To Suprise of None The Dark Knight Shocks and Awes, Best Superhero Film Yet

by Josh Roth @ 6:57 pm July 21st, 2008

I watched every trailer, every clip, and every interview available for The Dark Knight, I even delved into the viral campaign for a bit (had tickets to the free IMAX pre-screening, but I had my wisdom teeth out, great luck eh?), and I’m proud to say this movie still knocked me on my ass with surprise. At the midnight show for The Dark Knight the feeling in the air was unbelievable, the sheer excitement could power a small country for a week. When the Warner Bros. logo flew out of that fog the crowd exploded, and was dead silent for the next of the 2 and a half hours. This film will leave you speechless and in awe, and that’s what a great film is supposed to do, show you something you’ve never seen before. “It’s not about making money, it’s about sending a message.” – Joker

I was an enormous fan of Iron Man, which until Dark Knight was my pick for best superhero film; but frankly Dark Knight blows it out of the water. They really are in two different leagues though. On the one hand Iron Man is much more of a comic book movie and Dark Knight is more gritty and real.  And on the other, they are both about superheros, and I guess that’s really what it boils down to in the end. Batman really does lend itself more to a film noir-ish interpretation than Iron Man or Spider-Man and that’s why it works so well. A neo-noir Spider-Man where Peter Parker is a college kid who scales walls because of his incredible acrobatic skills would be depressing and terrible. Each superhero property needs to be treated independently, they should be different styles because they’re entirely different characters in different worlds.

No one can doubt that Christopher Nolan knows how to make a movie. Just take a look at Memento and The Prestige. I was a bit wary going into Batman Begins, I knew Nolan had talent but wasn’t sure if he could handle the realm of capes and cowls. My doubts were shattered by his terrific revival of the Batman series. He took a franchise that had become so wacky and absurd we were reminded of the days of Adam West and shark repellent. Batman Begins was a new take on an old concept, superheros in our world, not some world of mutants and mad scientists, but our world of corrupt politicians and crooked cops. The Dark Knight takes everything Nolan learned from Begins and runs with it.

According to the users of IMDB, The Dark Knight is the best. film. ever. This is debatable of course, and is probably just a backlash from from the millions of fanboys out there. But there’s no denying how incredible a film The Dark Knight is. Remove all the awesome super cool superhero action and adventure stuff, and you’re still left with an elegantly crafted crime drama. The movie excels at combining superheroes/villains and good old fashioned film noir-style crime mystery.

The Joker is undeniably the high point of the film. The late Heath Ledger‘s performance is like nothing ever put on film, it’s so undeniably disturbing and awesome at the same time. He is easily the greatest supervillain in movie history, and leaps and bounds above Jack Nicholson’s rendition of the Joker. I’d like to take a second to talk about the design of the Joker. In the Tim Burton’s 1989 Batman the Joker’s face was just plain odd. Nolan’s Joker looks like someone carved the smile on his face, and his makeup keeps fading off, making him a person with serious scars and a fetish for clown makeup, not a freakish mutant. This is how Joker was meant to be shown, no back story, no conclusion, just pure chaos and reckless badassery. It really is a shame that Heath Ledger was cut down so soon, he really shows his unbridled ability to transform himself. He proves his talent, and his performance will easily be passed down through the ages.

Christian Bale is the best Batman ever. I liked Michael Keaton‘s version of Batman (don’t get me started on George Clooney and Val Kilmer with their rubber nipples…) but I did like his Bruce Wayne, the problem is to be Batman you have to be both. Bale is perfect for playing the conflicted billionaire Bruce Wayne and the crusading vigilante Batman. His Batman and Bruce Wayne mend together brilliantly, making him a fully rounded and interesting character, unlike other versions of the Dark Knight. And Michael Caine is Alfred, he was one of my favorite parts of Batman Begins and he’s back in full form. Alfred is supposed to be the respecting but intelligent helper to Bruce and Batman, which Caine embodies perfectly. Sure Alfred serves Bruce tea, but he’s quick to point out when Bruce is wrong.

When I heard that Aaron Eckhart was playing Harvey Dent (and Two Face) I was ecstatic. Two Face is the perfect Batman villain, simply because he’s the echo of what Batman could have become, a vengeful man filled with hatred and regret; and the movie does a great job of pointing out the comparisons. Tommy Lee Jones as Two Face was disappointing and just plain weird (if you can’t tell I hated those movies). Aaron Eckhart showed he was talented with Thank You For Smoking, and it’s great to see him getting a big part in a blockbuster film. Two Face isn’t a weirdo with a split personality in Dark Knight, instead he’s a conflicted district attorney who goes mad from refusing pain meds after being burned. The look of Two Face alone proves that Nolan knows what he’s doing. Instead of going the wacky comic book route he stayed the course and made Two Face a real burn victim, and one hell of a cool villain. The reveal and the effect are worth the ticket price alone.

Take away all the incredible acting and the terrific production design and you’re still left with some incredible action sequences. The sheer scale of it all is unbelievable. When the hospital explodes, the fraking hospital explodes, it’s not a CGI reproduction with fake smoke, like everything in the new Bat-verse it’s real. Same goes for the truck flipping over with the Joker inside (which they actually did). Batman’s flight through Shanghai is unbelievably real, and perfectly executed.

OK I’m done rambling about how much I loved this film. Seriously it was the greatest experience I’ve had in a movie theater to date, the atmosphere of the midnight show only helped the movie. I’m seeing it again tomorrow in IMAX (before I head over to Comic-Con), but I assure you it will not be my last viewing. This is a perfect film on so many levels, it combines everything you love about crime dramas and superheroes into one delicious package. It’s a true film, not a piece of schlock put out by the studios to increase their wallet size. Nolan intended that going in and it really shows, the film is a work of art. Like the Joker says, “It’s not about making money, it’s about sending a message.”