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Reel Time
Bale’s Batman is as brave and bold as ‘Dark Knight’ is bleak
Ledger delivers a spectacularly unsettling performance as The Joker
By LEE CLARK ZUMPE
Article published on Tuesday, July 15, 2008 |
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![[Image]](/content_images/071508_lemovies-02.jpg) |
| Photo courtesy of WARNER BROS. PICTURES |
| Christian Bale stars as Bruce Wayne in Warner Bros. Pictures’ and Legendary Pictures’ action drama “The Dark Knight.” |
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Director Christopher Nolan will be credited as the person who transformed the cinematic Batman into much more than a masked superhero lifted from the pages of a comic book.
With “Dark Knight,” Nolan’s follow-up to “Batman Begins,” the director steps beyond the restrictive borders of comic book panels, grappling with the repercussions of vigilantism in a real world setting and fashioning an epic crime saga brimming with smug mob bosses, gangland-style summits and crooked cops.
Top that off with a character whose psychosis oozes from the screen and whose chronic misanthropy brings a new level of darkness and depth to Hollywood’s stable of wickedest villains.
The inspired screenplay, written by Christopher and his brother Jonah, manages to incorporate contemporary ethical conundrums plucked straight from the headlines. The Gotham of “Dark Knight” is a microcosm of America, its leaders wavering between upholding moral principles and yielding to the inclination to suspend integrity to achieve their objectives. The film underscores both the vulnerability and the fallibility of heroes and emphasizes the personal and emotional price often paid by those who remain true to their values.
“Dark Knight” integrates all of these themes without sacrificing pacing or the development of the plot. The roller-coaster ride begins abruptly with a bank heist masterminded by The Joker, a vigorous, taut sequence that encapsulates this criminal’s sadistic, psychopathic temperament.
Portraying The Joker is the late Heath Ledger. Ledger’s death in January drew much attention to this, his last completed role. It’s rare to witness an actor so completely immersed in a character, his own personality concealed by his performance as competently as his features were masked by makeup. In a film featuring many outstanding actors, Ledger eclipses all.
Believe the Oscar chatter surrounding Ledger’s work here.
Christian Bale’s gravely-voiced Batman occasionally has too much to say, and audiences may have difficulty swallowing some of the choices the character makes as the story line develops. In a conflict of opposing philosophies, though, each twist and turn is eventually justified as Gotham’s Dark Knight undergoes a kind of motivational metamorphosis.
Also returning are Gary Oldman as Lt. Gordon, Michael Caine as Alfred and Morgan Freeman as Lucius Fox. Caine is perfect as Bruce Wayne’s conscience, Freeman excels as Batman’s gadget engineer and overseer of Wayne’s company, and Oldman’s depiction of the soft-spoken, valiant public servant who makes endless sacrifices for the public good is itself worthy of an Oscar nod in the Best Supporting Actor category.
Aaron Eckhart’s Harvey Dent is a modern day Shakespearean hero complete with hubris and Maggie Gyllenhaal makes the most of the underdeveloped yet pivotal character of Rachel Dawes.
“The Dark Knight” is, in turns, exhilarating, cerebral, gritty, bleak, poignant and depressing. There is less focus on good versus evil than order versus chaos with The Joker as the archetypal agent of anarchy.
Batman is less easily defined, as Nolan undoubtedly intended, challenging audiences to choose between the Dark Knight, Gordon, Dent and a half dozen other characters as the film’s ideal hero.
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Article published on Tuesday, July 15, 2008
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