Opening Thoughts
This movie is amazing. This is probably the seventh time watching this movie, and I love it each and every time I pop it into my Blu-Ray player. The movie has fantastic pacing, storytelling, and some great parallels. Lets look at specifically what works and what doesn't.
What Works
Christian Bale shows clear evolution of both Batman and Bruce Wayne which partially comes from Bale becoming more comfortable in the role. You also get a pretty good look into the psychological state that Bruce is in at this point, where there are some fairly obvious cracks in the armor.
Heath Ledger as the Joker is probably the greatest supervillian role of all time. If you have to take a character like the Joker and make him into a real threat, someone who could exist, Ledger did it perfectly. I still think the best comic book representation is Mark Hamill, but that's more of a cartoony version, while Ledger is more of an actual psychopath. Great casting choice, fantastic one liners and spot-on delivery.
Aaron Eckhart was also great as Harvey Dent/Two-Face. Really, this story focused primarily on breaking the spirit of Dent until he fulfills his own prophecy. Also, Harvey Dent and Bruce Wayne have so many parallels, the conclusion of the movie really is the only way they could've ended. Also, once he fully transformed into Two-Face he became by far the best interpretation of the character I've ever seen.
Michael Caine continues the mentor role and also helps remind Bruce Wayne that the world isn't always in black and white. As stated before, Michael Caine is great in everything, and is one of the best parts of the Nolan Batman movies.
Morgan Freeman as Lucius Fox is great in this, as he's given a more expanded role than he was in Begins, acting as the face of Wayne Enterprises than just Batman's version of Q.
Gary Oldman continued his evolution and was the glue that held a lot of the story involving Dent together as Jim Gordon. The twist involving his character also was quite surprising and well done, making you even more involved in the character.
Eric Roberts did a good job as Maroni, the replacement for Tom Wilkinson as Carmine Falcone. I don't think he was quite as good as Wilkinson, nor did he have the same role in shaping the overall story, but he played his particular role very well.
As I said, there are some great storytelling elements in this. There are parallels within Michael Caine's story about the jewel thief and the Joker. Parallels between Bruce Wayne and Harvey Dent. Parallels between Batman and the Joker, and ultimately it gives the story a very smooth feeling.
Again, just like Batman Begins, the character of the city itself was a huge factor in this movie and it really brought the world that Nolan created to life. Even random people on the street had a role in the movie, and it helps the audience relate to the terror that the citizens are experiencing feels like.
What Doesn't Work
Maggie Gyllenhaal as Rachael Dawes. Okay, I know that this seems like cheating, since I did the same thing with Katie Holmes, but I do feel like there is a pretty strong character in Rachel, but neither actress was able to make it work. I do thing that Gyllenhaal put more effort in than Holmes did, but ultimately I don't think it mattered much.
Closing Thoughts
The Dark Knight is the quintessential Batman movie. This is the one people are going to think about for a long time to come when someone talks about Batman, mainly because this is the best told story of them all. Where Batman Begins jumped around a bit with it's storytelling (as I said, it still held together well, despite this) you never feel like you don't know where you are in the story. There is a very clear progression of events and time, which is a nice change of pace after Batman Begins.
Okay, I've looked at the first two Batman movies, so I will be back either on Sunday or Monday with a look at The Dark Knight Rises. Stay tuned: same Bat time, same Bat... blog?
-Justin
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