The Dark Knight (2008)
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Directed by Christopher Nolan
Screenplay by Johnathan Nolan & Christopher Nolan
Based on a story by Christopher Nolan & David S. Goyer
They finally did it. After four decades, they finally made a Batman movie and took it seriously. "Why so serious?" you ask? Well, over $500M in domestic sales, for starters. I don't know why everybody seems so surprised. We geeks have been, literally, screaming for our geek hobbies to be taken seriously. But Hollywood seemed determined to show us all how much super-hero movies are something that would appeal only to children. So they made kid movies, and in doing so, limited their audience to kids. Then they filled those kid movies with sex and reduced their audience to zero. So thank heavens for The Dark Knight —forever an example of how superhero movies can appeal to everyone, adapt a story from comics we actually love, and make a big old heap of money while they're at it. Yes, it would appear, after all this time, that comic book themes speak out to our dark and violent nature. Who would ever have guessed it?
For Batman, everything went wrong when parents got overly protective and tried to shelter their kids in exactly the wrong way. Odd rules were put into effect. People could still get shot and stabbed, for instance, but heaven forfend we ever saw any blood. The Dark Knight thankfully remembers that if you were to melt off half of someone's face that the result won't be pleasant. In doing so it creates the best depiction of Two Face ever put to film (sorry Tommy Lee Jones). Why am I mentioning Two Face and not the Joker? The reason, silly, is that The Dark Knight is not a Joker movie. Nowhere in its runtime will you see the story or true origin of the Joker. Having handled Batman's origins beautifully in Batman Begins, this is a film about dual identity, and Christopher Nolan (plus brother John) see to it that everything placed in the film works toward making that goal stronger. Dutifully, it picks the obvious villain to get its point across, Harvey Dent, and plows through that story in one elegant and exhilarating arc. The Joker is just gravy.
This needs to be said: Christian Bale is a great Batman/Bruce Wayne regardless his oft-ridiculed hoarse voice he dons while inside the mask. He employs the same voice in Batman Begins, but he has a lot more dialogue in The Dark Knight so it just became much more obvious. He is still very good. Now Heath Ledger—defying all expectations—makes for a monstrous, Johnny Rotten-esque Joker. It's a testament to Heath's ability that just when I thought I had enough of the Joker and I wanted to see more Harvey Dent, the Joker took it right back—remaining terrifying and enthralling throughout the picture. You know when you're in a movie with acting giants when people like Morgan Freeman, Gary Oldman, and Michael Caine consistently just get honorable mentions. As good as that performance was, Aaron Eckhardt creates an equally-frightening Harvey Dent. I like how the plot of The Dark Knight held up so well that I was unsure if his alter-ego would make an appearance. Here is a minor spoiler in italics:
Most of us are aware that Harvey Dent eventually becomes Two-Face, and the coin-flipping aspect of that character, unfortunately, has been too silly for any serious portrayal... up until now. This film handles it so well the Two-Face character has been cemented as "Batman A-List".
Oh, and three cheers for Katie Holmes' replacement—Maggie Gyllenhall. I can hardly bring myself to watch Batman Begins due to Katie's insufferably conceited performance. I seriously want to put my foot through the screen every time Katie's on it. Amazingly, Maggie Gyllenhall manages to portray some of the Rachel traits Katie exhibited without making me want to fire the Joker's rocket launcher at her.
Finally, like many films make in the late '00s, the less-obvious themes found in The Dark Knight draw parallels to the Bush Administration. The "you're either with us or against us" as well as the "stay the course/terrorism" angles were both explored to competent effect. In doing so, the movie becomes timelessly relevant because evils going on in the world at that time should be explored for generations to come to ensure they never happen again. And now, to avoid the enmity of either political party, I will not point out what evils I'm specifically talking about.