Action/Crime/Drama
2 hours and 32 minutes
Rated: PG-13
Written by: Jonathan Nolan & Christopher Nolan
Directed by: Christopher Nolan
Produced by: Christopher Nolan, Charles Roven, and Emma Thomas
Cast:
Christian Bale
Michael Caine
Heath Ledger
Gary Oldman
Aaron Eckhart
Maggie Gyllenhaal
Morgan Freeman
Why So Serious?
The Batman franchise - like all superhero franchises - has seen its fair share of reboots, reimaginings, or remakes (three now, which may seem like a small number but keep in mind its the same number that Superman and Spiderman have under their super belts as well). Super hero movies are a lot like ticks: for years you just heard about them, and now they're everywhere - especially during the summer season. They've flooded the market place faster and harder than any other genre over the past two decades. But can one blame the business side of Hollywood for this? After all, these films do tend to churn out enormous profits ... well, most of them do, and this alone might make their enormous budgets and constant reinventions all the more worthwhile for Hollywood. Personally, I'm of the belief that superhero movies have over stayed their welcome by about ten years. With my own prejudice against movies that heavily utilize CGI and fall outside the realm of realism aside, I'm willing to concede there are in fact some really remarkable entries within this cinematic phenomenon. One of them, of course, being The Dark Knight.
The film succeeds in many ways due to the fact that it is a superhero movie less concerned with CGI and wants to be remembered as being a film that grounded itself in realism - or at least as close to realism as a superhero movie can get. It's a far step away from the surrealist Batman films of Tim Burton and an even further step (thank goodness) away from the hokey, tongue-in-cheek Batman movies of Joel Schumacher (somebody please show this movie to Arnold Schwarzengger so that he can see how to deliver a pun effectively). And yet still, The Dark Knight succeeds further by improving upon the rather dull and unimpressive moments of its predecessor Batman Begins.
For starters, there's the story. Nolan is obviously a filmmaker who is much more interested in showcasing the humanity of these comic book characters and how they interact with one another. Unfortunately, in Batman Begins what we saw was a good performance from Christian Bale and nothing else really. Katy Holmes held her own, but by no means stood out. Michael Caine, Gary Oldman, and Morgan Freeman - obviously three of the most talented men in Hollywood - are never given more than brief moments of comedic relief. Caine and Oldman in particular merely serve as a backdrop for character development for Bruce Wayne. And the villains in Batman Begins were so laughably unimpressive, it makes you wonder what the hell happened during the film's development? (Sorry Liam Neeson, but even your performance in Taken outshines your work in Batman Begins). Did Nolan not know there were a slew of really great Batman villains to choose from? But thankfully, none of these faults exist within The Dark Knight. What we see is an elevation of the more than capable character actors within the film: Bale, Heath Ledger, and Oldman, to the point that all the other players within have stepped up their games in a big way. Gyllenhaal, who replaces Katy Holmes, actually feels more memorable of the two women, purely to the dedication she gives to her performance. Her struggle between the film's two heroes is one that is palpable and believable - just as the struggles of the other characters are. These performances elevate the story, allowing us as an audience to believe in what we're seeing (even the film's more unbelievable moments).
The film's action sequences are stunning and capably captured. In Batman Begins, cinematographer Wally Pfister appeared to have been drunk from watching too many Jason Bourne films. Action scenes were hard to follow with the handheld camera jumping all over the place. Here, Pfister seems to have woken up from that nightmare and instead the camera seems to have settled down some (I say some because, yes, there are a few action scenes one wishes hadn't been handled so shakily). Moments like an underground car fight/chase, a shootout inside of a building in Hong Kong, and the film's opening bank robbery are absolutely thrilling and they make the film all the more entertaining.
The film's pacing should also be commended. Nolan allows moments of tense dialogue - most of which is very well written, by the way - which builds character and subplots to be interrupted by these thrilling action sequences. What this all adds up to of course is a rather long film - long at least by most superhero movie standards - but one that doesn't feel that it's overstayed its welcome. Viewers unquestionably will be engaged by every single moment. Nolan creates such wonderful moments of tension through all of this, that when the unexpected occurs, the audience feels as blindsided as the film's characters.
And yet despite all of this, The Dark Knight is not the perfect movie so many have claimed it to be. For starters, it is so blatantly set in the real city of Chicago one wonders why even go through all the trouble of pretending it's the fictitious city of Gotham? Sure, I get it. Nolan wanted this film to be much more realistic than the previous Batman films, so logically I understand why he chose to shoot it in a real city. But he could have at least tried harder to hide the fact that the city this was shot in was Chicago. If you wanted viewers to believe Batman was in Gotham and not Chicago, maybe don't include a shot of him standing upon the Sears Tower ... just a thought.
The film does have its moments of cringeworthy dialogue and CGI usage, but most of these are few and far between. A particular moment where a boat captain on a ferry that left from Navy Pier ... I mean, Gotham Pier, says, "We're still here, which means they haven't killed us yet." It is so bad one wonders if it was suggested to Nolan by a less capable filmmaker like Michael Bay. Similarly, some of the dialogue delivered by Aaron Eckhart once his character has become Two-Face is painfully delivered. Not so much a writing error as a casting one, though. The CGI used on his face alsol at times feels a tad too distracting - especially given the amount of practical effects work used throughout the film. Imagine it, a good practical effects job of Two-Face's burns probably in the end would have looked much better.
Despite its minor issues, The Dark Knight remains unquestionably one of the best Batman movies, and even one of the best superhero movies of all time largely due to its attempts of toeing the line of realism, its thrilling and well-paced story, and of course its incredible performances - mainly that of Heath Ledger who undeniably has burned himself into the psyches of so many movie goers forever as being what they think of first when they think of the character of the Joker.
9/10
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