Cast: Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Aaron Eckhart, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Gary Oldman, Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman

Director: Christopher Nolan

Screenplay: Christopher Nolan, Jonathan Nolan

Running time: 2 hrs 45 mins

Genre: Crime/Thriller/Action/Comic Book Adap



CRITIQUE:


Most great films in motion picture history raise moral questions on humanity: the internal struggle of the human psyche, the consequence of choice, the challenge of chance and the vital battle between good and evil – are all present in perennial classics such as THE GODFATHER, SCHINDLER’S LIST, THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK and FIGHT CLUB, to name a few. Worth to note, sliding on the underbelly of these tales of morality are tragedies in various forms. And here is a contemporary film that draws the elements of what makes a superior motion picture. Majestic auteur Christopher Nolan’s THE DARK KNIGHT is no longer a superhero movie. It soars beyond new heights; this is a dark and brooding affair into the complexity of heroes and villains, a serious stab into the genre of dreary parody-ridden superhero flicks, and most of all, it is a disturbing portrait of anarchy and the collapse of society. By hook or by crook, one emerges from the cinema stirred and staggered, for THE DARK KNIGHT has a scope that is astonishingly surprising for a superhero movie. No wonder what the hype is all about. This is a welcome addition to being a potential perennial masterpiece – and perhaps the greatest superhero movie ever made as of yet.


No longer do we recollect the oddity of Tim Burton’s overstated Gotham nor Joel Schumacker’s emaciated vision, for they are easily overshadowed by Nolan’s Gotham: a dark, dismal city so creepily realistic and intimidating. His every shot of the menacing metropolis, which stands for Chicago, is believable. Ingeniously, there are a lot of aerial shots of the city and its cinematography remains a dark-tinged palette that parallels its ominous tale. His vision nonetheless is not without flair, mightily proven in a sequence in Hong Kong where he takes his camera into the heights of skyscrapers and plunge into a vertigo-inducing dive with Batman soaring around the cityscape.


Since the title suggests, all is dark here. Not only is it skilfully captured but it is also the moodiest, most serious superhero movie for grown-ups you’ll ever see. No ordinary ten-year old would happily view this recent outing of the Caped Crusader. It has a material that serves nary a jaunty element. Extraordinarily, for a film that runs for almost 3 hours, there’s neither a longuer nor a moment of boredom. THE DARK KNIGHT has a gripping tale, tautly edited, that consistently stabs your mind with intelligent puzzles. This is not also a simplistic tale about good and evil, nor what makes heroes super. Following closely to the superb BATMAN BEGINS, the Caped Crusader has become the saving figure of Gotham City and his cooperation with the law enforcement threatens the mob of criminals. Here, the tale swerves into a fantastic turn in the appearance of a “better class of criminal” in the form of Joker. Money is no longer the force to be reckoned with, but Joker’s self-driven philosophies that anarchy is inherent in humanity. As Michael Caine’s butler Alfred utters, “Some men would just want to watch the world burn.” One of those men is Joker, and he poses ethical riddles and moral questions on Batman himself and the city around him. On a climactic scene where the Joker forces citizens aboard different ships to make a choice – the character is so brilliantly drawn that for a moment, he’ll convince you that he’s got a point. We are the destroyer of our own civilisation, and we hope somewhere a masked crusader would arrive and save us.


And like great movies, it is a fascinating, complex exploration of characters. At the heart of this tale is a clash of four titanic egos: Bruce Wayne and his alter ego’s code of justice, Harvey Dent’s clean-cut criminal-nailing ethos, Gordon’s good cop, and the Joker’s tumultuous anarchy. Batman has started questioning his own existence, whether Gotham deserves a masked protector. He relinquishes to a saviour without a mask, Harvey Dent as Gotham’s White Knight. Whereas hope arises, chaos arrives with Joker, and everything falters. There is a subtext of tragedy in its conflicted characters that even Shakespeare would be spellbound in intricacy.


There’s not a single work of miscasting here. Christian Bale owns Batman, as much as Heath Ledger steals the whole movie. Beneath the mask of the Crusader, there’s no hint of Bale but the brutish, growling ferocity of Batman himself that would put Keaton, Kilmer and Clooney to shame. Aaron Eckhart intensely captures the tragic transformation of a good-hearted District Attorney to a vengeful marauder Two-Face. Gary Oldman remains a consistent humane persona of a loyal, uncorrupted law enforcer. But plaudits indeed go to the late Heath Ledger and his brilliantly psychopathic performance. Not since the appearance of Malcolm McDowell in Stanley Kubrick’s controversial A CLOCKWORK ORANGE has a villain so disturbingly portrayed – and in Ledger, he personifies the Joker a force of chaos with a reason, and even more so, gives the character a hint of sadness, knowing that a truly astounding actor with a talent has already left this world. He’s not the wisecracking jester with awfully corny lines, but everything that comes out of his mouth seems to be filled with classic philosophies, dropping one-liners like bombs, such as “What doesn’t kill you makes you stranger”. This iconic performance is up there with Ennis Del Mar in BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN, or perhaps greater. Ledger’s final complete bow calls for an Oscar.


Even the supporting acts are layers of a superb ensemble: Maggie Gyllenhall proves that Rachel Dawes needs feistiness and a better actress, replacing Katie Holme’s feeble presence. Morgan Freeman’s Lucius Fox as the mechanical, applied science genius and Michael Caine’s butler with a heart Alfred give humour to this otherwise sinister atmosphere.


But this tale doesn’t end the way we expect in superhero movies where everyone is saved and harmony ruled. In THE DARK KNIGHT, no one is saved, not even the Knight himself. He becomes the lone warrior that thrusts into the night unseen, a tragic characterisation of a haunted human being. And that is what has been embodied in here, a force of a film that resonates the tragedy in humanity, more or less real to our world that in superhero movies. Perhaps this is the first in its genre that needs an Oscar attention.



VERDICT:

This is no superhero movie. THE DARK KNIGHT is a staggering crime epic, an exceptional film noir that deserves serious praises. It is also a realistic, complex, haunting tale of morality and human tragedies with Shakespearean resonance. Heath Ledger is a tour-de-force. Hail THE GODFATHER of comic-book adaptations.



RATING: A+