The Dark Knight «««½
PG-13, 152m. 2008
Cast & Credits: Christian Bale (Bruce Wayne/Batman), Heath Ledger (The Joker), Aaron Eckhart (Harvey Dent/Two-Face), Michael Caine (Alfred Pennyworth), Maggie Gyllenhaal (Rachel Dawes), Gary Oldman (Lt. James Gordon), Morgan Freeman (Lucius Fox), Monique Curnen (Det. Ramirez), Cillian Murphy (Dr. Jonathan Crane/Scarecrow), Nestor Carbonell (Mayor), Eric Roberts (Salvatore Maroni), Anthony Michael Hall (Mike Engel). Directed by Christopher Nolan. Screenplay by Jonathan Nolan and Christopher Nolan.
Anarchy. Chaos. Mayhem. Murder.
Such are the things that occur often in The Dark Knight, the most eagerly awaited sequel to Batman Begins (2005) that rebooted the troubled movie franchise many say was destroyed by director Joel Schumacher with the cartoonish Batman & Robin (1997).
To call The Dark Knight “eagerly awaited” goes without saying. Batman Begins ended with Christian Bale’s Caped Crusader being warned by Lt. James Gordon (Gary Oldman) that a new villain was in town who mysteriously leaves a calling card with a “Joker” on it at his crime scenes.
That was enough to let every fan of the Batman comics and the films know who Bruce Wayne’s first major nemesis was going to be in the second film. The two big questions left to answer were who would play him and depending on who that actor would be, how could he possibly out do Jack Nicholson’s show stopping performance as the infamous killer clown in Tim Burton’s original dark, futuristic Batman (1989).
Even if Oscar nominated actor Heath Ledger, who plays The Joker, hadn’t passed away in January at the young age of 28; the result of an accidental overdose on prescription medications, it’s a good bet The Dark Knight would have still raked in millions opening weekend (which it has). The desire to see it doesn’t just stem from the fact it marks Ledger’s final unexpected swan song and to make comparisons between his take on the character and Nicholson’s. The fact is The Joker is the most popular villain of all the nemesis’ Batman has had to face; so much so that the mere mention of his name even being proposed as the next adversary is enough to leave fans salivating.
Much has been said already that Ledger deserves not just an Oscar nomination for his final role but the gold statue as well. I have seen Ledger in only two films and both were from the beginning of his all too short career, The Patriot (2000) and A Knight’s Tale (2001). I can say watching him in The Dark Knight under the heavy messed up black, white, and red make-up that looks more like it was painted on, and a greasy green hairdo, I could not tell if who I was watching was Heath Ledger. If there is any reason for the sudden push to get his name on the Oscar ballots early next year, it's because in The Dark Knight, Ledger is completely unrecognizable.
The character is everything the late actor said he was in his early press interviews; “a psychopathic, mass-murdering, schizophrenic clown with zero empathy.” Whereas Nicholson’s Joker was a grinning homicidal showman delivering bizarre macabre theatrics (like vandalizing museum artwork and holding a parade dancing to the songs of rock star, Prince, before sending out poison gas meant to kill hundreds), Ledger’s Joker is Gotham’s resident Osama bin Laden.
At one point, Bruce Wayne’s loyal butler, Alfred (Michael Caine) sums up the madness surrounding the Joker’s personality that could be compared to today’s al-Qaeda terror masterminds.
“Some men aren't looking for anything logical,” he says. “They can't be bought, bullied, reasoned or negotiated with. Some men just want to watch the world burn.”
Unexpectedly walking in during a meeting of the city’s top mobsters with several explosives attached underneath his purple coat, The Joker gives one simple order, “Kill the Batman.” He is not just a party crasher. He is "The Ultimate Party Crasher." If you and he were in the same room together, you might consider yourself lucky if you happen to walk out alive. Being in a room with him is like having dinner with Anthony Hopkins’ cannibal serial killer Hannibal Lecter. All you can do is hope you are not the one who is the main course like what happened to Ray Liotta’s character in Hannibal (2001) where he ate his own brains and was too drugged out to know it. Or at the very least, fall victim to one of the Joker’s disappearing tricks as when he murders a henchman with a pencil.
Ledger’s Joker is the equivalent of the kinds of sick terrorism we’ve heard too much about in the news in Iraq since 9/11. The videos he sends to the police and news media torturing victims dressed up as Batman before killing them are similar to the kinds of youtube videos often seen of terrorists beheading American hostages. He isn’t afraid to die, so long as he wipes out several others in the process, yet his reasons for murder are vague. He isn’t even in it for the money.
“It’s not about the money,” The Joker says. “It’s about sending a message.”
Whereas the usual formula for the Batman movies of 1990s was we learned about each villain’s downfall that made them become something else, director and screenwriter Christopher Nolan along with Jonathan Nolan have come up with a screenplay that has no background introduction or reason as to what sent the Joker over the edge.
We don’t even learn his real name and when we do get clues into his personal life, it’s when he is about to slice a smile into someone’s face with a switchblade telling tales about how his father beat his mother or how his wife got into trouble owing the mob money and was severely beaten to where her broken jaw resembled a sewed on smile.
“You remind me of my father,” he tells one potential victim. “I hated my father.”
If Ledger’s Joker is bin Laden with Gotham City as his America on who he is waging war against, then it’s Bale’s millionaire playboy/Dark Knight who could be like President George W. Bush, Gotham’s own “Dubya.” When he isn't busy courting sometimes three women at a time to various parties and fund raisers, attempting to see if his childhood sweetheart lawyer, Rachel Dawes (Maggie Gyllenhaal), is still interested in him, or dozing off during corporate meetings, Wayne dedicates himself to being the city’s protector. His crime fighting victories are however dampened by Gotham's citizens who view his brand of vigilante justice and helping the police as more of a problem than a solution.
In one scene that might echo Bush’s attempt to get congress to approve law enforcement’s eavesdropping on cell phone calls as a means to stop would-be terrorists from conspiring to do more attacks on American soil, Bale's Dark Knight asks one of his corporate CEOs (Morgan Freeman) and his secret supplier of all his latest crime fighting technology to tap into every person’s cell phone to narrow down the Joker’s whereabouts.
As much as has been promoted about the Joker’s appearance in The Dark Knight, he almost comes off as a minor character. The surprising, more tragic focus of the story is on the rise and fall of District Attorney Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart), who’s often referred to by Gotham City’s police department as “Two-Face.” Determined to put a stop to the Joker’s crime spree, Dent is a cross between crusading crime fighter Elliot Ness and Robert Kennedy. Given that he reminds me of Ness isn’t far from the truth since Gotham City is really Chicago, minus the Sears Tower and RFK did, in fact, conduct investigations into the Mafia before becoming President John F. Kennedy’s attorney general.
When Dent loses everything he loved (and I am not going to reveal that one thing that makes him go off the deep end as it is also one of the film’s unexpected surprises), his comment early on to Bruce Wayne is almost prophetic.
“You either die a hero or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain,” Dent says.
Dent’s story is one of the film’s brighter, maybe I should say lightly dimmed moments in this intense, but most of the time unsettling installment. If you laugh at the Joker’s murderous antics, it’s not because it’s funny as was often the case with Nicholson’s character. You laugh more out of sheer nervousness than anything else.
The Dark Knight can be called anything positive. Fun, though, is not the word for it. Looking back on the summer of 1989 when Burton’s Batman was released, I remember the commercials promoting the film that said “How many times have you seen Batman?” It was true. People did see that film more than once. I was one of them.
Then again, this is not Burton’s Batman universe. It’s Nolan’s vision and his is a dark, empty, soulless, violent take on the franchise that echoes more of today’s bleak uncertain times than it does an enjoyable comic book movie. It’s a Dark Knight for the 21st century.
Of course, unlike Nicholson’s Joker whose death ruined the chances of him returning in a sequel, Nolan stays true to the Batman comic books by not killing off the series’ most popular villain. I am not giving away anything here by saying that. Everyone who has read a Batman comic book or is familiar with the 700 plus issues DC Comics has published knows the Joker has always lived to battle the Caped Crusader another day.
“I don’t want to kill you,” The Joker says to Batman. “You complete me.”
In Nolan’s world, The Joker and Batman need each other.
So too, perhaps, will Warner Brothers should this promising series run out of steam with the third installment as has been proven in the cases of X-Men: The Last Stand (2006) and Spider-man 3 (2007) where some argue the filmmakers were unable to top the second outings.
Not only is The Joker this franchise’s wild card but the studio’s as well. If he returns and I suspect he will, the film will bring in millions regardless what actor portrays him.
©7/22/08
PG-13, 152m. 2008
Cast & Credits: Christian Bale (Bruce Wayne/Batman), Heath Ledger (The Joker), Aaron Eckhart (Harvey Dent/Two-Face), Michael Caine (Alfred Pennyworth), Maggie Gyllenhaal (Rachel Dawes), Gary Oldman (Lt. James Gordon), Morgan Freeman (Lucius Fox), Monique Curnen (Det. Ramirez), Cillian Murphy (Dr. Jonathan Crane/Scarecrow), Nestor Carbonell (Mayor), Eric Roberts (Salvatore Maroni), Anthony Michael Hall (Mike Engel). Directed by Christopher Nolan. Screenplay by Jonathan Nolan and Christopher Nolan.
Such are the things that occur often in The Dark Knight, the most eagerly awaited sequel to Batman Begins (2005) that rebooted the troubled movie franchise many say was destroyed by director Joel Schumacher with the cartoonish Batman & Robin (1997).
To call The Dark Knight “eagerly awaited” goes without saying. Batman Begins ended with Christian Bale’s Caped Crusader being warned by Lt. James Gordon (Gary Oldman) that a new villain was in town who mysteriously leaves a calling card with a “Joker” on it at his crime scenes.
That was enough to let every fan of the Batman comics and the films know who Bruce Wayne’s first major nemesis was going to be in the second film. The two big questions left to answer were who would play him and depending on who that actor would be, how could he possibly out do Jack Nicholson’s show stopping performance as the infamous killer clown in Tim Burton’s original dark, futuristic Batman (1989).
Even if Oscar nominated actor Heath Ledger, who plays The Joker, hadn’t passed away in January at the young age of 28; the result of an accidental overdose on prescription medications, it’s a good bet The Dark Knight would have still raked in millions opening weekend (which it has). The desire to see it doesn’t just stem from the fact it marks Ledger’s final unexpected swan song and to make comparisons between his take on the character and Nicholson’s. The fact is The Joker is the most popular villain of all the nemesis’ Batman has had to face; so much so that the mere mention of his name even being proposed as the next adversary is enough to leave fans salivating.
Much has been said already that Ledger deserves not just an Oscar nomination for his final role but the gold statue as well. I have seen Ledger in only two films and both were from the beginning of his all too short career, The Patriot (2000) and A Knight’s Tale (2001). I can say watching him in The Dark Knight under the heavy messed up black, white, and red make-up that looks more like it was painted on, and a greasy green hairdo, I could not tell if who I was watching was Heath Ledger. If there is any reason for the sudden push to get his name on the Oscar ballots early next year, it's because in The Dark Knight, Ledger is completely unrecognizable.
The character is everything the late actor said he was in his early press interviews; “a psychopathic, mass-murdering, schizophrenic clown with zero empathy.” Whereas Nicholson’s Joker was a grinning homicidal showman delivering bizarre macabre theatrics (like vandalizing museum artwork and holding a parade dancing to the songs of rock star, Prince, before sending out poison gas meant to kill hundreds), Ledger’s Joker is Gotham’s resident Osama bin Laden.
At one point, Bruce Wayne’s loyal butler, Alfred (Michael Caine) sums up the madness surrounding the Joker’s personality that could be compared to today’s al-Qaeda terror masterminds.
“Some men aren't looking for anything logical,” he says. “They can't be bought, bullied, reasoned or negotiated with. Some men just want to watch the world burn.”
Unexpectedly walking in during a meeting of the city’s top mobsters with several explosives attached underneath his purple coat, The Joker gives one simple order, “Kill the Batman.” He is not just a party crasher. He is "The Ultimate Party Crasher." If you and he were in the same room together, you might consider yourself lucky if you happen to walk out alive. Being in a room with him is like having dinner with Anthony Hopkins’ cannibal serial killer Hannibal Lecter. All you can do is hope you are not the one who is the main course like what happened to Ray Liotta’s character in Hannibal (2001) where he ate his own brains and was too drugged out to know it. Or at the very least, fall victim to one of the Joker’s disappearing tricks as when he murders a henchman with a pencil.
Ledger’s Joker is the equivalent of the kinds of sick terrorism we’ve heard too much about in the news in Iraq since 9/11. The videos he sends to the police and news media torturing victims dressed up as Batman before killing them are similar to the kinds of youtube videos often seen of terrorists beheading American hostages. He isn’t afraid to die, so long as he wipes out several others in the process, yet his reasons for murder are vague. He isn’t even in it for the money.
“It’s not about the money,” The Joker says. “It’s about sending a message.”
Whereas the usual formula for the Batman movies of 1990s was we learned about each villain’s downfall that made them become something else, director and screenwriter Christopher Nolan along with Jonathan Nolan have come up with a screenplay that has no background introduction or reason as to what sent the Joker over the edge.
We don’t even learn his real name and when we do get clues into his personal life, it’s when he is about to slice a smile into someone’s face with a switchblade telling tales about how his father beat his mother or how his wife got into trouble owing the mob money and was severely beaten to where her broken jaw resembled a sewed on smile.
“You remind me of my father,” he tells one potential victim. “I hated my father.”
If Ledger’s Joker is bin Laden with Gotham City as his America on who he is waging war against, then it’s Bale’s millionaire playboy/Dark Knight who could be like President George W. Bush, Gotham’s own “Dubya.” When he isn't busy courting sometimes three women at a time to various parties and fund raisers, attempting to see if his childhood sweetheart lawyer, Rachel Dawes (Maggie Gyllenhaal), is still interested in him, or dozing off during corporate meetings, Wayne dedicates himself to being the city’s protector. His crime fighting victories are however dampened by Gotham's citizens who view his brand of vigilante justice and helping the police as more of a problem than a solution.
In one scene that might echo Bush’s attempt to get congress to approve law enforcement’s eavesdropping on cell phone calls as a means to stop would-be terrorists from conspiring to do more attacks on American soil, Bale's Dark Knight asks one of his corporate CEOs (Morgan Freeman) and his secret supplier of all his latest crime fighting technology to tap into every person’s cell phone to narrow down the Joker’s whereabouts.
As much as has been promoted about the Joker’s appearance in The Dark Knight, he almost comes off as a minor character. The surprising, more tragic focus of the story is on the rise and fall of District Attorney Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart), who’s often referred to by Gotham City’s police department as “Two-Face.” Determined to put a stop to the Joker’s crime spree, Dent is a cross between crusading crime fighter Elliot Ness and Robert Kennedy. Given that he reminds me of Ness isn’t far from the truth since Gotham City is really Chicago, minus the Sears Tower and RFK did, in fact, conduct investigations into the Mafia before becoming President John F. Kennedy’s attorney general.
When Dent loses everything he loved (and I am not going to reveal that one thing that makes him go off the deep end as it is also one of the film’s unexpected surprises), his comment early on to Bruce Wayne is almost prophetic.
“You either die a hero or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain,” Dent says.
Dent’s story is one of the film’s brighter, maybe I should say lightly dimmed moments in this intense, but most of the time unsettling installment. If you laugh at the Joker’s murderous antics, it’s not because it’s funny as was often the case with Nicholson’s character. You laugh more out of sheer nervousness than anything else.
The Dark Knight can be called anything positive. Fun, though, is not the word for it. Looking back on the summer of 1989 when Burton’s Batman was released, I remember the commercials promoting the film that said “How many times have you seen Batman?” It was true. People did see that film more than once. I was one of them.
Then again, this is not Burton’s Batman universe. It’s Nolan’s vision and his is a dark, empty, soulless, violent take on the franchise that echoes more of today’s bleak uncertain times than it does an enjoyable comic book movie. It’s a Dark Knight for the 21st century.
Of course, unlike Nicholson’s Joker whose death ruined the chances of him returning in a sequel, Nolan stays true to the Batman comic books by not killing off the series’ most popular villain. I am not giving away anything here by saying that. Everyone who has read a Batman comic book or is familiar with the 700 plus issues DC Comics has published knows the Joker has always lived to battle the Caped Crusader another day.
“I don’t want to kill you,” The Joker says to Batman. “You complete me.”
In Nolan’s world, The Joker and Batman need each other.
So too, perhaps, will Warner Brothers should this promising series run out of steam with the third installment as has been proven in the cases of X-Men: The Last Stand (2006) and Spider-man 3 (2007) where some argue the filmmakers were unable to top the second outings.
Not only is The Joker this franchise’s wild card but the studio’s as well. If he returns and I suspect he will, the film will bring in millions regardless what actor portrays him.
©7/22/08
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