stunt_muppet

Damn. Those were some seriously intense two hours. I was worried that The Dark Knight would fall prey to the Superhero Sequel Syndrome, in that this would be the requisite movie where the hero doubts his powers and tries to live a normal life and emos at the camera in a way that makes me more inclined to slap them than feel sorry for them, even if their angst is legit. And we did get a some of that, but it was played differently than usual, not to mention was totally justified by the fact that everything pretty much goes to hell starting with the first frame of the movie. I believed the Super-Angst coming from Batman.

But, more than that, the movie never allowed us to become bored with or overexposed to Batman; this was, at heart, the Joker's show. And the Joker was fucking terrifying. His description of himself as an unstoppable force was chillingly accurate, because we got the sense that there was nothing he wouldn't do, nothing he had to lose. He couldn't be reasoned with. He couldn't be threatened. And that was what made him so scary. Batman could try to avert, lessen, or repair the damage he did, but no matter what he did he would never, ever be able to stop him. Not without killing him.

To be honest, I plain forgot that Heath Ledger was under that makeup. All I saw was the Joker, unpredictable and violent and smart. The disappearing pencil? His visit to Harvey Dent? The scene in the police interrogation room, where he laughs and laughs as Batman beats him? I got chills.

Not to mention the damage he did was such that anything, in this movie, seemed possible. Anyone but Batman seemed fair game for an explosion or a knife in the face. There was no sense of basic rightness, that everything was going to turn out all right in the end. And that just makes the whole movie all the more scary. That scene with the two boats in the harbor? I really thought one or both of them was going to blow.

Another detail I liked: How the Joker's backstory changed every time he told it. I thought it a rather interesting nod to the ever-changing nature of comic-book canon, though I may be making that up.

Regarding Harvey Dent: Because I am a bad geek who, for the most part, doesn't read comic books, I really had no idea that Harvey Dent was Two-Face. I got quite upset when a History Channel program (on Batman villians, natch) spoiled me for that, because while I figured Dent was probably going to die I didn't know that that was what would happen to him. Brother mocked me for not knowing, because apparently he's only read two Batman comics and even he knew that, but I stood by my offense.

And then Dent whipped out the two-headed coin, and I realized that I was probably supposed to know that already. Here is my Geek Membership Card; I am turning it in.

That said, I was impressed by Aaron Eckhart here. I expected Heath Ledger to be good, because I'd heard nothing but (deserved) praise for his performance, but I'd heard little about Harvey Dent. And Eckhart was...quite good, actually. Wholesome as Dent, but with an edge. I'm not sure I totally bought his degeneration into a revenge killer after Rachel's death, but after his scene with the Joker in the hospital, it didn't matter anymore. The transition left a little to be desired, but after it was finished, Homicidal!Harvey was good. Nicely unbalanced. And the Two-Face makeup was unexpectedly fantastic, which I'd been worried about; the last time I saw Two-Face in a movie, half his face was eggplant purple, which not only made it hard to take him seriously but wouldn't jive with Nolan's darker, grittier, forcibly de-camped Batmanverse.

I must register a complaint that yet another female character was relegated to Love Interest status and then summarily killed off for the lulz angst, but I've come to expect this sort of thing from superhero movies, sadly. But aside from that, Rachel Dawes really didn't register, which was one of the reasons I didn't quite buy the Harvey Dent-to-Two-Face transformation. She didn't leave enough of an impression on me, nor did their relationship, which meant it stretched credibility a tad that Dent would stoop to random killing with her death, specifically, as the tipping point.

I suppose, given that this is a Batman movie, I should talk a bit about Batman, but, while Christian Bale is a fine, fine performer (witness The Machinist and The Prestige), his supporting cast kind of stole this movie out from under him. Gary Oldman was (obviously) fantastic as Commissioner Gordon, who despite what he calls Dent really is the best of them - always fighting, always working, doing what he knows he has to even in the face of an impossible task. Michael Caine is still a great Alfred, taking the butler beyond a comic character and a plot device (witness his grim-faced story about the thief in the jungles, and "we burned the forest down") but also adding some much-needed lightness to the whole proceedings. And...well, Batman was there. Being Batman. Like I said earler, I bought his conflicts, I bought his exhaustion, I bought how trapped and desperate he was beginning to feel, and that I never muttered "shut up, emo Super" into my popcorn is a testament to how carefully Bale plays the character. But here...it almost felt like Batman was the background, giving a framework for Gordon and Dent and Alfred and the Joker to exist within. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but still.

I can't help but wonder what they're going to do about the Joker in subsequent movies. I know that they switched Maggie Gyllenhall for Katie Holmes in the role of Rachel without so much as a comment, but with no disrespect meant to the actresses in question, Rachel's role was not half as demanding, nor as distinctive, as the Joker's.

Also, Harvey Dent? Aten't dead. You don't give one of the iconic villians of a comic-verse half a movie, even if it was half a really long movie.