The Task: Watch and write about every movie on my shelf, in order (Blu-rays are sorted after DVDs), by June 10, 2015. Remaining movies: 297 Days to go: 283
Movie #80: The Dark Knight
Funny story: Somehow I’ve lost Batman Begins. I know for a fact I used to have it, because my husband and I had this big discussion about whether it and The Dark Knight should be shelved in their respective alphabetical locations — separated from one another — or if they should be shelved together. (Obviously, the correct answer is alphabetically and apart. If they wanted them together they should’ve named them accordingly. I am not a crackpot.) Anyway, so I insisted they be separated, but I never realized until just recently that Batman Begins was missing because, until I’d come up to The Dark Knight, I’d completely forgotten it existed. No disrespect to Katie Holmes.
I also never got around to buying The Dark Knight Rises, despite my undying love for Anne Hathaway as Catwoman (I AM NOT A CRACKPOT), because … reasons, probably. (You might say this would’ve been easily ascertained upon my next post, but since blu-rays are in an entirely different section of my shelving for sizing conformity, that’s not necessarily the case. After all, I still own the first two Toy Story movies from the DVD set I bought ages ago, but Toy Story 3 I have on blu-ray. Sadly, I can’t just upgrade all my old DVDs to blu-ray and be done with it, though it is in my Top 5 list of things to do once I win the Powerball. But I digress.)
Fortunately, it matters not that I lack Batman Begins and The Dark Knight Rises, because The Dark Knight is indisputably the best movie of the three. Batman Begins has all kinds of setup and mythology work to do with zen master / criminal Liam Neeson, plus there’s the whole problem of silly Katie Holmes being completely out of her element. (No disrespect to Katie Holmes.) The Dark Knight Rises has Bane with an even goofier voice than Batman’s, plus Marion Cotillard’s distracting forehead mole. (She’s lovely, really, and great in the film, but it drives me nuts.) The Dark Knight, on the other hand, has Maggie Gyllenhaal taking over the character of Rachel Dawes from goofy Katie Holmes, flat-out refusing to be part of Bruce Wayne’s (Christian Bale) revolving door of women, instead choosing to give her heart to the upstanding Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart), Harvey Dent being charismatic and clever until he becomes terrifyingly broken and angry and insane, and Heath Ledger as The Joker, blowing all our minds.
Gyllenhaal is a strong presence, and she holds her ground well against Bale’s multiple identities and Harvey’s charming arrogance. She also portrays Rachel as a powerful prosecutor and a woman with more courage and resolve than anyone else in the film. Eckhart, meanwhile, is solid in his role as Dent — a decisive man with both a purpose and a playful side — but it’s his transformation into Two-Face that is mesmerizing, and not just for the unbelievable effects work they did on him. Ledger, though, is a force of nature.
There have been plenty of thinkpieces about the seeming abandon with which Ledger inhabits his role, and I agree with all of them on his brilliant and riveting performance. It’s so far beyond what anyone expected he was capable of, I think, that it worsens the pain of his untimely death even more.
The Joker is a menacing madman, sure, but what I find most fascinating is his genius and calculating nature. The Joker doesn’t just go around wreaking havoc — there’s a method to his madness. This is possibly best evidenced (if most subtly so) by the way he always makes up a new story for how he got his scars, knowing that people will be curious but also knowing it should be a sufficiently crazy story to ensure people of his insanity — as if he’s not actually crazy at all. He kills at will, but not randomly. He murders his disciples as he sees fit, to further his cause and to cut any and all ties to himself. He kills others as a means to an end, attempting to provoke or evade his enemies. He goes after Rachel and Harvey to corrupt the seemingly incorruptible — to make a point, to send a message, not just for kicks. And he manipulates people to kill innocents to underline that same message, that people are inherently selfish and will always act in their own interests over those of the greater good. Indeed, the movie gets a fair amount of side-eye about its use of invasive surveillance for “the good of the people,” but the part I find most fascinating is the stand-off between the two ferries, in which neither group of hostages chooses to sacrifice the other in order to save themselves. In that one moment, writer-director brothers Jonathan and Christopher Nolan (the latter performing all the directing duties, but collaborating on the script) are saying The Joker is wrong, and that people do have it in them to be noble and to do what is right. Amid all the bleakness that can be found in these films, that’s an incredibly positive and powerful statement to me. Have faith in people, because most of them are worth it.
The Dark Knight is also pretty spectacular because of the supremely badass way the Batcycle evolved out of the busted up Batmobile and then managed to do all sorts of switching, changing maneuvers like a boss. It’s without a doubt my favorite gadget in a pretty fantastically gadget-heavy flick. There’s also the matter of Alfred (Michael Caine) and Lucius Fox (Morgan Freeman) being both supportive co-conspirators and sort of snidely disapproving fathers to Bruce’s schemes. They provide an amusing and centered perspective that counters the overwhelming self-seriousness of everyone else (no-joke policy or no, this movie actually has several remarks played for laughs). (Gary Oldman as Commissioner Gordon is also something of a co-conspirator, despite not knowing Batman’s true identity, but he’s a much more solemn and determined one.) And huge props are due to the set designers, who gave the Joker a semi-truck for a particularly exciting car chase scene. The truck’s trailer says “LAUGHTER IS THE BEST MEDICINE,” and there’s a spray-painted S at the beginning, so it says “SLAUGHTER IS THE BEST MEDICINE.” That’s some straight-up genius work right there, and if more Oscar voters had noticed it, maybe it would’ve won that prize.
All in all, I’m pretty satisfied that if I had to own only one of these Nolan-helmed Batman flicks, it would be this one. The performances and story are at their strongest, the stakes are their highest, and Bruce still doesn’t get the girl, but not for the reason he thinks. (No disrespect to Katie Holmes.)
Viable Option 