"The Dark Knight" is the ultimate example of the refined motion picture masterpiece. A film full of genuine intelligence, emotional depth, wrenching conflict, gripping suspense, explosive entertainment, and characters and situations so compelling and alive that you can't stop thinking about them after you leave the theater. Sounds like a cheesy trailer, but it's all true about this film. This isn't just a superhero movie, but one of the most compelling criminal thrillers ever. So rich and so deep, it's an amazing exploration of man's soul.
These people actually know Batman. Nolan and Ledger did the Joker perfectly. He was an empty man who had everything torn from him. He snapped. He became viciously insane. His goal became to cause others pain. But not just to cause them pain, but to share his emptiness, to become as twisted as him. It was never about the money or the power or revenge- just a lust to bring out in other people all that was within himself. Then he met Batman. Joker found his counterpart. Batman, like Joker, had everything torn from him. He's got nothing. The world has lashed out at him. And though he could have all the shallow things (wealth, women, and all that) the world has to offer, it doesn't satisfy his emptiness. He's as broken as the Joker. But not twisted. He holds himself together with his insatiable lust for justice. And both of them have in common their preoccupation with Gotham, the city that treated them both so terribly. The Batman wants to bring out the good in the city. The Joker wants to do the opposite. The Joker has only one overarching obsession, however. It's an obsession that prevents him from ever actually killing Batman. He has to make Batman laugh. He has to twist him until he is the Joker. After all, that one small factor is all the separates the two of them. And unlike Jack Nicholson's fat old wise-cracking idiot, Heath Ledger's Joker is true, vicious but funny. What he does is hilarious, but it's so cruel you don't want to laugh.
Harvey Dent was incredible. Aaron Eckhart, though not the original choice for the role, played the part magnificently. The transition from Dent to Two-Face, complements of fine acting and fine directing, felt completely real and powerful. Nolan took an otherwise shallow villain and turned him into an incredibly deep, provoking personality.
There's also a fourth really unsung character of depth in this movie. Commissioner Gordon, played by Gary Oldman, is yet another very interesting study into the human soul, and an interesting topic of discussion for morality. He must daily compromise what he believes in to support a cause he believes is greater. He knows he's surrounded by a world of corruption and is agonizingly alone. He can't trust anyone. Not only that, but he feels personally responsible for everything that happens, as he's the only one in a position to do something about it. He must defy everything he believes in and hunt Batman as a criminal when he knows Batman is the only hope for Gotham, the only one he can trust and, in a way, believe in. Batman is all that Gordon wants to be. Gordon also suffers from his responsibility to his family, something none of the other three main characters in this film have, as they have all had theirs ripped away from them. But while Gordon does not suffer the loss the others do, he must suffer a burden of duty the others do not have to bear.
Some of the most powerful moments in this film were complements of Gary Oldman's acting. He and his character Gordon were both brilliant. He deserves more fanfare. He's over-shadowed by all the other absolutely amazing actors and incredibly deep characters. He alone would've made a fantastic crime thriller.
There's a fifth character to the mix- Bruce Wayne. While he and Batman are the same body, they are almost different souls. While Batman must run, Bruce Wayne must hide. He, like Batman, must bear the hatred of the world. But unlike Batman, his hatred is for doing nothing, for being self-consumed, which is exactly the opposite of what he truly is but must pretend not to be in order to protect Batman. And unlike Batman, Bruce has no one who believes in him. He suffers everything Batman does, and cannot live as he wants to as long as Batman exists. Yet he realizes how important Batman is, as both a symbol and a guardian, and therefore he sacrifices the life he longs for.
Billing Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Aaron Eckhart, Michael Caine, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Gary Oldman, Morgan Freeman, Cillian Murphy, Nestor Carbonell, and William Fichtner, it's safe to say this is one of the most talented casts a film has ever seen. Each actor passionately devotes themselves to their role to create deep and powerful characters. The effective acting truly brings this story to life.
To top off all that talent, "Dark Knight" is directed and written by the amazing Christopher Nolan. The intricate care Nolan put into every detail of the film is deeply impressive. Nolan has crafted an incredibly intelligent screenplay and painted it on screen with artistic mastery. It's rare to look at a film and not be able to fathom how it was creatively constructed. Too often do movies make you feel, "Making this thing wouldn't be that difficult. Anyone could do it." But with Nolan's masterpiece here, you can't even begin to imagine how anyone could possibly come close. Christopher Nolan engraves his position amongst the ten greatest directors of all time with this one.
What's especially brilliant is the perfect balance. This movie is insanely entertaining to the eye and pumps the adrenaline by the gallons. Who can't help but either bounce in their seat with excitement or clench their chair arms with intensity at just about every scene in this film? And at the same time, it's a beautiful piece of art. If you weren't so eagerly awaiting happened next the whole time, you almost would want to rewind and replay just about every scene so you could watch it again and again and just begin to take in the splendor. This movie, while an intellectual and philosophical epic, displays awe-inspiring visual effects that master those of most mindless action flicks that devote their entire budget to such feats.
The moral intrigue in this movie puts just about every other attempt at exploring the evils of man's soul to shame, while still sporting some of the best visuals in the film industry. The cinematography dazzles while still holding focus and adeptly telling the story. It's such a compelling and gripping expedition into this incredible world of darkness that Nolan has faithfully replicated from the truest of Batman works.
A combination of brilliant mood-setting lighting and stunning photography brings alive the setting. Though entirely filmed in Chicago, Gotham feels like a completely different and unique city. And a film that creates buildings to blow them up means business when it comes to creating an alive and realistic backdrop.
Summarizing the plot means neglecting the individual merit of each ingenious scene and how it contributes masterfully to the work as a whole. Brilliantly edited, the story flows so smoothly. The editing also achieves the suspenseful feel necessary to fully engage the audience in the film. The incredible editing creates a fear and perplexity better than just about any "horror" or "thriller" film created with the sole intent of invoking those emotions.
The passengers of the two ferries hold each other's fates in their hands and must decide to destroy the other boat before midnight or both ships explode, or so they think. Every moment of that scene was incredibly constructed and interesting. These regular extras display tremendous emotion, wisely retained in the editing. The whole sequence feels so alive and so real, the tension so flawlessly generated. Then the twist is revealed that neither boat was to explode at midnight, but really either detonator would've destroyed both boats, the Joker's plan having been for them to destroy themselves in a desperate attempt to save their own skins. This scene deeply explores the value of human life, a man's ability to take a life, the true price of innocence, and the morality that screams from within a man's soul dividing him from animal.
The initial bank robbery is pure genius. It is perhaps the greatest heist ever seen in a film. The scene could've been an award-winning short film on its own. Thrilling and unexpected twists that keep us pinned to the scene throughout, even despite the lack of character knowledge or development, testify to the combined quality of comprehensive editing and thoughtful directing. It possesses the thrill and poetic intrigue of an O'Henry story with the intelligent crafting and execution of a Hitchcock film.
We believe Joker to be the one in a plight when he finds himself in prison, but in reality, the tables are turned as Joker reveals his sick and twisted idea of a game. Suddenly we discover Joker was only in jail to get to a particular inmate who he needed to accomplish his plan and at the same time take out the entire precinct with a bomb that wrenches our gut as we wait for the climax of this intense heart-pounding scenario. This single portion of the movie alone would be what most directors and writers would consider a fantastic basis for an entire two hour motion picture. Another praiseworthy aspect of the editing in "Dark Knight" is how much it accomplishes in such a short amount of time without feeling the least bit rushed. The film is well-planned and well-paced.
With Hans Zimmer composing, there was no doubt that the Dark Knight soundtrack would be absolutely amazing, but it exceeded expectations. From the foreboding to the shocking, Zimmer's ominous glory plates this film like a sheet of gold. The sound in this film does not fear decibel power, and the music is no exception. It's loud and vibrating, but not the least bit obnoxious. Though the term has been overused, it truly is awe-inspiring.
There's so much more that can be said about "Dark Knight", but emphasizing how great this film is becomes redundant after a while. In almost every sense, "Dark Knight" is perfect.