Even before the untimely death of Heath Ledger, “The Dark Knight” was a big deal. The first full-length trailer appeared before last year’s “I Am Legend,” getting “ohs” and “ahs” from fanboys and the cynical alike. It’s a testament to the power of making a good first movie, and the power of re-watch value. While 2005’s “Batman Begins” was by no means a box office flop, it’s total revenue compares most closely to 2006’s “Superman Returns,” with an opening weekend that this summer’s “The Incredible Hulk” dwarfed by nearly 10 million. The difference between “Begins” and those other two movies, however, is that the former is a truly outstanding movie, and the three years that have passed since its release have allowed people to realize that. Pair this quality with an absolute marketing onslaught and the curiosity the people have about Ledger’s performance, and you have the most hyped film in recent memory. The only issue now is: Does it live up to the hype?
“The Dark Knight” opens with Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) having more or less settled into his role as the caped crusader. With the help of his partner in blue, Lt. Jim Gordon (Gary Oldman), and newly appointed “Golden Boy” District Attorney Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart), Batman has finally started to make headway against Gotham’s worst. But just as things are starting to look up, a new criminal mastermind, known only as the Joker (Heath Ledger), steps in to create rampant chaos with maniacal and murderous schemes. Completely unattached to any sort of ethical hang-ups, the Joker takes advantage of Batman’s moral restrictions at every turn, making it ever harder to act as a force of justice and not revenge.
As the best sequels do, “The Dark Knight” neither destroys nor remains in the universe of the original film, but rather expands upon it. Returning characters receive more layers of nuance, and none of the new additions seem forced. The lone letdown of the cast comes in the form of Maggie Gyllenhaal, who appears to feel handcuffed by reprising the role of Rachel Dawes, played in the original by lame duck Katie Holmes. The love triangle between her, Wayne, and Dent never matches the quality of the rest of the film, and it’s hard not to count the seconds until their scenes are over.
Unlike the first film, which was primarily about Bruce Wayne and thus was at times a bit scant in the action department, this is by all accounts a Batman film, and the high-speed chases and explosions are there to prove it. Clocking in at over two and half hours long, it’s often difficult not to feel overwhelmed by the constant surplus of movement on display here; even those aided by a few cans of Red Bull might find themselves exhausted by the time the credits role. The movie does occasionally take time to pontificate on the necessity and definition of heroism, but even these scenes, especially near the beginning, seem to be edited with the sole intention of keeping the thing moving, which it does relentlessly.
Series savior, and otherwise great film maker Christopher Nolan, once again shows us why he’s such a special talent, maintaining the quality of his film on every level of production. But let’s face it: The star of the film is neither he, nor the subject of the movie’s title. I expect people to claim for about a year or so that Ledger’s Joker is one of the greatest screen villains of all time, followed by another year of backlash in which it is contested that the young actor’s death has more to do with the hype that the performance itself. However, looking back on the history of the franchise, regardless of who directed, or who dawned the batsuit, the fun has always been the bad guys, and, regardless of the tragic events that befell the actor, his performance would have still been the cardinal example of this trend. His Joker walks the fine line between hilarious and haunting, his devilish unpredictability casting a cloud of constant dread over the film. Ledger fully embraces the crazed logic of the psycho, digging down deep to come up with something truly sinister. He’s so fun to watch that the movie, through no fault of its own, seems to sag a bit whenever he’s missing. And therein lies the story of “The Dark Knight”: It’s a very good movie, featuring a great performance.