The Dark Knight Review
We are in the final stretch of my Batman review series. We only have 2 more movies after this till my review series is done. But today we are talking about the truly iconic The Dark Knight. A movie that has been beloved since 2008, and will continue to be beloved for years and years to come. So let’s start talking!
The Good:
What this movie does right is deliver a complex crime thriller with a bunch of different angles to be explored. This is a movie that would work if it wasn’t a comic book movie, if they removed everything DC related from this movie, you would still get this fantastic crime thriller. Where you feel the danger of The Joker’s presence all through-out the movie. I mentioned earlier that the movie is a lot more complex than most comic book movies. Where it’s not a clear good vs evil. Both Batman and Harvey Dent are viewed as good figures in the city of Gotham. But even the heroes have evil parts of them. It’s a greatly crafted thriller with complex themes and ideas being explored.
Tied to what I just mentioned, but I think the themes being explored here are handled very well. And to what I mentioned earlier, but the big theme is debating who's good and who's bad. In the climax of the movie it’s not a big special third act with a bunch of explosions. No, one of the sequences is on a boat. And you have The Joker telling prisoners and police on a boat about a bomb. And a police officer is wanting to do evil things, but this prisoner who is a bad guy wants to do the right thing. And so the whole thing has this idea of who is good and who is bad. Also, there is this theme of chaos running through-out the movie. And that ties into what The Joker is doing to the city of Gotham. The movie is a lot more thematic than other comic book movies, and I think it’s more thematic than most people give it credit for.
Also, this movie just feels a lot larger in scale than Batman Begins. I think the big reason for that is they shot the movie with IMAX cameras and they were actually in Chicago doing this stuff. For Batman Begins they were on a soundstage doing this stuff. But the big car chase with The Joker and the Batcycle is much better and grand then the car chase in Batman Begins. I appreciate, just the change in cameras and location can make all of the difference. It makes the movie feel more cinematic and that is a big positive for the movie.
And I appreciated that inspiration behind this movie, like I said earlier this movie would work if it removed everything DC related about it. And I think that’s because Nolan took more inspiration from other crime thrillers than other comic book movies when making this movie. Nolan has said he took a lot of inspiration from the movie Heat. And he did take some inspirations from The Long Halloween comic book series, a great Batman graphic novel. And he used this for inspirations, but didn’t overtly reference or put a one to one in comparison to either one of those properties.
From there, the music from Hans Zimmer continues to be memorable and fantastic. The theme that is used for The Joker in this movie is truly memorable and fantastic, and it sticks in your head. But like every theme in this movie it is done so well and fits the tone and the vibe of this movie really well.
Finally, with this movie you have to talk about Heath Ledger’s iconic and fantastic performance as The Joker. There was so much backlash towards Ledger when he got cast. Because he was a teen heartthrob and he wasn’t the obvious choice for The Joker. But Heath Ledger just disappears and all you see is The Joker, this force of chaos that is posing a threat towards Batman and Gotham. But honestly, the whole cast here is just great and everybody is delivering fantastic performances. I think since Ledger is so iconic, Aaron Eckhart gets a bit overlooked as Harvey Dent. And I think what he is able to bring to this role is great. Christian Bale continues to be great as Batman and Bruce Wayne.
The Bad:
And the only thing here is once again, they didn’t get the best talent for Rachel Dawes. And once again, it’s not that Maggie Gyllenhaal did a bad job. I just don’t think she has the same level of talent as the other actors in the movie.
Final Thoughts: This is one of the greatest movies of all time, I love this movie. It’s also one of the best comic book movies out there. Nolan tells a complex crime thriller with clear stakes and themes running through-out it. Heath Ledger is of course fantastic as the character, and just destroys playing this version of The Joker. I don’t want to spoil where this movie will go in my ranking of Batman movies coming next month, but it’ll do very well.
The Score: 10/10 (A+)
Comments