FIG

BATMAN FILM REVIEWS Part 6: The Dark Knight (2008)

Out of all of the Batman feature films, the one that has received the most attention is the latest film, The Dark Knight. Batman Begins was only a set up for one of the greatest comic book movies ever made. Is it the greatest? That’s up for debate, and I won’t get into that. However, The Dark Knight may soon be the most widely regarded best of all comic book films. Only time will tell.

The hype for The Dark Knight was unbelievable. From the generally high praise of Batman Begins to the first ever trailer for the sequel to the unfortunate passing of actor Heath Ledger, who portrayed the Joker in the film, everybody was anticipating The Dark Knight’s release.

Ledger’s shocking death undoubtfully garnered a lot of the attention for the film. I’m sure seeing him in his final acting role was bittersweet for fans. His portrayal of the Joker was the most anticipated part of The Dark Knight, and his performance was the highlight of the film for most moviegoers. There really isn’t much for me to say that hasn’t been said before a million times. I just want to say that everything you hear about Ledger’s performance in The Dark Knight is true. He was phenomenal. Ledger paid several tributes to past portrayals of the Joker. If you’ve seen Tim Burton’s 1989 Batman and the 1960’s TV series, you may likely notice some tributes to Jack Nicholson and Cesar Romero respectively. Not only does Ledger accommodate past renditions of the Joker, he also gives his own rendition as well. He’s both traditional and original at the same time. Ledger is not only crazy as the Joker, he’s frightening. His messy makeup design, creepy voice, and menacing laughter would give young children nightmares. Deservingly so, the late Ledger won many awards for his outstanding performance as the Joker, including an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. Director Christopher Nolan dedicated the film in Ledger’s memory.

Moving on, the film retains the “gritty realism” Nolan introduced in Batman Begins. Unlike Batman Begins, I felt the realism in this film was very appropriate and satisfying.

Christian Bale returns as Batman, and my thoughts about him remain unchanged from Batman Begins. His acting still seems too forceful for my taste, and that infamous gruff Batman voice is back in all of its glory. With Ledger’s overwhelming performance as the Joker and the film series’ notoriety of having Batman take a back seat to the villains, this film was highly vulnerable to its title character losing his central focus. However, I felt The Dark Knight did the best it could to keep Batman the central focus, for there are plenty of hints about Batman’s motives.

The word of Batman is spreading more and more among Gotham’s criminals. Its most feared criminal, the Joker, is determined to rid Gotham of Batman. The Joker releases a threat to Gotham that every day Batman refuses to reveal himself, more people will die. District attorney Harvey Dent, played by Aaron Eckhart decides to make a sacrifice for the good of the city and announces he is Batman, resulting in Dent’s arrest. The Joker attempts to ambush the police convoy carrying Dent, but is captured by Batman and Sgt. Gordon (who then becomes Commissioner Gordon).

Upon interrogation the Joker, Batman learns that Dent and his love interest Rachel Dawes are being kept in separate warehouses full of explosives. Batman leaves to save Rachel while the police look for Dent. Batman ends up finding Dent instead and is able to rescue him as the warehouse explodes. The explosion, however, ends up disfiguring half of Dent’s face, and he is sent to the hospital. Rachel ends up dying when her warehouse explodes. Meanwhile, the Joker has escaped from prison, and his next threat is to blow up a hospital. The hospital the Joker threatens to blow up evacuates, and when the Joker arrives at the hospital, he finds Dent and frees him from the hospital.

With his disfigured face, Dent can be recognized as Two-Face, the second villain of the film. Angry at Batman for causing the death of Rachel, Dent agrees to join the Joker on his rein of destruction. The Joker happens to have explosives aboard two ferries that are carrying evacuates from the hospitals. Batman intervenes with the Joker and subdues him, preventing him from detonating the explosives aboard both ferries. Meanwhile, Dent is found holding Commissioner Gordon’s family gunpoint on top of a building. Batman arrives, tackles Dent and causes him to fall to his death off of the building.

To me, the film seems to be about motives. It conveys what motivates Batman to do what he does, Harvey Dent to do what he does, and the Joker to do what he does. Needless to say, it is a very enjoyable film to sit through. It’s hard for me to describe how I feel about The Dark Knight. I truthfully can’t say whether or not it is my favorite of the series. It was clearly the most impacting film of the series. Its presentation blew me away and left me speechless. I think I still am speechless. It has been more than a year, and I am still at a lost for words to describe this film.

The Dark Knight simply took my breath away.