"The Dark Knight" - Three Geek Review

Spoilers may lie ahead; make your choice...

Thaddeus:
Anyone who's been following superhero movie releases over the last several years -- going all the way back to Dick Donner's "Superman II" -- knows that the second movie in a series often has the power to knock the pants right off of you. The world has been made, and floats fully formed in the back of the viewer's mind. With no assembly required, the movie can pull you right in the deep end, immersing you to the eyeball from word go.

This is how we're brought in to "The Dark Knight" -- though, ironically, "Batman Begins" has a similarly no-nonsense introduction, as well.

I meant to time how long it took for Batman to show up on screen, but the movie's domination over me was too quick and too complete. There's only one line of commentary in my notebook, from the first few minutes... the rest of the time I was just watching.

Choice elements from the greatest Batman stories every told are seamlessly blended with original content to make something totally beyond all that came before. Seeing the movie on opening night was a true event -- cheers, applause... magic.

"The Dark Knight" is better than any movie I've seen this summer -- and even beyond that. Batman with real-world motivations; Batman as a man. It's something that you only see in the best of comics.

I once wrote an academic paper comparing superheroes to Shakespearean characters, with Batman having a line drawn directly to Hamlet -- maybe I'll share it with y'all sometime -- and nowhere does that idea pan out more flawlessly than in this film. Tragedy, humanity, flawed heroes... this is the grand glorification of the superhero genre. No excuses required. You don't have to be a "real fan" to appreciate it. You just have to be a person who enjoys a good story.

And, for my part, there's nothing I love more.

And it's about Batman.

Heath Ledger's Joker is destined to join "Darth Vader" atop greatest movie villain lists of all time. Surpassing even Jack Nicholson's iconic performance. Nicholson's was entertaining, and is no less so today than the day it graced the screen, but Ledger's is horrifying in the best possible way.

And Two-Face finally blots those disturbingly pink and purple memories from "Batman Forever" out of my mind. No offense to Tommy Lee Jones, who I'm sure did the best he could with what little he was given.

See this movie. See it in theaters, buy it on DVD, get it in your life somehow because this is American Mythology at it's peak, it's the new goal -- and, for me, it's beyond rating:

See "The Dark Knight" out of 5

-Thad out



Richard:
I love Batman. I love, love, love, love, love Batman. He's one of the few holdouts from my childhood that stand the test of time. Remember "Thundercats" and "He-Man"? Go back and re-watch them and tell me what you think now. After that, watch "Batman" or "Batman Returns"... hell, even "Batman: the Animated Series" and compare. You'll see what I mean.

I was ecstatic when I saw "Batman Begins." It captured the spirit of the Frank Miller Batman without the rampant usage of "WHORES" and the brilliance of the Tim Burton's film adaptation while knowing more than dick about the character. It was the greatest superhero movie ever made...

Until now.

"The Dark Knight" keeps everything from the first movie and heaps more onto it. This is not Frank Miller Batman, this is Jeph Loeb Batman; and you can't get better than Loeb when it comes to the Caped Crusader.

Christopher Nolan took the characters I grew up loving and put them in pain -- deep-seated, physical, emotional, mental and, hell.. you could argue, spiritual pain. He explores the pain that comes from the mask and why someone like Batman needs to wear it. This is all shown to the audience by the brilliant Christian Bale. Keaton was good, but Bale is what the character needs now. Some have said the character falls flat; this is a lie. Bale's portrayal is exactly what Batman/Bruce Wayne is; a drunken fratboy-esqe Billionaire by day, dwindling his father's fortune frivolously and an unstable vigilante hero by night, hell-bent on stopping crime and protecting everyone; the good, the bad (the ugly... that was lame) at high cost to his body and mind.

Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman reprise their roles, as Alfred and Lucius Fox respectively, with absolute brilliance. Alfred is still the father figure and friend that grounds Bruce in sanity -- as well as a brilliant sounding board for witty banter -- and Fox runs Wayne Enterprises, while helping out the Batman with cool Bond gadgets.

Also returning is the ever-spectacular Gary Oldman as Jim Gordon. Gordan's role is much larger in this sequel and is more reminiscence of "The Long Halloween" than the previous film. Gordon is transformed from the lone detective, curious about the Dark Knight into the authority we know him as. Rounding out the returning characters is Rachel Dawes, now played by the immaculately beautiful Maggie Gyllenhaal. With more screen time and character development, it would have been a sin for Katie Holmes to reprise her role. Even so, and I don't mean to sound spiteful, but Katie you truly are an idiot for turning this down.

The truly fantastic performances were by newcomers to the franchise: Aaron Eckhart, playing District Attorney Harvey Dent, and Heath Ledger as The Joker. Dent's romantic relationship with Rachel partnered with his absolute fearlessness in the prosecution of Gotham's criminal element as the "White Knight" of Gotham and the eventual breaking of the character make this Eckhart's best performance since "Thank You for Smoking."

And finally, Heath Ledger...

I will say this to start: if he wins an Oscar because he died, it will be a travesty. If he wins because of his talent, it will be truly deserved.

There are two uses of The Joker. One is as a simple annoyance -- a tool to hammer out a Batman storyline. The other way is far greater, and that is to make the most frightening, insane sociopath ever to walk to land of fiction; to stalk, hunt and break people and not care about anything else. Heath Ledger did the latter. He is violent, crazy and believable as not just a comic book villain, but as a caricature of everything we fear from terrorism, serial killers, thugs, murderers, and stalkers. There is a sort of frenzied, calm nihilism to The Joker. If he steals from you, hurts you, kills you -- it's for the joke. He is a "Clockwork Orange" version of Andy Kaufman. That is the true terror. And the scariest part is that Ledger makes you see the insanity, yet understand it. As morbid as it is to say, he at least gets to be remembered for his best role as opposed to "Beverly Hills Ninja," or "Street Fighter," or "Sidekicks," or "Wagons East" as other actors are.

This movie is amazing, see it now, in theaters or you are a horrible person.

6 out of 5.



Jeremiah:
All summer, it feels like, has been building towards one singular event.

It started with "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skulls," continued with "Iron Man" and "Hulk" and "Hellboy II." It faltered slightly with "The Happening" and "Hancock." They weren't bad movies, just not the rousing successes of the rest of the season. Ever since the summer line-up was released, we all sensed it.

The build up, the journey, the roller coaster that would take us to feverish heights. The pinnacle, the destination, the dizzying precipice, as it were: Christopher Nolan's "The Dark Knight," the sequel to 2005's "Batman Begins." Nolan took a realistic, gritty take on Gotham's nocturnal protector, giving Batman the hard-boiled, noirish feel that fans had been clamoring for since Tim Burton's "Batman."

Not that Burton didn't have a hard-boiled, noirish atmosphere. It's just that his was more of the silent film era. Early German Expressionistic Fritz Lang, as opposed to later day, escape-from-Nazi-Germany Lang. Make sense? Probably not, I tend to get lost in my own reasoning.

Regardless, Nolan's “The Dark Knight” is a pitch-perfect masterpiece on every level. Acting, writing, directing, camera placement, lighting, characterization: everything was brilliant. His biggest triumph is not that there is so much story -- 2 and half hours worth -- it's that all his stories ties together to create a rich, subtle, darkly disturbing, enriched masterpiece. Second time I've used that word in this paragraph. Get used to it, I may use it again.

I'll assume you already know the plot, and instead will focus on the relationships in the movie. In fact, I'll focus mainly on the triangles, for there are many. This is one of the true strokes of genius, the relationships can be broken up into trios.

The holy trinity of Batman/Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale), Lt. James Gordon (Gary Oldman), and Gotham's white knight of a District Attorney, Harvey Dent (Gary-- I mean Aaron Eckhart). The trio makes a pact to clean up the diseased city. Eckhart's Dent is filled with a potent desire to do good, something that attracts the attention of both Gordon and Batman. Batman sees Dent as the hero Gotham so desperately needs. Batman does not see himself as the hero, in fact does not wish to be. He sees himself as the protector.

This trio is the greatest thing that could happen to Gotham City. That being said, they must be destroyed. One of them must fall. Who will it be? The White Knight of course. Destroy the shining light and destroy the city's hope.

As the movie progresses, Gordon and Batman begin to see eye to eye on Dent, and when the worst sweeps down upon him like a Greek tragedy, it breaks both their hearts. The pain in Bale and Oldman's faces at the end of the movie cry out for some sort of clemency, for the gods to show Gotham some sort of mercy.

The love triangle between Dent, Bruce Wayne and Assistant District Attorney Rachel Dawes (Maggie Gyllenhaal) is another fascinating study. Gyllenhaal finds the tightrope of sexy and vulnerable, yet resilient and independent, and walks it beautifully. Rachel knows Bruce's alter-ego and sees the phenomenal capacity of Harvey Dent. Dent never fully realizes that his ally and quasi-romantic rival are one and the same. There are times though, where there's a suspicious glint in Eckhart's eyes that say he might hazard a guess.

Bale has no fear in showing that Rachel is the only woman who makes him feel normal. He is unafraid to bear his soul to her. Her realization that her promise to return to him when the city no longer needs Batman is null and void, is a master stroke on her part. For there may come a time when the city may no longer need the him, but Bruce will always need the Batman.

I would be remiss if I did not mention my favorite triangle, Bruce Wayne/Batman, Alfred and Lucius Fox. These two men are Wayne's only real tether to a reasonable state of sanity. Both are part friend and part father figure to Bruce. Not to mention they're the only two who are totally unafraid of cracking a joke to Bruce or to the Batman. They understand his need to protect Gotham and the need to help clean his psyche. They serve as a reminder that it's okay to laugh a little.

Before I talk about the next triangle, I must take a moment to evolve to it. Talk about the person, his counterpart, and then eventually the triangle he completes. I am talking of course, about The Joker (Heath Ledger). Ledger's performance is nothing short of brilliant; a mixture of theatricality and honesty critical in making an iconoclastic character. He's mad when he should be sane and sane when he should be mad.

The movie hints that The Joker was just your run of the mill thug; not really a team player, just a loose cannon. A man who was drenched with simple nihilism. Then the Batman entered the scene. Before he was just a thug, causing some slight mayhem, but with the emergence of the Batman, The Joker had found something we all yearn for -- a purpose.

The movie's real achievement is making you understand The Joker, as well as his relationship with the Batman. As The Joker says in one scene, “You complete me.” Said with irony and dripping with menace, yes, but it also brings clarity to The Joker's existence. He exists because Batman exists.

The Batman/Joker relationship is an old one. It has supplied countless story fodder for comic writers, the best being Alan Moore's "The Killing Joke." "The Dark Knight" may be better. The chemistry between Bale and Ledger is mesmerizing. Bale's outright confusion at the Joker's methods and absolute random chaos, perfectly counterbalances Ledger's amusement at said confusion.

Enter Two-Face. Not Harvey Dent: Two-Face.

Created, in more ways than one, by The Joker and yet at the same time also created by the Batman. There is a scene between Dent and The Joker that's one of the best scenes of the year, where The Joker bares his psyche to Dent and, in essence, pushes Dent over the edge, into Two-Face. Eckhart does a absolutely bang-up job showing us Dent's tragic downfall into madness.

At the end of the cinematic tunnel sits Christopher Nolan weaving all this together in one giant hard-boiled Greek tragedy. He lights his movie in blues and blacks to give it that sort of nightmarish feel. The unflinching eye of his camera as it stares right into Ledger's disturbing portrayal. Wally Pfister (yes that's a real name), Nolan's cinematographer, deserves some accolades as well. There are scenes in this movie that are nothing short of masterful; several of them iconic, all of them framed perfectly.

There is a scene where The Joker is upside down, his coat blowing in the wind, against the darkness of the night sky, like a cape in the wind, as he tells the Batman how much he "loves" him.

Nolan and his crew have outdone not only themselves, but everybody else as well. This is the best superhero movie ever made and one of the best movie this year. It is the best Batman movie.

For a comic book movie, it will leave you feeling a cornucopia of emotions. Sadness, pride in your fellow humans, regret and fear. Everything a growing boy needs in his summer movie.

/5

Yours Until Hell Freezes Over,
Jeremiah