The Dark Knight
| Year: | 2008 |
| Studio: | Warner Bros |
| Director: | Christopher Nolan |
| Writer: | Christopher Nolan/Jonathan Nolan/David S Goyer |
| Cast: | Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Michael Caine, Aaron Eckhardt, Gary Oldman, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Morgan Freeman, Eric Roberts, Cillian Murphy, Anthony Michael Hall, William Fitchner, Michael Jai White, Tommy 'Tiny' Lister |
It's funny what happens to entertainment ideas if they stay popular for decades. Batman began with no dark depths beyond an original, simple conceit, but given 70 years to foment in the cultural consciousness and it's evolved from a funny pages icon to a serious dissertation on the nature of society and the psychology of the criminal mind.
Such is the treatment Christopher Nolan brings to his first Batman sequel, The Dark Knight. By treating his characters and the subject seriously it becomes his The Empire Strikes Back - a movie that in every way builds on and surpasses its formidable predecessor, revealing a filmmaker in full maturity.
It also gives the Batman mythology a thrilling new edge. Nolan's dropped this one-time hand-drawn cartoon into an all-too real world, a Gotham city nothing like even the matte paintings of Tim Burton's 1989 blockbuster. Filmed amid the gleaming office towers of Chicago in grimy docks, pristine boardrooms and SWAT police emblazoned with GPD (Gotham Police Department) jackets, we've never seen Batman in a world so like our own, and doing so makes it feel all the more threatening and lifelike.
It's threatening because in such a realistic setting, maniacs like The Joker (Heath Ledger) become terrifyingly possible rather than just comic book thrill rides for the hero to outshine. As you've heard, it'll be the role Ledger will be remembered for after his January 2008 death, a cackling ghoul frightened of nothing and with as much menace as he has glee. What you haven't heard is how the Joker isn't all Ledger - cinematographer Wally Pfister's lighting, Nolan's framing and James Newton Howard's horror-movie score all contributing.
In fact, it's these elements that give The Dark Knight most of its kick. We're treated to several screaming crescendos as something horrible builds, and the shadow and light of Gotham is bought to breathing, sweating life.
Plot-wise it's an extension to the final, tricksy coda of the last film, one that at the time didn't look like it was going to be taken this seriously. Almost a comment on the pre-emptive strike, Batman seems to give rise to evil like The Joker (a fact alluded to by the man himself, in his chilling hiss of 'you complete me') after he's done his part in cleaning gangsters off the streets.
The rest is up to Gotham's new hero, DA Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart), a smug idealist who's also romancing Bruce Wayne's old flame Rachel, this time played by Maggie Gyllenhaal. Dent puts half the Gotham mob away, but like Batman is a different class of crime fighter, The Joker is a different class of crime, and whether Gothamites still realise it or not, they need him as The Joker's rise to power picks up speed and leaves a trail of bodies in its wake.
It's not perfect - the harsh, guttural growl Christian Bale adopts when he's in the suit is outright silly, and at times the soundtrack threatens to overwhelm the dialogue. As the gatekeeper for every aspect of the story, Nolan also takes some ideas too seriously, and the final scenes are infused with more glory and gravity than the idea warrants.
But he's proven himself that rarest of movie directors, one who can take any idea and not only make it very cool but not give in to the studio marketing committee.
Such is the treatment Christopher Nolan brings to his first Batman sequel, The Dark Knight. By treating his characters and the subject seriously it becomes his The Empire Strikes Back - a movie that in every way builds on and surpasses its formidable predecessor, revealing a filmmaker in full maturity.
It also gives the Batman mythology a thrilling new edge. Nolan's dropped this one-time hand-drawn cartoon into an all-too real world, a Gotham city nothing like even the matte paintings of Tim Burton's 1989 blockbuster. Filmed amid the gleaming office towers of Chicago in grimy docks, pristine boardrooms and SWAT police emblazoned with GPD (Gotham Police Department) jackets, we've never seen Batman in a world so like our own, and doing so makes it feel all the more threatening and lifelike.
It's threatening because in such a realistic setting, maniacs like The Joker (Heath Ledger) become terrifyingly possible rather than just comic book thrill rides for the hero to outshine. As you've heard, it'll be the role Ledger will be remembered for after his January 2008 death, a cackling ghoul frightened of nothing and with as much menace as he has glee. What you haven't heard is how the Joker isn't all Ledger - cinematographer Wally Pfister's lighting, Nolan's framing and James Newton Howard's horror-movie score all contributing.
In fact, it's these elements that give The Dark Knight most of its kick. We're treated to several screaming crescendos as something horrible builds, and the shadow and light of Gotham is bought to breathing, sweating life.
Plot-wise it's an extension to the final, tricksy coda of the last film, one that at the time didn't look like it was going to be taken this seriously. Almost a comment on the pre-emptive strike, Batman seems to give rise to evil like The Joker (a fact alluded to by the man himself, in his chilling hiss of 'you complete me') after he's done his part in cleaning gangsters off the streets.
The rest is up to Gotham's new hero, DA Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart), a smug idealist who's also romancing Bruce Wayne's old flame Rachel, this time played by Maggie Gyllenhaal. Dent puts half the Gotham mob away, but like Batman is a different class of crime fighter, The Joker is a different class of crime, and whether Gothamites still realise it or not, they need him as The Joker's rise to power picks up speed and leaves a trail of bodies in its wake.
It's not perfect - the harsh, guttural growl Christian Bale adopts when he's in the suit is outright silly, and at times the soundtrack threatens to overwhelm the dialogue. As the gatekeeper for every aspect of the story, Nolan also takes some ideas too seriously, and the final scenes are infused with more glory and gravity than the idea warrants.
But he's proven himself that rarest of movie directors, one who can take any idea and not only make it very cool but not give in to the studio marketing committee.