GRADE: ***1/2
Viewings: Two
NOTE:I caught the midnight screening at the Cobb Hollywood 16 in Tuscaloosa, where my theater did not provide digital sound; in fact, the sound was shoddy with music often muffling much of the dialogue (including Gordon's final speech). The following Sunday, I caught an afternoon show in a larger theater with digital sound and a larger screen for the full effect (though it was neither digital projection nor IMAX, so maybe not the full effect).
I'll try and spill the beans in a bit of a Q&A-type fashion to keep things moving along.
Has Christopher Nolan made the perfect, quintessential, flawless "BATMAN" movie with THE DARK KNIGHT? Frankly, NO. Although...
TDK is miles and miles, far and away by leaps and bounds better than the only pretty good (stretching it) BATMAN BEGINS. At this point, I get tired of people stranding this movie within a genre, labeling it, "Not only the best comic book movie of the year - maybe the best ever!" Forget the genre, this is one of the better MOVIES of the year - and I mean right along with the still excellent (remember?) IRON MAN. Each film competes with the other in terms of best comic movie ever, as do Burton's BATMAN movies and some other titles.
Has TDK lived up to the ludicrous hype brought on by fans, critics, its filmmakers and those of us who hadn’t even seen the thing? TO EN EXTENT. From the get-go, the movie delivers on a number of levels, opening with an homage to what Nolan has publicly claimed to be a direct influence on this film, Michael Mann’s HEAT. While the sequence is effective and extremely well-filmed, was it enough of a gut-punch to kick things into overdrive like it should have? Almost. Even throughout this sequence, when he’s masked and silent for the most part, we get hints of what we’re in for from one of the actors.
What Nolan has given us with TDK is exactly what a ton of critics and bloggers have deemed it: a crime epic told in a grand scope, thanks a great deal to cinematographer Wally Pfister, who has come a long way even since his work on MEMENTO. These GODFATHER PART II comparisons seem legitimate at this point; I think the Hong Kong sequence between Lucious Fox and Lau showed a pretty evident influence in terms of the framing and setting of their meeting. Otherwise, the speed and tone of the movie feels similar. While it certainly doesn’t match it step-for-step, most notably quality-wise, I wouldn’t totally berate someone for making the parallel.
Nolan’s unexpected knack for grandiose action set pieces – car chases, specifically – establishes him as one of the action-meets-substance genre’s go-to guys. TDK is a big movie – a blockbuster – that isn’t afraid to marinate on its story or feel for its characters, although there were spurts where I didn’t feel anything at all for various, not even secondary characters in the latter portion of the movie. A major strength and flaw within Nolan’s film is its consistency. Where it lifts off at certain points in the narrative, tone, characters, special effects and action, it nearly collapses at others. For the filmmakers – and perhaps the fans more so – to brag about placing an absurd comic figure like Batman in an almost totally realistic setting, I feel like they crossed the line during what I thought was a disappointing climax. Yes, it is still a comic book and this sort of thing would normally fly (especially on “Batman: The Animated Series” or just in the comic), but didn’t they set some boundaries for this universe? Maybe it’s an unfair quibble – just didn’t totally work for me.
Folks who claim TDK takes itself a little too seriously might be right, but I wouldn’t say there’s necessarily anything wrong with that, given how many different takes we’ve seen (of this nature) in print prior to this release. Still, it’s a fair criticism, but what separates BATMAN from the other comics and keeps it superior is the darker and more sober nature of its protagonist and his bleak environment. One thing Nolan lacked in BATMAN BEGINS was a tangible realization of Gotham City, which I think he’s found in TDK (at this point, I can’t decide between both of Burton’s Gothams or this one). While this might pluck the consistency chord again (as there are several noticeable differences between BEGINS’ and TDK’s Gothams), this time there’s a progression.
Where this movie fails reflects the tendency of a most superhero movies to overstep their boundaries in terms of the use of villains. How many is enough? Burton attacked both methods: one villain in BATMAN, three in BATMAN RETURNS (Penguin, Catwoman, Max Shreck). Joel Schumacher threw two bad guys at Batman in his efforts, and Nolan juggled between three and four at times in BEGINS (if you count Joe Chill – most wouldn’t, I’m guessing). With TDK, Nolan had a real chance to carve out a beautiful, maybe perfect reflection and dichotomy between two people; to pit Batman against only the Joker – one-on-one – and make it personal would have been the right thing to do even if they pulled off Harvey Dent’s character arc.
My thinking: save it for the next round! In my opinion the villain Two Face has been wasted, THAT IS, if he really died. At this point, I remain unconvinced that he really “died a hero.” That’s the front. Maybe it highlights one of Nolan’s few weaknesses as a director (I doubt it), but in no way did Harvey’s final sequence tell me, “He’s definitely dead.” Harvey Dent is dead – he has “lived long enough to become the villain.” I know he became the villain in TDK given his five-person rampage in the final half hour, but the character still felt like Harvey Dent and less like Two Face. In Nolan’s Gotham, this villain would flourish, and it’d be a crying shame to have wasted him completely, which he might have.
Criticisms fall few and far between with this movie, as it’s so jam-packed with things that work, it almost hurts to discuss what doesn’t. But I’ll list off a few things that bothered me:
1. The Sonar – Stupid. The only outright stupid thing about the movie had to serve as the catalyst for what should have been a memorable climax. Morgan Freeman’s stunned and disgusted face says it all when he sees the thing as he’s approaching, as if he’s thinking, “You’re going to screw it up, aren’t you? We had a great thing going, but you’re f*cking it all up!” One blogger or critic out there suggested that the sonar POV effects shots looked to come right out of the DAREDEVIL movie. Stupid, outrageous idea that served little purpose and hurt the overall experience.
2. Two Face – Shouldn’t have even happened. Nolan had a great opportunity to keep the Dent character and set his transformation up for the next film, not unlike how he set up the Joker in this one. Two Face’s design, too, was a little…off. Graham pointed out similarities with MARS ATTACKS!, which I actually thought the first time I saw the eye and teeth at once. If they’d been truly hardcore like they were with the rest of the movie, they would have pulled off a killer prosthetic design. Don’t be scared to call upon Rick Baker. I know I’ll catch some heat for this, but I really believe it: ANYONE COULD HAVE PLAYED THIS PART under Nolan’s direction. I love a lot of Aaron Eckhart’s work, especially in IN THE COMPANY OF MEN, YOUR FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS and THANK YOU FOR SMOKING – he’s a proven commodity to most productions. And he does a fine job here as Harvey Dent, but nearly any male actor his age could have pulled it off with the exact same results. Unlike the previously mentioned films he’s in, you don’t get that edge he’s provided before. A great character handled well for the most part, but Dent is bland enough to have been played by anyone. At least it wasn’t Brandon Routh.
3. Rachel Dawes – Nothing against Maggie Gyllenhaal; I think she served her purpose well. But this character hasn’t helped this franchise in the least bit. Not at all. Although she sets up a decent love triangle between Bruce Wayne and Dent, here she really just shadows her boyfriend in and out of the courtroom and office. Blowing her to bits was a great decision.
4. The Bat Grunt – Where they failed in BEGINS, they failed again here. By now, I’m used to it, but that doesn’t mean I like Bale-as-Batman’s raspy, “scary” disguise voice hasn’t impressed me at all, and I still can’t fathom why they’re even doing it. Bale sounds goofy, but this one falls totally on Nolan who should know better. Every time I hear it, I just think, “No.” Especially bad in BEGINS, but not any better in TDK.
5. The boat(s) sequence – What started out as a disturbingly terrific sequence turned awkward and hokey, especially thanks to Batman’s croaky justification for Gotham’s good will. Whenever third-tier characters (usually in large quantities) get this much dialogue, expect bad results (see THE MATRIX and PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN sequels). We’ve just been introduced to these people, and we don’t care about them once they’ve opened their mouths. Keep them quiet, and let’s see it almost entirely from the points-of-view of Batman, the Joker, Gordon, etc. When I scanned through Moriarty’s AICN review where he described this, it sounded terrifying. He left a lot out. The worst of it on my end is that part of me wanted to see one or both of those boats blow sky high to just further establish the Joker as the villain.
6. The final act – TDK deserved a better climax, which should have included a real showdown between Batman and the Joker. They got their talking points out of the way during the interrogation sequence, and while the Joker’s monologue was fine and all (“unstoppable force meets an immovable object”), the villain should have met a proper demise or been provided with some appropriate closure. The last time we see him is in a medium shot as cops are coming to pick him up. That’s the last of this iconic character that ultimately made the movie what it is. The actor and, more importantly, the character deserved much more than that. Even a short sequence in Arkham Asylum would have been enough. Dedicating the final 10-15 minutes of the movie to Harvey Dent and Jim Gordon didn’t do it any favors even if those characters deserved their closure. Ending things without the Joker just didn’t feel right – not at all.
7. Hong Kong – Doesn’t belong in this universe. I haven’t ready as many BATMAN comics as most people, but I can’t imagine many references to other real-life national or international cities and settings. I’ve just never thought of Batman as a globetrotter. Keep it in Gotham.
8. TRIM THE FAT – While the 152-minute running time felt brisk at times, some things could have been cut. Namely, the attempt at Two Face, Hong Kong and some of the Jim Gordon baggage.
Honestly, that’s about all I didn’t like. The rest of it pretty much hit the nail right on the head.
For about 50 minutes, TDK blasts its way through at about 200 mph, perhaps peaking earlier than it should. Which 50 minutes (estimated)? Starting the moment after Harvey Dent announces at his press conference that he is Batman. Once Dent hops aboard the SWAT truck and the street chase gets started, TDK makes its case for best movie of 2008, although the campaign comes to an end well before the end credits. From the chase to the precinct to Rachel’s Death to the hospital, Nolan hit back-to-back-to-back-to-ba
WHAT I LOVED:
1. The Joker (Heath Ledger) – The hype is justified. Ledger played at a faster speed than anyone on the set other than Wally Pfister maybe. Making an effort to reach the echelon of a Daniel Day-Lewis/Daniel Plainview immersion, Ledger might be just as successful. Every time he was on screen, he had my full attention; and every time he left the screen, I thought, “I wish he were here, but I’ll settle for this.” Sort of the same feeling I fad for Javier Bardem’s Anton Chigurh in NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN; and in that regard, the man’s PRESENCE is felt throughout the entire movie even when he’s absent on screen. While his “proper introduction” shot didn’t really do him justice, the shot from behind as he interrupts the gangster meeting with his “ha ha, ho, he, ha, ho, he…” laugh sets a dangerous tone. The walk and behavior outside of the exploding hospital is not only brilliant on Ledger’s part but on Nolan and the crew’s as well for pulling off all of it in a single take. The Oscar nod is sewn up – mark it down – and he deserves it. Alive or dead, this dynamic of a character and performance would have raised plenty of eyebrows. Won’t call the win just yet; there are more movies and performances that need a-seein’. Ledger’s death is a tragedy, as we all know, but what’s also upsetting is that he can’t revive this character for the next go-around; this is another reason why I think Joker should have died. Everything the guy does in every scene he’s in is top-notch.
2. The Bat Pod – Singlehandedly provided two applause-worthy moments: when it’s released from the Batmobile/Tumbler (“Goodbye.”) and the spin off of the wall. For me, during Gordon’s final speech, I was glad that they went with the Bat Pod instead of the Tumbler, flying, running or just being perched up on a building; the cut to black from behind really did the trick. Just a cool addition.
3. The chase – Most notably, of course, the game of chicken played between Batman and the Joker (“I want you to do it…”) after the 18-wheeler topsides. Honestly, too, the image of the flaming fire truck really stuck with me during and after the sequence. Something about the Joker rigging that up in the path of the convoy really set a creepy and unsafe tone.
4. Wally Pfister – Truly a unique and successful pairing between this talented cinematographer and Nolan. Pfister brings the serious, flaming kind of heat this time (a serious improvement over the tight, Oscar-nominated photography in BEGINS). Can’t wait to see this one on DVD or digital projection. I have yet to see it in IMAX, too, but I can imagine what I’d be in for. Something about the smooth, gliding helicopter shots felt different than other aerial photography in movies.
5. The score – Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard’s pulsating music really adds another dimension and even acts as its own character this time. Not sure why, but I felt like BEGINS’ score sounded empty and average while there were surely some similarities. Maybe it’s really all about the content it surrounds. The “theme” is exciting, if not as grand and evident as Elfman’s original BATMAN theme, every time it makes an appearance, which isn’t often. Joker’s chilling theme, too, even played during the opening BATMAN logo before the opening shot of the film, works well. Another frightening cue happens when the loudmouth on the “citizens” boat contemplates turning the detonator – reminds you of the recent THERE WILL BE BLOOD music.
6.The hospital explosion – Perhaps the most iconic image and moment that will resonate from the movie years to come.
7. Rachel Dawes’ death – No offense to her, but she had to go. Way to leave in style.
8. Joker’s first scene – I’m not counting the bank robbery; when we first really get to know this character as he crashes the gangster meeting. His entrance, the pencil trick and his response when someone asks, “You think you can just walk in and steal from us?” – all terrific.
9. The flaming mountain of money – Just a superb image you’d only see in a comic book, and to set it on fire when Lau at the top was just another menacing touch. “Why don’t we cut you up into little pieces and feed you to your pooches. Then we’ll see just how loyal a hungry dog really is.” Great dialogue.
10. The ENTIRE duration of the Joker’s time at the precinct – Maybe my favorite aspect of the entire movie. From when he’s arrested, requesting more time with Batman in the street after Gordon catches him, to when he’s hanging out of the police car, dimly-lit and speeding away from the cell. “I want my phone call” – another perfect delivery.
There are other things to speak of, but those are the moments that really sunk their teeth into me. And just the scope of it all; it all felt grand – like it was a big deal to even be there within the story, which is what some event movies don’t give us anymore. A lot of effort went into it, and it’s totally visible. What impressed me the most about the Joker was how far the Nolans went regarding the severity of his crimes. They explored some of the darkest depths a madman could reach when he’s trying to prove a point, and a ton of it hit hard.
The question of the hour at this point is, “What now?” Just what does Nolan do to top himself? Some say he can’t, but didn’t he top the people’s precious BATMAN BEGINS? Personally, I didn’t think it would take much. The first theatrical trailer for TDK is better than BATMAN BEGINS in its entirety –and I really believe that, exaggerations aside.
Who’ll the villain be? Here’s hoping my Two Face theory stands (not giving a rat’s ass what the original script says), it’ll be him and someone else if they resort to the two-or-three-villain format, which they shouldn’t. The tiny little reference and the death of Rachel Dawes almost feels like, if we’re using sports terminology, they’re clearing cap room for a Catwoman/Selina Kyle signing. I’d honestly like to see Nolan’s take on Mr. Freeze; I think BATMAN works well in a winter climate. If either of these villains show up, who do they cast?
By now, I feel like it’s clear that Nolan, Bale, Oldman and company will be back for round three. With TDK, they improved upon their first outing by well over 100%, in my opinion. I don’t have any vendetta against BEGINS – I’m a fan of everyone involved – I just don’t see it as the BATMAN movie we’d all been waiting for, which is the same moniker this one’s gotten since last Friday’s release. Do I feel that way about this movie? I think the phrase “Close, but no cigar” applies here, but that’s only in terms of perfection. Nolan’s getting closer and closer, but can he do it without Ledger’s Joker? I’d like to give him the benefit of the doubt.
This movie is not perfect. It’s just really, really, really good.
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