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 If you’re one of the very few who haven’t yet seen The Dark Knight - writer/director Christopher Nolan’s second outing with the Batman franchise - you might just be wondering if it can truly live up to the avalanche of hype. The honest answer is… yes and no.
The fanboys at The Internet Movie Database have propelled The Dark Knight to pole position of the top 250 movies, above the likes of The Godfather and Pulp Fiction. Even a fast food chain has released a burger that has been “inspired” by the film! And then of course there’s the inescapable and morbid fascination of watching the late and genuinely great Heath Ledger in his last completed performance.
The good news is that Ledger’s Joker is easily the most fascinating character in The Dark Knight. With a carved smile, psycho-clown make-up and droll sense of humour, he is savage, electrifying and totally redefines the role previously inhabited by Jack Nicholson. Nicholson’s take on the part (and indeed the 1989 film by Tim Burton) seems frothy and good-natured in comparison to the nihilistic vision conjured up by director Nolan and his co-writer and brother, Jonathan.
We are first introduced to the blade-wielding Joker and his clown-masked posse while they are robbing a bank where mobsters deposit their cash. At first, the mob lead by Salvatore Maroni (a slyly seductive Eric Roberts), foolishly believes that the Joker is the least of their worries, as Batman - the alter ego of billionaire Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale), has the bad guys of Gotham City spooked enough that they no longer do business at night.
No wonder then that the real Batman is considering an early retirement and settling down with the love of his angst-ridden life, assistant district attorney Rachel Dawes (indie-film favourite Maggie Gyllenhaal, substituting for the suspiciously absent Katie Holmes). But before Bruce can hang up the batsuit and whisk Rachel up to the bat penthouse, there is the slight issue of her already being involved with another of Gotham City’s movers and shakers, the idealistic new district attorney, Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart in an epic performance). This high-powered love triangle provides the Joker with all the ammunition he needs to trigger off a series of literally explosive schemes that pit Batman and Dent against one another, undermining the public’s goodwill.
The bad news is that there is enough plot for two or three films and too many climaxes, which inevitably renders the ultimate battle between Batman and the Joker, well, anti-climatic. Not that we care all that much anyway (apart from an intriguing moral dilemma at the film’s conclusion), since Bale’s Batman is a bit of a non-event second time around. He isn’t given much to do in this instalment but scowl, speak in a ridiculously gruff voice that would be better reserved for obscene phone calls and play with a few new gadgets provided by his armourer, Lucius Fox (Morgan Freeman, going through the motions once more).
Still, it is undeniably well-crafted by Nolan and his complex suspense set-pieces are masterfully executed. And if Batman, as the film states, is the hero that the good people of Gotham City deserve, maybe The Dark Knight is the type of Superhero movie we deserve in such introspective and pessimistic times.
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