The Facts:
Synopsis: When Batman, Gordon and Harvey Dent launch an assault on the mob, they let the clown out of the box, the Joker, bent on turning Gotham on itself and bringing any heroes down to his level.
Stars: Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Heath Ledger, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Aaron Eckhart, Gary Oldman, Morgan Freeman
Director: Christopher Nolan
Rated: PG-13
Running Length: 152 minutes
TMMM Score: (9/10)
Review:
The Facts:
Synopsis: Bruce Wayne loses his philanthropic parents to a senseless crime, and years later becomes the Batman to save the crime-ridden Gotham City on the verge of destruction by an ancient order.
Stars: Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Liam Neeson, Katie Holmes, Ken Watanabe, Cillian Murphy, Gary Oldman, Morgan Freeman
Director: Christopher Nolan
Rated: PG-13
Running Length: minutes
TMMM Score: (x/10)
Review:
The Facts:
Synopsis: When Batman, Gordon and Harvey Dent launch an assault on the mob, they let the clown out of the box, the Joker, bent on turning Gotham on itself and bringing any heroes down to his level.
Stars: Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Heath Ledger, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Aaron Eckhart, Gary Oldman, Morgan Freeman
Director: Christopher Nolan
Rated: PG-13
Running Length: minutes
TMMM Score: (9.5/10)
Review: In some ways, sequels to popular movies are tougher sells than one might think. Yes, you have a built in audience that you know will buy tickets on opening weekend – but the trick is to keep the word of mouth going in subsequent weeks to encourage new customers and repeat business. With the critical and commercial success of Batman Begins it was a no-brainer that a sequel was green lit and the original director (Nolan) was brought on board to oversee another Batman adventure. When tragedy struck at the end of principal photography it seemed like what was supposed to be a slam dunk now faced challenges.
Cleverly teased at the end of Batman Begins, the Joker is the main villain of The Dark Knight and what a villain he is. Ledger’s work here will go down in the annals of film history as one of the most haunted/haunting performances on screen, richly winning him a posthumous Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. It’s hard to imagine anyone else inhabiting the role so fully, so perfectly as Ledger. It’s a shame he died seven months before its release but his ghost doesn’t so much hover over the film but ground it better in reality. Death is something that hangs over all of us and the Joker’s freewheeling foreboding with mortality is palpable when you consider the actor playing him is gone.
Even if the passing of Ledger did overshadow the film as it prepared for release, the final product is so epic and wonderful that the tragedy does get compartmentalized to the side as you go on Nolan’s grand journey. Sequels are known for needing to be bigger and better and Nolan wisely focuses on better first and foremost.
One of the obvious betterments is Katie Holmes wisely declining to reprise her role as a love interest to Bale’s Batman/Bruce Wayne combo. She’s replaced by Gyllenhaal who gives the character what she was missing in the first film – a purpose. Holmes never locked in on where her part fit into the grand scheme of the Batman universe. Gyllenhaal’s a smart cookie and colors her take on Rachel with textures Holmes was incapable of. If Holmes was lost in the shuffle than Gyllenhaal has moments where she holds the deck. Nolan still doesn’t write for women very well but working with Gyllenhaal brings out some good work.
All of the other actors from the first film are back on board here and succeed by making the steps necessary to move their characters onward. Too often there is no furthering of character development in squeals due to lack of time between explosions but Nolan is more than happy to pause for moments that tell us the what’s underneath the masks we all wear. He’s smart enough to know that the plot twists he adds here would never work if we didn’t understand relationships that exist between our characters. Bale digs even deeper into his lower register to find Batman’s voice, Oldman’s Lt. Gordon continues to be a beacon of uprightness, Caine’s Alfred still cares, Freeman can do this type of role in his sleep, and Murphy returns in a nice cameo as Crane/Scarecrow. Eckhart is one of the more underrated actors of his generation and is the second bit of perfect casting as D.A. Harvey Dent who becomes a romantic adversary for Wayne and a potential adversary for Batman.
Ledger and Nolan created the Joker to be one of the scariest villains not featured in a horror film. When I first saw the movie, Ledger’s incessant lip smacking and slightly affected nature rubbed me the wrong way. Taking in the film again recently I did a 180 degree turn and saw just how brilliant his choices were. As memorable as Jack Nicholson was in Tim Burton’s take on Batman, he favored the comic side to the truly evil. Ledger’s make-up and overall appearance subconsciously disappear as the film progresses so much so that you don’t even notice the grotesque smudged make-up by the end. Not really explaining how he came to be is another brilliant move that makes the character all the more menacing – without reasons why he does what he does the audience is kept on the edge because you don’t know how far he’ll really go.
The action sequences in The Dark Knight still give me chills and are breathless examples of high concept filmmaking that simply can’t be duplicated. I can’t imagine anyone other than Nolan putting together the kind of visuals on display here and years later I feel the impressive set-pieces will be used as guides in how to make a modern and timeless action film.
The Dark Knight was one of the first films to feature scenes shot expressly for IMAX cameras. In utilizing this technology, I did feel there were two too many shots flying through skyscrapers and gazing down between buildings. I get that there was a need to capitalize on the technique but several of these shots seem little more than grandstanding…but it’s the most minor of quibbles in what is otherwise an amazing film, tech-wise.
When The Dark Knight was released, the Oscar field for Best Picture was still locked in with five nominees. It’s omission as a contender for Best Picture was the impetus for the Academy revising its policies and expanding the field for up to ten nominees. Had the field been wider at the time The Dark Knight would have (and should have) been a top pick for Best Picture. In case you need a reminder, this was the year that Slumdog Millionaire (yuck!) took the title over Frost/Nixon, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The Reader, and Milk. In this company of arguably weak titles, the critical and audience favorite sequel to Batman Begins had a shot for Oscar’s top prize.
Like Batman Begins, The Dark Knight could easily have been a standalone movie. Yes, elements from the first film do play a part here but they are minor enough that it really wouldn’t matter. Batman Begins was a strong start to this franchise reboot and The Dark Knight improved in every way on an already solid first effort…and now with the release of The Dark Knight Rises the trilogy will be complete. How will it all end and will The Dark Knight Rises usurp its two predecessors?