Just about anyone who knows me knows I am a superhero fan, and my favorite hero is Batman. And quite frankly, most of the live action versions of Batman have both brought something different to the table and somehow captured something about the Caped Crusader that is still very much Batman whether its the campy tones of Adam West or the world-weary rage of Ben Afflect or even the mopey Goth kid vibe of Robert Pattinson. My favorite Batman is still Kevin Conroy, but I would be lying if I said I didn’t also greatly enjoy Christian Bale’s turn as the character. Likewise, just about every adaptation of the Joker usually brings something to the table, and more than one actor has actually won an Oscar for playing very different versions of the Clown Prince of Crime.
Of course, if there was going to be a superhero movie on any Best Of list, The Dark Knight would probably have to grab that spot.
So, as I sat down to consider what I was going to say about The Dark Knight, naturally my first thoughts were to of course say something about the late Heath Ledger’s take on the Joker. Played as an anonymous psychopath who at least pretends to be a nihilist, this is a Joker whose face is painted on and has at least three stories, one unfinished during the film, on how he got his facial scars. Ledger managed to be only the second actor in Oscar history to win a posthumous award, and it’s really hard to argue that he doesn’t deserve it. His Joker is by turns chaotic, scary, and even a little funny at times. I have a particular affection for the scene where Bale’s Batman interrogates the Joker, and Joker’s first reaction is to criticize how Batman went for a blow to the head first as it would make it harder for anyone to answer questions with a concussion. Given Ledger has maybe twenty minutes of screen time, his Joker joins the ranks of Darth Vader in the original Star Wars and Anthony Hopkins’s take on Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs as a character who steals a film and has a lot less screentime than you might assume despite his presence in the overall film. When Ledger’s Joker tells Bale’s Batman how they’re going to be playing these games together for a long time, it’s a real shame that Ledger’s death prevented that.
However, I feel like a lot has been said about Ledger’s performance, and rightfully so. As such, I’m going to focus more on the Bruce Wayne/Batman character.
One of the things that Nolan’s trilogy, even the disappointing Dark Knight Rises, does very well is tell one story and offer something like a character arc for Bruce Wayne. Not every trilogy does that, and the fact that Warner Brothers opted to just reboot Batman rather than try for a fourth movie at least with Bale in front of the camera is proof of that. It is a bit of a wonder that Nolan didn’t necessarily plan to do a full trilogy–Nolan notoriously claims he only works on one film at a time–but there is a real sense of character growth and development between Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. Now, Batman Begins may be the platonic ideal for superhero origin stories in the way it covers Bruce Wayne’s early life, but it does have some minor flaws. Katie Holmes is not a good fit as childhood friend/love interest Rachel Dawes, the fight scenes were often difficult to follow, and for a film that at least attempts to be a grounded-in-reality superhero film, a machine that only evaporates water seems a little out there. Those issues seem to have gone by the wayside for The Dark Knight. What little advanced tech is on display isn’t too far outside the realm of possibility, the fight choreography improved, and the Rachel character has been recast with a superior Maggie Gyllenhaal.
But what about Batman? Bruce is still going out at nights and assisting one of Gotham’s few honest cops in the form of Lt. (later Commissioner) Jim Gordon (an excellently understated Gary Oldman). He has some sage advisors in the form of his butler Alfred (Michael Caine) and Wayne Enterprises executive Lucius Fox (Morgan Freeman). By this point, Bruce feels he may be making some progress as a symbol, even if a number of Gothamites seem to be taking the wrong message from his nocturnal activities, but there’s hope in the form of DA Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart), a man who may be able to take Batman’s place as the force for good in the city, allowing Bruce to hang up his cape, marry Rachel, and finally be happy.
And it struck me on this viewing that that is such a child’s way of viewing things.
One of the things that always struck me at how mature Nolan’s take on superheroes was came in the form of the Rachel character in this film. The superhero’s love interest is hardly a new trope, and most heroes have one with some heroes having a very definitive one. What’s Superman without Lois Lane, for example? Batman is a bit of an odd man out. True, his comic adventures in recent years seem to have really pushed Catwoman into that role, but Selina Kyle has often had a more adversarial role in Batman’s life. As much as they may care for each other, she’s still a criminal and he’s still a vigilante enforcing the law. Rachel Dawes, a character that as far as I know was invented for these films, is a childhood friend who Bruce sees as salvation for himself when his crusade is over. Acting like something of a conscience in the first film, I was pleasantly surprised to see her basically reject Bruce in favor of Harvey Dent in this one.
Yeah, even the first time I saw this film, I was really impressed with how the filmmakers handled Rachel and her surprising death. Alfred’s decision to destroy Rachel’s last letter before Bruce could find it may have silenced her for Bruce’s sake, but in the end, she wasn’t really a person for either Bruce or Two-Face. She was a symbol, and it’s a credit to Gyllenhaal’s performance that she is an actual human being and not just the male lead’s salvation. Rachel rejected that role for herself with Bruce, and I can’t imagine she would have been all that pleased to hear Harvey speak in a similar manner, even if he was irrevocably broken by that point. There were moments when Gyllenhaal made these small movements with her face, movements Bale’s Bruce didn’t seem to notice, that said outright that she just wasn’t comfortable being a prize of some kind for Bruce when he was ready to hang up the cape and cowl. It made sense that she was the one who realized he wasn’t going to do that too. It’s just another sign of how mature and grounded Nolan’s film is compared to, oh, about 90% of the MCU for starters. Most superhero movies are fun for me, but The Dark Knight may be one of the few to take a really deep look into the main character’s psyche in ways most films of this genre don’t actually do, though that may be because Batman as a character seems more designed to do just that.
Which is not to say that this interpretation of Batman the character isn’t immature. It’s more like he’s a damaged man who has trouble really connecting to people. Given the loss of his parents, it probably isn’t much of a surprise that Bruce gravitates towards authority figures, especially older ones. He doesn’t even trust himself enough to operate the cell phone sonar devise, instead handing it off to Lucius with a set of instructions that will destroy the machine when the mission is complete because Lucius is perhaps the only man Bruce knows moral enough to use such a machine without becoming corrupt himself. But when Batman lectures the Joker on how there are “good” people in the city, it’s not a very complex moral code. Compared to Joker’s more nihilistic view, Bruce’s seems downright simple. The Dark Knight isn’t a flawless film. The ferry scene is rightfully criticized. Bale’s Batman voice sounds silly. But this is still a film about a man in a bat costume beating up criminals. It’s not supposed to be realistic.
And yet, it feels so grounded. Nolan’s general preference for practical effects over CGI probably has a lot to do with that. And even when he does use CGI for the scarred half of Harvey Dent’s face, he makes the most of it with a fake-out or two when Harvey will turn his head but the camera cuts away a couple times before finally showing the scarred wreck left behind by the Joker’s attack on Harvey and Rachel that left him disfigured and her dead. Nolan’s Gotham looks like a regular city and not some gothic hellhole like other versions. The sun even comes out in this Gotham City.
So no, The Dark Knight isn’t perfect, and there are probably plenty of folks who would argue it’s not as deep as fans like me think it is or that it’s not as realistic as others might claim. But this is still a superhero story, and in the end, it’s just a matter of getting lost in a world where one man dressed like a bat can stop a psychotic clown.
NEXT: Apparently, I’m not done just yet with films where Morgan Freeman plays a reassuring figure in a difficult place. Be back soon for 1994’s The Shawshank Redemption.
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