that Nolan, along with brother Jonathon and comic writer David S. Goyer, had much bigger tales to tell. And TDK is a huge movie: it takes larger risks, it plays for bigger stakes, and it asks so much of its viewing audience's intelligence and attention to detail that you'd better be able to control your bladder for a hundred and fifty minutes or you'll be left behind!

The last movie that I can remember ever holding me in its hands the way The Dark Knight did last evening was Alien, when I saw it for the first time in 1979. Back then, I went to the theatre expecting to watch a nice little science fiction film and instead got broadsided by one of the best horror flicks ever made. With The Dark Knight, I went into the experience with high - though somewhat skeptical - hopes, and had my mind blown by what I saw on the screen. I've gotten awfully used to watching comic book movies and knowing, more or less, where they're going... often because I've read most or all of the source material! But last night I was almost literally on the edge of my seat, waiting to see just what turn the story would take next. Yes, there's a bit of The Killing Joke in there, and fans of bank heist movies will recognize a cliche or two from that genre, but the vast majority of the plot came at me with the originality and wonder of earlier Nolan works, Memento and The Prestige. Almost every surprise was rewarding to me, none of which I'll spoil here for the uninitiated. As much as I loved Iron Man - and I did, and do - this latest Batman offering simply operates on a different playing field.

Somewhat paradoxically, the heart of The Dark Knight rests with the Joker. I'd heard rave reviews of Heath Ledger's grandiose performance here, but always assumed that he'd be acting in the shadow of Jack Nicholson (1989's big screen Clown Prince of Crime). About twenty minutes into the festivities, though, I came to realize that it's now the other way around. Nicholson was certainly very good as the Joker, but Ledger eclipsed him almost right out of the gate. This is an incredible, immersive acting job that may just have driven the actor insane. His body language, the unnatural rasp of his voice, his facial expressions and even the very cadence with which he speaks, all blend together to create a character that could believably push an entire city population to the edge of insanity themselves. The level of terror created in this film, obviously paralleling some of what's occurred in the U.S. since 9/11, provides the perfect antithesis to the sort of "comic book violence" that usually fills movies in the genre. Nolan touched on this theme in Batman Begins, with the fear gas that the Scarecrow and Ra's al Ghul unleashed on "the Narrows," but here it's cranked up to a terrifying new level, with the Joker acting as the maestro / social commentator / cynic of it all. There's one scene in particular, toward the end of the film, where a look of resigned disappointment spreads over Ledger's make-up encrusted face, and damned if I didn't sympathize with him ever so slightly!

Whether you go to see Heath Ledger as the Joker, Aaron (Thank You For Smoking) Eckhart as heroic District Attorney Harvey Dent, another great set of performances by Bale, Caine, Freeman and Oldman, or just for the incredible action sequences, I don't expect that disappointment will spread over your features at any point. This is an amazing movie, in an unbelievable year for comic book movies, and I can hardly wait to see it again... maybe even in the theatre!

Rating: ****