The Dark Knight
You didn’t think I’d let a movie like The Dark Knight slip through the cracks on this site, did you? Admittedly, I haven’t reviewed a movie on here in a while, that’s usually because what I have to say about a movie can be found on my Flixster profile. But The Dark Knight is different. The Dark Knight managed to trounce it’s predecessor in action, story line, and acting while also continuing to reveal the story of why Batman is the way he is.
Spoilers to follow
In Batman Begins, Nolan shows us how Bruce Wayne becomes Batman- why he chose that persona, how he learned how to fight, and where he gets all of his cool toys. In The Dark Knight we get a behind the scenes look of why he is psychologically who he is. Before the Joker, Batman isn’t really tried as a Superhero. Yes he had to deal with Scarecrow, but as we see, he isn’t much of a threat. But the Joker- he brings out the worst in Batman because he doesn’t fear Batman. And he destroys all this is good.
In The Dark Knight we see the Joker single handedly create chaos in Gotham City. We see him kill Batman’s only true loved one and destroy the only other hope for the city, Harvey Dent. He is able to bring out the worst in people, most of the time. He even brings Batman within inches of breaking his only rule, which is not to kill. The Joker really comes to life in this movie- he is able to create the chaos I feel he was meant to. And that is due to Heath Ledger’s flawless performance.
Both times I saw the movie, I tried seeing “Heath Ledger as The Joker,” if that makes any sense. But you can’t find a trace of Ledger on the silver screen. You only see the Joker. Ledger’s delivery of the punch lines, mannerisms, personality quarks, and even his ability to make the mundane seem psychotic is the culmination of why this movie is great. Not to say everyone else did a mediocre job, because they didn’t. But this, I feel is the Joker’s story and Ledger was able to deliver that. But there is another character I was more akin to.
Harvey Dent was supposed to be Gotham’s white light. The face that Batman couldn’t be. And he was. But right from the beginning, the movie is filled with dramatic irony leading up to Dent’s transformation into Two-Face. When he said to Lt. Gordon that the boys at MCU had a nickname for him; when he said he made his own luck and later revealed his coin had two heads; and finally when we see that same coin, one of the heads blacked out from the explosion that took Rachel Dawes. He was a testament to the Joker in that regard. The Joker’s proven hypothesis- that he can take a truly good person and make him evil- or at least half evil. You see the Joker take from Dent the idea that he can make his own luck, and traded it in for the idea that no matter what you do, everything really is up to chance. Dent did all he could to bring good to Gotham, but in the end he lost everything and one man took it from him. And even though they had very little shared screen time, Eckhart was able to support Ledger very well.
All of these events lead to a colder, harder Batman. With his only love interest dead, Dent turning evil, and a man he is truely powerless against because the Joker doesn’t fear him we see a transformation. When the movie ends in him taking the wrap for what Dent did so the Joker didn’t truly win he delivers the line, “Sometimes the truth isn’t good enough, because sometimes people should be rewarded for their faith.” We know he still cares about the city. But his moral ground is shaken, and he is left as more of an anti-hero.