Sunday, July 20, 2008
A+E, In this Issue..., Movies, Reviews
Bat out of hell
‘The Dark Knight’ delivers a punch to the gut
Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures
Christian Bale and Heath Ledger in “The Dark Knight”
“THE DARK KNIGHT”
Christian Bale, Heath Ledger
Directed by Christopher Nolan
Rated PG-13
Wide release
By Steve Murray
The word “dark” barely begins to cover “The Dark Knight,” director Christopher Nolan’s gritty follow-up to “Batman Begins.” In a summer movie season when most action movies just want to jostle your ribs, it’s a punch to the gut. That’s not a bad thing. Just be forewarned: It’s almost ruthlessly grim, with a body count that pushes its PG-13 rating.
In its graver emotional tone, “Knight” is to “Batman Begins” what “Empire Strikes Back” was to “Star Wars.” It returns us to a rattled Gotham City, whose leaders are trying to decide if the crime-fighting Batman is a welcome new citizen or a scary outlaw. The torched Wayne Manor hasn’t been rebuilt, and Bruce Wayne’s (Christian Bale) childhood sweetheart Rachel Dawes (Maggie Gyllenhaal, smartly replacing Katie Holmes) is engaged to white-knight district attorney Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart). And though average Joes are donning rubber masks and bat ears to emulate the vigilante, the city’s crime lords are also raising their game.
Chief among these is freelance sociopath the Joker (Heath Ledger), a true wild card. Though it’s impossible to say if Ledger’s gash-mouthed, lip-licking performance would have been as arresting if the actor hadn’t died earlier this year, one thing’s for sure: You can’t keep your eyes off him. He gives off a corrosive psycho energy that justifies the verdict given by Bruce's butler Alfred (Michael Caine): “Some men just want to watch the world burn.”
Luckily, Ledger is only one element in a movie muscular enough to contain him. “The Dark Knight” is closer to “The Godfather” or “The Departed” than to either of Tim Burton’s Batman films or (God forbid) Joel Schumacher’s campy pageants. It’s a panoramic crime saga more than a superhero flick, sometimes reducing Bruce/Batman to a supporting role.
Still masquerading as a sozzled trust-fund playboy, Bruce secretly hopes D.A. Dent will clean up the town well enough so that Batman can hang up his cowl and mothball the Batmobile—and maybe even lure Rachel back to his side. But nothing’s that simple in Gotham, especially when the Joker chooses Batman as the yin to his yang, an antithesis he tries to bring out into the open by targeting some of the city’s chief citizens for assassination.
Since the script’s surprises have admirably been protected by Warner Bros., I won’t spoil any of them. “The Dark Knight” is a densely plotted, knotty thriller that deserves to be discovered freshly. If Ledger is the film’s flashiest loose cannon, Gyllenhaal, Eckhart, Caine and Morgan Freeman as bat-toy builder Lucius Fox, and especially the low-key Gary Oldman as Lt. Jim Gordon give “The Dark Knight” the emotional weight of the best dramas. The movie explores deeper issues than expected for material based on a comic-book icon, exploring the thin line between hero and villain, and questioning the value of “truth.”
Too bad it isn’t perfect. A climactic sequence inside a skyscraper is sometimes hard to follow. And at nearly two and a half hours, the movie overstays its welcome. Despite these flaws, “Dark Knight” sticks to you like a bruise. It’s more ambitious than it has any reason to be, and it might even traumatize moviegoers expecting a lighter "Bang-Kapow!" entertainment. (Parents, keep that in mind.)
But hey—when was the last time a big summertime movie was allowed, by the dumber-is-better studio tastemakers, to surprise and unsettle us so thoroughly?
3.5 STARS