The Dark Knight Review (2008)

I bet you're thinking, is there any point in even reviewing The Dark Knight? What can I say that has not already been said? Well, nothing apart from offering up my own opinion so I guess that's exactly what I will do.

The second in the trilogy

The Dark Knight is the quintessential Batman film, this is the film that made the Batman a serious pop culture icon. Throughout the summer of 2008, it was hard to turn a street corner without hearing a quote from Heath Ledgers performance of the Joker or someone not wearing a bat shirt. The whole world had Batman fever and it was helped in no part by the untimely passing of Heath Ledger who even won the Best Supporting Actor award for his role in the film.

This is the film that pushes Batman to his edge, its been a year since the events of Batman Begins and Batman is a celebrated vigilante in pursuit of closing down the mobs grip on organized crime with Salvatore Maroni who has picked up the mantle after Carmine Falcone was sent to Arkham Asylum. This film really ups the ante for Batman, not only with making the Joker more dangerous and psychotic than in any of his previous incarnations and then throwing in personal stakes for the Batman/Bruce Wayne does something that Batman Begins failed to do.
The plot takes place a year after the first film, with Batman now a well established part of the Gotham lifestyle, the Joker comes along to turn his world upside down, working against his brand of justice, and enticing the mob bosses still left into thinking that he is able to take down the Batman. The Joker reaks havoc across the city, wanting Batman to reveal his identity and destroy everything he stands for. We also have the triumvirate of Harvey Dent, Lieutenant Gordon and Batman working together in order to bring down what is left of the mob and find out what the Joker is actually planning. Meanwhile we also have Bruce Wayne trying to balance his life as Gotham's billionaire playboy and the masked vigilante, trying to solidify his relationship with Rachael Dawes despite her ongoing relationship with the new district attorney Harvey Dent. Chaos ensues and although im guessing most people know how this story turns out, I don't want to ruin it for anyone that doesn't but lets just say that things take a turn for the worst and the entire third act is probably the best finale of any superhero film ever.

The Batpod

Now as much as I just gushed about this film it isn't without its bad points. Christopher Nolan changed the actress for Rachael Dawes from Katie Holmes to Maggie Gylenhall, which is commendable, Nolan obviously accepted the criticism from the first film but Gylenhall in my opinion is not much of an improvment, its hard to believe that she and Bruce Wayne have been friends all their lives and are somewhat in love with one another, she just does not convince me. I'm also not too pleased about the way in which Nolan chose to switch out the more Gothic architecture of Batman Begins to the more Chicagoan feel of Gotham City in "The Dark Knight" true it does modernise the city but it feels out of touch with the first film. Also this is a minor point, and it is indeed true to the comic books featuring Batman, but where did Bruce Wayne gain all of his detective skills from? In the one year between the first film and this one? Lucius Fox did most of the detective work in Batman Begins it just feels like a really sudden change in character for Batman to suddenly be "The Worlds Greatest Detective."

A rabid dog, "introduce a little anarchy"

Now with my complaints aside, I just want  to talk about what makes the film amazing besides the plot. The rest of the cast is awesome, Christian Bale returning as the Batman is still outstanding, as Batman he is intimidating and smart and as Bruce Wayne he is sleek and suave. The balancing act is believable, and its great to see passion taking over Batman in scenes where Rachael Dawes is in jeopardy. Michael Caine as Alfred and Morgan Freeman as Lucius Fox are likeable as ever as Bruce's aids and confidants. Aaron Eckhart and Heath Ledger are perhaps the stand out performances though, with Eckharts being more of a believable character than most in comic book movies, I also find him to be an incredibly underestimated actor and he will forever be memorable to me as this character.
Now Heath Ledger on the other hand is something entirely different, its impossible to ever imagine another actor portraying the Joker as well as he did and especially with the more "serious" spin that he put on the character, rather than being a villain who tells jokes and uses a flower on his lapel to spray acid, the Joker in this film was truly an agent of chaos, wanting to utterly destroy Gotham, Batman and everything he stands for. It's a terrible shame that Heath Ledger passed away as I am sure that in the third instalment of this franchise there would have been room for the Joker to return and finally ruin Batman, that's what I wanted to see anyway.

The ultimate confrontation

The main theme in this film is chaos, similarly to how fear was the main theme in Batman Begins, chaos plays a central role throughout this film. The entirety of the Jokers plans revolve around trying to bring down the Batman through chaotic plans. Murdering the Batman copycats, trying to ruin Bruce Wayne's secret identity and murdering several prominent public figures. Batman of course has his "one rule" which is that he will not murder, knowing that he will sink to the level of the Joker. The entire feud that brews between these two characters is a rivalry I can't think of being beaten between two other characters. They are the reverse of each other and the chaotic plots that the Joker concocts are truly there to test Batman's mentality and to see if he will break that one rule.

RIP Heath Ledger

Finally I just want to say that I would have been happy if the film had ended with the creation of a certain character, the film at times does feel a little long but that doesn't detract from the overall experience when watching this film. The Dark Knight is an impeccable film, not only one of the best comic book movies but one of the best movies of all time. Check it out.