I grew up at a time when it was nearly impossible not to be a Batman fan. While Tim Burton's first Bat-film barely escaped my radar upon release, I still remember the hoopla around Returns in 1992. I was there when they launched the Animated Series, faithfully watching every day after school. I was in line opening day for both Forever and Robin. While other comic book characters were certainly prevalent at the time, none ingrained themselves into my psyche quite as much as Bruce Wayne and his alter-ego. So when the whole franchise came to a sudden and unexpected halt in 1997, I was disheartened. It seemed as though I may have to move on, find a new superhero to satiate my comic book needs. But as the comic book renaissance began at the turn of the decade, I found myself unimpressed by what was being offered. It became apparent that no other character would be able to take over the mantle from Batman, and I would just have to patiently wait for someone to revive the dormant franchise.Christopher Nolan's 2005 take on the series was a breath of fresh air. It took itself and its characters seriously, aiming to be more than simply a fun time at the movies (though it was that, too). Nolan and company decided to make a hero for a real world, eschewing superpowers and freakish villains. In retrospect, that first offering did have its faults - notably the final act - but all in all, it succeeded where so many other comic book films have failed. Now, three years later, Nolan has set out to top his already stellar first film. To say he does is an understatement. This is a magnum opus for the genre, a film that is alive with ideas, characters, action, dialog, and emotion. Like only a select few sequels, it builds upon its predecessor to expand the world its characters live in while not ignoring what made the first one so successful.
If I have one complaint, it is that Batman is relegated back to second fiddle, much like he was in the first series of films. It would have been nice to focus a bit more on how he was dealing with the events in the film, especially a major choice he has to make about halfway into the film. Begins was the first film to truly explore the character in more than a superficial way, but they've regressed a bit on that front here. His arc was the most difficult to appreciate, simply because not enough time was spent on it. Although in a two and a half hour movie, that may be asking for too much. Especially when every single new character is so damn fascinating.
The scariest villains in film history are ones we don't know anything about. Michale Meyers, Leatherface, Anton Chigurh, Hannibal Lecter (although someone got the bright idea to explain him to no end in a series of sequels) - all work because their actions are unpredictable, seeming to make no sense. The Joker, perhaps one of the most iconic villains in any medium, follows in this fine tradition, and as a result he is both terrifying and riveting. The Joker appears to explain what made him into such a monster, only to later reveal that he was just messing with us. It's like he knows people are trying to analyze him, to figure out what turned him into such a monster, and he is having fun screwing with people's expectations. Was it his dad? A former lover? Something far more mundane? We never get an honest answer, nor do we need one. As a result, Joker is so unpredictable that we are left constantly on the edge of our seats wondering where he is going to take us next.
Heath Ledger makes the role of the Joker his own, proving all the naysayers (myself included) wrong. And while he is so convincing as a man utterly nuts, it is his scene in the interrogation room with Batman that really shows just how great a performance it is we are witnessing. Reminiscent of the diner scene in Heat (in fact, much of the film is an homage to that classic), these two opponents stop the movement of the story for a few minutes to simply talk to each other. While the scene quickly turns out to be an integral part of the plot, for a moment or two this scene just pops with energy as two sides of a coin meet face to face. If Ledger really does get an Oscar nomination, it will be this scene that is showcased on award night.
The ads have led us to believe that this is Heath Ledger's film, but that actually isn't the case. I am fairly certain that the most screen time is allotted to Aaron Eckhart as Harvey Dent. If that isn't accurate, it simply felt that way because it was his performance that stood out to me the most. We've already gotten Batman's story, and the Joker has no story, so this film ends up being about Dent's arc. And what an arc it is. I suppose it could be considered a spoiler what he ultimately goes through, but if you have any familiarity with the Batman mythos, it should be obvious where he is heading by film's end. Eckhart absolutely sells the character as someone who has strong morals, but is losing his grasp on the idea of how to go about enforcing those morals. He is fighting for the same thing as Batman, but unlike Batman he is forced to obey the law in order to bring about justice. This is an arc that could have felt unbelievable if not handled right, but I bought into Dent's third act transformation. Eckhart is, in my mind, the real centerpiece of the film.
I hope that everyone involved will be back for one more Batman outing. They've hit on some really great themes here that need to be wrapped up in a third film (or, more likely, not wrapped up as much as further expounded upon. Nolan isn't interested in giving us simple black and white morals here). The idea of Batman being not a hero, but a figure of vigilante justice is an interesting one that rarely gets acknowledged in these kinds of films. People in comic book films love Spider-man and Superman in a way they don't with Batman. He takes everything into his own hands, plays by his own rules. He is the Dirty Harry of superheroes. When he essentially wiretaps every phone in Gotham, we are forced to question if he really has our best interests at heart. While he seems to think so, not everyone else does.
Nolan's Batman series has really spoiled the comic book movie for me. I just can't sit back and mindlessly enjoy something like Iron Man or The Incredible Hulk when there is something far more mature and complex out there in the same genre. Sure, those films are fun, but fun is passive, fleeting. To aspire to be something more than just fun, as Nolan is doing here, is to achieve a lasting impact on our culture that will be discussed and analyzed for years to come. And that appears to be what The Dark Knight has achieved.
