The Dark Knight - Batman (2008)

The Dark Knight is the latest instalment of the Batman saga, the second of Christopher Nolan’s masterful re-working of the comic book hero. Following on from the brooding darkness of Batman Begins, Nolan sets about recreating the gloomy underworld of Gotham, but this time it is more complex, more terrifying and somehow more believable.Moving on from the eccentricity of Tim Burton and the camp visual spectacles overseen by Joel Schumacher, Nolan has created an apocalyptic vision of a city on the brink. A city with Batman as its sole guardian against corrupt officials and dangerous criminals.

Following the fall of the Falcone family, Batman (Christian Bale) has Gotham’s thugs living in terror; unable to operate in fear of the shadowy figure that haunts them. Coupled with this is the arrival of new District Attorney Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhardt), the ‘White Knight’, the public face of crimefighting. The dawn of a new day appears close for Gotham’s citizens, who are divided in opinion of the caped crusader. A law-breaking vigilante, no better than the criminals he apprehends? Or a dark angel, operating by his own honourable, if controversial, code?

But before the dawn can arrive, stepping out of the endless night which hangs over the city is a new face. One contorted, scarred and twisted by evil, yet also with maniacal laughter. The Joker (Heath Ledger), a ruthless psychopath, provides Batman with his greatest test yet. Whilst Bruce Wayne refuses to accept Batman’s human limitations despite Alfred’s (Michael Caine) warning the Joker pushes these limits further than Wayne can ever imagine.

Nolan creates an immersible, intelligent psychological chapter in the Batman story. The classic superhero themes of love, loss and sacrifice are all present here; but this film has, simply, more. The brutal methods of crimefighting we have come to expect of the Dark Knight are similar to, although overshadowed by, the psychopathic twists and turns adopted by the Joker. The legal methods of Dent and Lieutenant Gordon (Gary Oldman) are countered at every turn by Chinese businessmen, small-time thugs and the criminal overlord. A fact not lost upon Alfred, who warns Master Bruce that “some men can’t be reasoned with, they just want to see the world burn”.

The final showdown between the sides of good and evil sees the Joker overseeing a situation where chaos is ready to explode; two sets of people with the power to save themselves by killing the others. Batman stresses that the Joker has misguided beliefs in the souls of Gotham’s citizens; that hope remains in the city. Despite this, the symbol of light ultimately must return to the shadows, following the corruption of Dent by the Joker.

Nolan creates not just a physical setting for the capture of criminals and the robbing of banks, but a moral battleground where Batman and the Joker are the generals: probing for weaknesses, testing each others strengths and pushing each other to the limit. But are they, in fact, the complete opposites which we have become accustomed to? Batman’s refusal to murder criminals may seem a moral victory, that justice will be done. But his vigilante methods are more akin to the use of force which we see the Joker employ. If we are truly searching for an opposite to the villainy of the Joker, we are to find it within Dent. This fact is not lost on Bruce Wayne, who is more than prepared to retire Batman in favour of Dent’s lawful approach.

Overall, Christopher Nolan has produced a remarkable piece of cinema. This intelligent, thought-provoking work takes Batman far beyond a billionaire businessman or a resolute crimefighter: he has created a symbol, an ideal. Following a guard dog attack, the necessity of a new lightweight suit designed by Lucius Fox (Morgan Freeman) shows that Batman as a man is as physically vulnerable as the rest of Gotham. We later see that Batman has come to terms with this weakness as the Joker sets his dogs upon the Caped Crusader, but they are easily dispatched – perhaps showing that in order to strengthen, one must first admit one’s weaknesses.

Nolan has achieved something remarkable: a comic book superhero who is both more than, and less than, a man. This moral ambiguity is ever-present throughout the cast. The Joker forces us to re-evaluate who we truly are, as with the two parties in the final act. His belief in humanity being ultimately chaotic, existing in a tentative state of unstable rule-following seems to ring chillingly true.

The final word must go to Heath Ledger’s portrayal of the mentally unhinged Joker. I must admit, my excitement of the film has been accompanied by the feeling that media hype could be unjustly attached to Ledger’s performance following his unfortunate and untimely death. Talk of an Oscar seemed a little over-zealous. But once the Joker made his entrance, I realised that something quite special was on the screen. Without giving too much away, the first glimpse of maniacal criminal genius which the Joker possesses will have you gasping in shock and laughing with disbelief in equal measure. As will his ‘magic trick’, which is shockingly brilliant.

Ledger’s twitchy, eccentric performance encapsulates the essence of the Joker’s character – but whatever you do, don’t call him a freak. Wordplay seems to be his forté, aside from blending criminal genius with being criminally insane. Ledger seems to relish playing the character, and the magnetism of his portrayal almost led me to demand other elements of the film be reduced somehow in order to see more of this clown-faced lunatic. This proves impossible, yet justifies the 142 minute running time.

“Why so serious?” he asks, time and time again. The seriousness of the piece is what makes this film vastly superior to Batman’s previous incarnations. Unfortunately, we will never see Ledger reprise his role. But in all honesty, his performance could prove impossible to match.

The film is an absolute triumph for British cinema. Whilst an American project, Nolan, Bale, Oldman and Caine are the foundations of the production. Australian Ledger provides the embellishment, whilst the two arguably weakest portrayals can be credited to Americans Gyllenhal and Eckhardt. Freeman, however, gives a typically solid performance, his role and actions perfectly sized in relation to the scale of the story. I have no qualms at all in claiming the fantastic Dark Knight in the name of British cinema.