The Dark Knight is without a shadow of a doubt one of the best comic book adaptations yet produced by Hollywood. Indeed it might even be the best as it distills so much Bat-lore into an intelligent, gripping, menacingly beautiful summer actioner/character study. It easily stands comparison with Superman (The Movie and II), Spider-Man (the first two), the first two X-Men, and its own parent Batman Begins. The film starts as it means to go on with a stunning, action-packed bank heist that puts Messrs Bourne and Bond - and Michael Mann's vaunted machismo - in their place. The seven-minute scene is a superb example of script, storyboarding, shooting panache and crisp editing dovetailing to winning effect. It also sets the tone of the film: it might be a 12A, but this is no film for kids - it's psychologically black, it's violent, and it venerates an anarchist terrorist.
That terrorist is of course the Joker, played by the late Heath Ledger. This is not meant disrespectfully: it's probably best he died because he would never have risen to this level again; the Joker would have been an albatross around his neck. Yes, everything you've heard about his performance is true: it goes way beyond acting, he utterly becomes the Joker - there is no residual trace of Heath Ledger. And the memory of Jack Nicholson's Joker is destroyed. The Joker, as envisioned here, is the best cinematic expression of Batman's arch-villain yet.
While very much the protagonist of the piece, Ledger/Joker is not the character at the film’s emotional core: that role goes to Aaron Eckhart's DA, Harvey Dent, Gotham's white knight. Dent's ascent to DA and his subsequent actions while in office mark him out as much a thorn in the side of Gotham's crime bosses as the Batman - but the brightest flame burns quickest, so his tragic descent is gut-wrenching in every way - and as worthy of Oscar in its restraint as Ledger's intensity and exuberance. Dent also gets the best, and most telling line: "You either die the hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain."
What about the titular hero? Christian Bale once again handles the post-modern take on classic DC duality (Batman is the ego/Bruce Wayne the alter-ego) well and is a muscular screen presence. His scenes with Michael Caine's Alfred and Morgan Freeman's Lucius Fox (gravitas personified) unearth the humanity beneath the Wayne/Bat mask, but ultimately the role is always secondary to the colourful villains, who crucially have no rules, no boundaries, no personal codes.
Indeed, the question of personal codes is one of the key themes of the script: Dent's integrity, Wayne's disdain, Batman's crusade tempered by his desire to not kill, Jim Gordon's blinkered approach to the corruption all around him, and the Joker's belief in no codes at all. Ultimately each character is asked to step up, their code put to the test - and not all emerge honour intact.
What of the story? Batman's got the mob running scared, the mob ‘hire’ the Joker at the same time as new the DA marches into town, chaos ensues (mostly wrought by the Joker), many die and Batman, Gordon and Dent must save themselves and Gotham time and again as the screenplay's operatic vision sweeps to its twisted, but righteous conclusion.
Ultimately, the Joker’s anarchy forces lessons of self-knowledge upon Batman, Dent, Gordon and the citizens of Gotham. The final lesson learnt is that there is no room for white knights when the likes of the Joker are around. It is impossible for white knights to defeat his ilk without succumbing to their darkness – or without sacrifice.
The Dark Knight was conceived by director/co-writer Christopher Nolan, in concert with his brother and David Goyer: and they clearly know their Bat facts. The presence and echoes of key Bat works are evident throughout: Loeb and Sale’s Long Halloween, Miller’s Year One (the template for much of Batman Begins) and The Dark Knight Returns, and Moore and Boland’s Killing Joke (the latter two books really set the modern template of the Joker as a psychotic knowing no limits). It would be lazy to compare The Dark Knight to the Godfather – but it’s the only other film that springs to mind that so successfully meets its operatic goals.
The duality of many of the lead characters and their questioning of their own beliefs are themes that Nolan is clearly drawn to, as evidenced by his earlier works Memento (indeed the Joker never explains the origin of his ‘smiling’ wound the same way twice), Insomnia, Batman Begins and The Prestige. But here he worries the bone of those themes, dissects them further.
Nolan’s direction, along with top-notch technical credits (particularly Wally Pfister behind the camera, and the paranoid score), mean The Dark Knight ranks as one of the three best films I’ve seen this year. The action sequences are breathtaking, jaw-dropping – and are aided by full IMAX presentation, reinforcing the dynamism and (vertigo-inducing) scope.
The Dark Knight is brilliant, no doubt. If you're going to see it, then I heartily recommend you do so at an IMAX screen to really wow your senses and enjoy Nolan’s vision to the full.
The score below is not a ‘10’: I’ll reserve judgment, see it again and then wait to see how it ages. I suspect it will age exceptionally well – unfortunately for us it will remain relevant as the fabric of society continues to decay.
Score: 9.5/10
