The film Text copyright (c) Filmverdict 2006-present. Any film titles and artwork used are copyright of their respective owners.
If there's one word that springs to mind when describing The Dark Knight, it's "ambitious". Director and co-writer Christopher Nolan has not just set out to make a sequel to his excellent franchise rebirth Batman Begins - he set his sights on something far bigger than just a continuation. While Begins felt like a serious, realistic comic book film, The Dark Knight barely feels like a comic book film at all, instead recalling crime thrillers like Michael Mann's epic Heat (a source of inspiration openly acknowledged by Nolan) - and some have even made comparisons to The Godfather Part II. Like those films, The Dark Knight is very much an ensemble piece - although Batman/Bruce Wayne is at the centre of everything, there is a cast of dozens of important characters who all vie for attention amidst the sprawling narrative. Ultimately the grand scope is what both sets the film apart from its competition, both within the comic book genre and blockbusters in general, but it also contributes to a few of the film's minor flaws.
The opening sequence - as glimpsed already by those who saw I Am Legend on an IMAX screen - is a superb beginning for this crime saga. It depicts a group of Halloween-masked hoodlums performing a bank heist, but the twist is that they keep killing each other as the heist progresses. Eventually there's one man left standing: the Joker, as embodied by Heath Ledger. The sequence not only brilliantly kickstarts the film, it also is a highly efficient character introduction to the psychotic and iconic villain. The late Ledger's performance puts Jack Nicholson's in the shade: this Joker, despite his name, is not just a comedy character, he's a callous killer out to cause murderous mayhem. Given the character-packed nature of the film, this isn't just the Batman vs. Joker show, with Ledger showing up at seemingly random points throughout the film without really possessing a grand scheme. Indeed, the Joker's aim - to cause chaos - is reflected in the film's structure, which is extremely complicated and at times over-convoluted, but always engrossing.
Nolan gives himself a lot to do in terms of setting up characters – as well as introducing the Joker, there's also the new character of Gotham District Attorney Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart), and the myriad returning players from the first film are all given their time to shine too. Although Ledger's maniacal performance stands out, Eckhart is also superb as Gotham's so-called "White Knight" - he's a good guy through and through, the sort of man that makes Bruce Wayne think he may be able to hang up his Bat-boots. Such noble characters can be boring, but Dent in Eckhart's hands is extremely likeable, and when some major events happen in the later stages the actor entirely convinces with his character's difficult arc. Another good guy, Gary Oldman's Jim Gordon, is promoted here from basically being Batman's sidekick in the last film to an interesting and proactive character in his own right, leading the police investigation into the complex goings-on involving Gotham's mobsters.
With so much happening, it's hardly surprising that the focus of the story sometimes gets lost between all the cross-cutting. Even at two and a half hours, the film feels like it would benefit from extra length to clear up some of the less coherent events (early rumours suggested a running time of three hours, so there may well be some deleted material) - and as has been shown in the past, adding scenes to a film can sometimes make it feel shorter by improving the flow. In a way, The Dark Knight almost seems like one and a half films – it could easily have ended after an extended highway duel (the film's best action sequence) that occurs at about two-thirds of the way into the film, but Nolan had loftier ambitions. Much of what happens in the last 45 minutes is breathtaking in its unpredictability and bravado. There's nothing safe about the choices Nolan makes with this film.
Visually, The Dark Knight is a departure from Begins' gloomy, rain-soaked, industrial look. The majority of the film, as much as sixty percent, was shot on location, with Chicago standing in for Gotham. A lot of the film takes place in broad daylight, with Chicago's glass skyscrapers replacing the grunge of the mostly set-bound Gotham of the previous film. As such it feels like a different city – even Wayne Tower is a completely different building – which emphasises the realism that the director is going for. It works because the city has been cleaned up since Batman's arrival on the scene; the criminal underworld are now running scared from the nocturnal vigilante, even reduced to meeting in the daytime, and the police are managing to wrestle some control of the streets from the gangsters. A little more visual continuity wouldn't have gone amiss, though.
Despite the flaws - none of which are major - the film succeeds on a level that few other big-budget blockbusters can claim. The Dark Knight does not pull punches, and it does not hold the hand of its audience. It's a complex, disturbing tale that treats the viewer with respect and does not present black-and-white moral issues. Some of the action scenes lack innovation, but in every other area this is a boundary-pushing film: it's a summer tentpole which concentrates on character and acting by a cast that cannot be faulted. Indeed, it says a lot that one of the most electrifying scenes involves Bale and Ledger talking to each other.
Christopher Nolan has stated that after seeing the performance Heath Ledger gave, he tried his utmost to make the film as a whole live up to it. He can rest assured, it does.
The summary
The sheer density of The Dark Knight's narrative is unwieldy at times but it also makes it an extremely rich film that grips from beginning to end, driven by a trio of powerhouse performances from Bale, Ledger and Eckhart.
Agree? Disagree? Say so in the Guestbook!