CLASSIC REVIEW: THE DARK KNIGHT

Before I go into what is going to be a considerably lengthy review, I'd like to inform you on my weird, complicated past with Christopher Nolan's "The Dark Knight:" when it came out in theaters the summer of 2008, my uncle read a review in the Washington Post claiming the movie was too violent for preteens, so I couldn't go.  I didn't feel like I really missed anything until Oscar time, where I heard there were raves for Heath Ledger's performance.  Weirder still was he had died, and the mystique of his death only added to me wanting to see "TDK" even more.

Well I finally got it for Christmas of 2008, and got around to watching it early 2009.  Almost immediately after I watched it, I had this sudden urge to vomit, not due to the movie of course,  but I had eaten too much previously.  Though it didn't sour the experience for me (I thought it was still an excellent film, if not a little over-hyped) I still associate "TDK" with these experiences.  But now that I'm older and I've seen "Batman Begins," I finally sat down to re-watch it one last time before I see the monumental phenomenon that is "The Dark Knight Rises" in a few weeks.  It'd be a joke to try and see it opening weekend, so I'm hoping to get tickets by the 28th.  Reviews have all been positive, if not glowing of the film.  But to see where the zeitgeist originated, the film that secured the movie into cinematic history as one of the best series ever is a daunting task, but I'm always up for a challenge when it comes to watching films.  Anyway, in the words of the Joker: Here...we...go!

I can tell you honestly I was more excited re-watching "TDK," a movie who's ending I was aware of, then watching Woody Allen's "To Rome with Love" last week, a director who I love.  The aura around "The Dark Knight" is that it's one of the greatest films ever made, and to that I wouldn't necessarily argue.  By far it's the best comic book/superhero movie ever made, mainly because it doesn't feel like a superhero movie.  It feels like thriller noir with an insane, psychotic madman at it's centerpiece.  As I viewed again, I realized that there were several things I missed, including the whole plot-line with the mob, and Two-Faces motives for becoming a villain.

The film opens with such a classic vibe to it, with a bank robbery.  This isn't your typical 50's robbery however, as it progresses each clown-masked robber is shot off one by one by the other, per the Joker's requests.  It's amazing how many henchmen the Joker's able to summon up once you think about it, he kills them, Batman kills them easily, or they kill each other.  Of course, in the end, only the Joker, who was one of the robbers all along, makes a stupendous first appearance, showcasing Nolan's talent as a filmmaker and our first glimpse at one of the greatest Hollywood characters ever filmed on screen.

As the film progresses you see that this is no mere get-the-girl, beat the bad guy story, like the recent (but still good) reboot of Spider-Man.  The major theme here is good vs. evil, but on a larger scale.  This is the goodness in humanity (represented by Aaron Eckhart's Harvey Dent and Bruce Wayne of course) and the evil core of the human spirit, represented by the Joker.  Deep down Joker believes that everyone is like him, in the fact that no one can be all good, and there is evil in everyone.  While Gotham and Dent both represent visions of order and maintenance, the Joker is a flash of anger, anarchism and the violent willing to do bad for the sake of doing bad.  He wants people to come down to his level.

Now let's talk about the Joker, and let's not kid ourselves.  Heath Ledger, at his Oscar-winning best, absolutely owns this movie.  That isn't to say he overpowers the movie, because Nolan is great in that he gives his ensemble nearly equal screen time, and that's something for a superhero, so dedicated to its protagonist.  The Joker is one of the scariest, creepiest and greatest characters put to film.  Everything he says grabs your attention, everything he does makes you interested, and...here's the scariest part of the Joker....he makes sense.  You never want villains to have rational thoughts.  But the things he says on the screen (when he's not saying entirely quotable lines like "Why so serious?" and "Let's put a smile on that face!") actually do connect with you.  That scared me.  If you see Ledger in an interview, with his deep, Australian voice and calm manner...the two just don't seem to add up.  It is the performance of a lifetime, psychologically frightening and nail bitingly perfect.  Cinema sadly had to say farewell to this giant of acting, but his (completed) swan song couldn't gone out with a bigger bang, just the way the Joker would've liked it.

Now I've seen scrolling through reviews "TDK" has been referred to as a post 9/11 film, and I could see where they're coming from.  The word terrorist is thrown around a lot, and the Joker's violent actions seem very real, murdering several people until Batman finally comes to confront him.  Speaking on confrontations, the scene between Batman and the Joker in the police department is brilliant, with Joker causing even the usually collected Dark Knight to lose his cool.  The film has great twists to it, and when I watched it the second time I even let out a few gasps.  If you haven't seen it before, there's no way of knowing what'll come next, though repeated viewings are advised.

Often Bale and Ledger are the focus of people's praise, but this movie just wouldn't work as well as it would without the satisfying, well-casted ensemble.  Maggie Gyllenhaal is terrific as a damsel in distress Rachael Dawes, Morgan Freeman and Michael Caine are reliably good mentors for Bruce, and Aaron Eckhart seriously hits it home as Two-Face, the movie provides a great origin for him.  As noted before, he's a man of integrity, driven only by the epitome of chaos (the Joker) and a terrible loss, Two-Face emerges from him.  It doesn't feel like an alter-ego, more of a man pushed beyond his limits.  Dent was used to having his way when he cleaned the streets of most of Gotham's mobsters, and then...it all went wrong.  The special effects are incredible in this movie by the way, very subtle and never to over the top, even on Dent's scarred face.  Gary Oldman's Jim Gordon is also spot-on here, we see him holding the integrity of good vs. evil Dent has decidedly left behind, giving everything to chance, which he declares, is the only fair way to settle things among chaos.

With all these elements driving it, it's easy to see how "The Dark Knight" can be declared one of the best movies ever.  Excellent acting, brilliant writing, top-notch special effects, and the discussion of the Joker could fill a book.  All us simple Americans needed was entertainment, and Nolan gives us a dark, gritty, psychological masterpiece debating the human spirit's ability to be evil or not.  I can't wait for "The Dark Knight Rises."

Rating: 4/4 stars