Why so serious?

Part four of my Batman ramblings features a look back at the second film in Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy, The Dark Knight.

The Dark Knight
Director: Christopher Nolan
Starring: Christian Bale, Heath Ledger and Aaron Eckhart
Box office gross: $1,001,921,825 (Worldwide)

"How about a magic trick? I'm gonna make this pencil disappear..."

 

The Dark Knight was the first film in the Batman franchise not to have the name "Batman" in the title. With this notion, it was easy to see that this film was going to be special.

Nolan returned to direct the sequel to the 2005 mega hit Batman Begins, eagerly wanting to bring his interpretation of The Joker to the big screen. For Nolan, an important theme in this sequel was "escalation", extending the ending of Batman Begins, strongly showing that "things have to get worse before they get better". The Dark Knight plays like a perfect sequel in a trilogy series; it starts off with a bang (a bank robbing scene, introducing The Joker) and continues full steam ahead for the duration of the film. There are no "filler" moments, trying to provide back story that at this point, anyone who is watching should already know. Nolan never treats the audience like children, hand-feeding them the story. He expects that if you are watching the film, you get what's going on and don't need to be beat over the head repeatedly with it. He provided the back story of Batman in the origin story in 2005 and was now moving on with the rest of the story. 

Again, Nolan included an all-star cast to provide believable interpretations of the larger than life characters from the graphic novels created by Bob Kane. Notable actors in this film, among Bale, Ledger and Eckhart, include: Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, Gary Oldman, Cillian Murphy (all returning from the previous film), Maggie Gyllenhaal (replacing Katie Holmes), and Nestor Carbonell. Eric Roberts was introduced as crime boss "Maroni"; the only bad casting choice in this film.

Bale returned as the caped crusader, ready to take on the next phase in Batman's story. As in the first film, Bale provided a good balance between the two parts of the title character. Since his character was already developed quite fully in the first film, Bale was able to go head-to-head with the villains in the film without feeling he would be overshadowed. 

Aaron Eckhart portrayed Harvey Dent aka Two-Face. The character starts off as Gotham's District Attorney and is hailed as the city's "White Knight" (a contrast to the film's title and Batman's eventual status with the city). The idea for this film was to have Dent shown as a vigilante, rather than a crime boss. He's not purely evil; he becomes disfigured through his battles with the criminals of Gotham and turns his anger onto them when he embraces the "Two-Face" persona. Eckhart was great in this role. It was easy to see him as Gotham's saviour and you felt for him when he became disfigured. His character provided an emotional storyline in this extremely heavy and dark film. 

Maggie Gyllenhaal replaced Katie Holmes as Rachel Dawes. Not much I can say about this change. It was necessary. And it worked. Good job Mr. Nolan!

Other strong performances were provided by veteran actors Caine, Oldman and Freeman. Again, not much I can say here. They were all phenomenal and highly contributed to the greatness of this film. 

Heath Ledger. Wow. What a performance. As The Joker, Ledger brought something much different to the table than the character's previous big screen portrayal; something Ledger described as being a "psychopathic, mass murdering, schizophrenic clown with zero empathy". Not to be compared with Jack Nicholson's Joker, Ledger threw himself into the character and developed his own take on the villain which translated so well to the big screen. The role eventually earned Ledger an Oscar, something that was well-deserved, posthumously, and garnered numerous positive reviews from some of the industries biggest critics. It was a performance that will always be remembered. RIP Heath Ledger.

Final Verdict: A definite must see. A brilliant story and addition to the Batman franchise. It's easy to see why this installment became the most successful film in the franchise to date. The film flows effortlessly from the origin story and continues the enigmatic tale of The Dark Knight. 

Look for my review on the latest Batman film, The Dark Knight Rises this week.

Many people argue that Batman is not a true superhero because he does not have any "super" powers. Did this film change your views on Batman as a superhero?

PS I believe Batman is a true superhero - his "super" powers include being super rich and super smart.