Movie Review: The Dark Knight

Chances are, you’re not coming to me to find out whether or not you should see The Dark Knight. The hype has been such that you’ve either made up your mind about seeing it or you already have (I’m betting on the latter already).
So I’m not writing a newspaper-style review below. Instead, it will probably come off more like the 13-year-old who sat in a theater on his birthday in 1989 and watched Tim Burton’s “Batman” in amazement.
I had that same feeling in Raleigh’s IMAX theater Friday night. Instead, the childhood wonder I had as a 13-year-old was replaced with the awe and appreciation only an adult can fathom.
This movie is good … freaking great. It’s long. It’s layered (boy, is it layered). It’s shocking. It’s funny. It’s sickening.
Did I say it’s layered?

I’ll spare you the plot points, except to say The Dark Knight is about a terrorist in clown make-up who not only shakes up Gotham, he shakes up its heroes — Batman and District Attorney Harvey Dent. The levels of pain The Joker puts these men through has not been seen in a movie labeled as a “comic book” film. If you’ve read Allen Moore’s “The Killing Joke,” a graphic novel from the 80s where The Joker shoots and paralyzes Commissioner Gordon’s daughter, strips her to photograph her, then kidnaps Gordon to usher him through a funhouse filled with images of his still bleeding daughter — then you understand the inspiration for this Joker.

But this movie goes a step further. People die. Big people. You just don’t see this in comic book movies.

But it’s the weight of these deaths, these pulse-pounding you-have-to-choose-between-one-or-the-other situations that make this movie absolutely brilliant. Yes, I said “brilliant.” I feel like I have to go back and watch it again already just to catch some of the little nuances.

What I liked
• Heath Ledger: I mean, c’mon, this goes without saying, right? The moment you see Ledger on the screen, you forget this was the guy who died of a drug overdose earlier this year. You by no means can see the man who rode Brokeback a few years back, and this is not the guy who mulled his way through yawners like A Knights Tale, Casanova or 10 Things I Hate About You.
The man is/was an amazing actor though, and it wasn’t until the end — or with lines like “We could do this forever” to Batman — that I was sad that this was the last time we’d see Bale and Ledger tango.
Ledger owns the screen every time he graces it. The opening bank heist is but a prelude to the tricks he has up his sleeve throughout. He’s always one step ahead, and he has this city is in such shambles that at one point, it has to call in the national guard.
I had two favorite scenes, both involving The Joker. The first is his introduction to the mob, where (geniously) Ledger plays it nervous … like, this is my chance to show these guys I should be feared, but any one of these guys could just shoot me dead. So to make that first impression, he does his “pencil trick” you’ve heard so much about. It was both brutal and hilarious.
The second is Ledger’s scene in the hospital with (SPOILER ALERT) Harvey “Two Face.” His conversation with Dent — the “I’m just a dog chasing cars, I don’t know what I’d actually do if I caught one” line was my favorite — was captivating. His grandma-style walk as he walked away from the still exploding hospital (and his reaction when the last bomb goes off) was great. It’s exactly how you expect The Joker to react. (END SPOILER).
The Oscar talk you hear about Ledger isn’t just an attempt to memorialize the guy. To me, if an actor totally becomes his character and in doing so, puts you at the edge of your seat each time he appears, then yes … he deserves some kind of award.

• Aaron Eckhart: Lost in the Joker talk is the performance of Aaron Eckhart as Harvey “Two Face” Dent. Eckhart plays the role of “White Knight” almost to perfection and his anger after his physical and mental scarring is both believable and scary. I do feel they rushed his relationship with Rachel Dawes (played much better this time by Maggie Gyllenhaal) … though to say anything was rushed in a 2 1/2 hour movie is saying something about how much was actually put in a movie of this length and magnitude.
You believe Dent’s desire to do good, and you believe his transformation in the end. If I had one big complaint about Episode III of Star Wars it was that you really didn’t believe the transformation of Anakin Skywalker to Darth Vader (nerd alert). Dent’s transformation to Two Face very much mirrors Anakin’s fall … only Eckhart pulls it off much better. (end nerd alert).

• IMAX: The opening scene of the Chicago (Gotham) skyline took everybody by surprise, so much that many leaned back because they felt they would fall out of their seats. Several of the key action sequences in this film (and all the city landscapes) were shot on IMAX film, and when these scenes appeared, the screen became several stories tall. If you haven’t experienced this movie in IMAX (and you want to do so), I suggest you do so.

• The drama: This wasn’t a comic book movie. It was more in line with The Departed or Heat. The mob plays a big part in this movie, and unlike comic book movies like Spider-Man or Superman, you really don’t know if somebody is going to live or die. The only certainty is Batman will survive (I mean, he has to appear in a few more films, right?) … beyond that, anybody’s fair game, and it really drives the suspense of this film.

• The acting: Christian Bale plays the tormented Bruce Wayne to near perfection. His only flaw is the gruff Batman voice (which is necessary when talking to people who know Bruce Wayne), which comes off as incoherent at times, especially during lengthy talks while in the Bat suit.
The interrogation scenes involving The Joker contain some of the best acting I’ve seen in the past few years, and all the supporting cast not only get good time on screen, they all perform admirably. Even some of the bit parts — mob bosses, cops during the chases, etc. — are treated seriously.

What I didn’t like
• The length: I actually wished it would have been longer, and that’s saying a lot for a 2 1/2 hour film. I thought the relationship between Dawes and Dent could have shown more for reasons that would have helped the ending, and I thought “Two Face” should have had more screen time. But I won’t complain too much, I left satisfied, regardless of the film’s length.

• The ending: Not that the ending disappointed me, I just don’t see where the third film is going and I really don’t know how Christopher Nolan can top this one. Maybe he can … but everything was thrown out there for The Dark Knight, that you have no idea where he’s going to take it for Part 3. Hell, maybe he’ll thrown in a Robin and get Arnold to come back as Mr. Freeze (can we safely say that Joel Schumacher’s vision for Batman — Batman Forever, Batman and Robin —was a total embarrassment now?).

I’ve been a big fan-boy nerd for this movie from the moment Gordon presented Batman the Joker card at the end of Batman Begins, and despite the three years of building hype, I left the IMAX much the same way I left the theater back in 89 … giddy and amazed at what I’d just seen. I can’t wait to see it again … and I’ll gladly shell out the price of a movie ticket (perhaps a matinee though, these tickets get expensive) to see it again on the big screen.

Note about the violence: A few people have asked me to give a report on the violence, and for a PG-13 film, this movie comes awfully close to an R. I will say there is a lot of shooting, a lot of death, but nothing too graphic (even the pencil trick). The situations are a bit frightening for anybody under 13, but the actual violence is done well and I don’t remember seeing any actual blood.

My grade: 10 out of 10. It’s that good.