The Dark Knight

The Dark Knight has already broken Spider-Man 3’s record 3 day gross with $155.34 million, in addition to breaking the largest midnight showing gross and largest one day gross records. Clearly, superhero movies are in. However, I think the Dark Knight has gone beyond your typical superhero movie, establishing itself as a film with a legitimate story that stands seperately from the comics and previous media that inspired it. In this film, the line between good and bad isn’t so clear cut, and at the end of the day, there are no winners. This is a pretty new movie, so in case it wasn’t already clear, possible implicit spoilers ahead, but nothing explicit (I don’t think).

This movie’s been so hyped up, that I don’t think there’s much I can say plotwise that you don’t already know. I will say that the movie is a lot more complex than the trailers let on. The Dark Knight’s Joker is genuinely insane, with no apparent motivations or remorse. The Joker’s “games” are one of the most compelling aspects of the movie, as he manages to consistently defy rationality and come up with more and more twisted situations to put everyone else through, seemingly for nothing more than his own amusement. His quirks, from his constant lip licking to his nasty hair that looks like it hasn’t seen a drop of water in weeks, are awkward and creepy, externalizing his mental instability. By the end of the movie, you don’t know the character any better than you did at the beginning, making the Joker one of the most unsettling film characters I’ve seen since Hannibal Lecter. Heath Ledger definitely deserves an Oscar for the role, and not just because he’s dead.

A main theme of the film is the exploration of what exactly constitutes good and evil, especially through Harvey Dent/Two-Face. Unlike previous incarnations of the character, Two-Face isn’t insane or suffering from multiple personality disorder. Two-Face’s acts in the film are motivated by a twisted sense of justice. The people he goes after are definitely guilty, but it’s questionable as to whether or not Two-Face has the right to be judge, jury, and executioner. And, of course, the same can be said of Batman.

Bruce Wayne/Batman (SPOILERS LOL) changes the most throughout the film. His vision of changing the city comes crashing down. He feels betrayed, unappreciated, and hopeless. Dressing up and beating up bad guys isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. He suffers more failures than successes in this film. This is the reality of the film, moving away from the superhero who either always wins, or fails, but ultimately finds redemption. He may find it in the third movie, but like the Empire Strikes Back, this one ends on a down note.

For the technical aspects, the pacing of the film is great. It genuinely did not feel like a 2 and a half hour movie at all. Nothing about the plot feels superfluous. The cinematography is stunning, bringing Gotham City alive. There’s no shortage of action or suspense here, either. The score avoids typical clichéd motifs, making the film feel much more down to Earth and less fantastic. There’s a lot more that can be said about the movie, but now I’m just rambling, so it’d be faster if you just went and saw it yourself (after tickets become available again). It’s a complicated movie, so I’ll probably end up seeing it again, maybe in IMAX next time.