“What about escalation? … you’re wearing a mask and jumping off rooftops. Now, take this guy: armed robbery, double homicide. Got a taste for theatrical, like you. Leaves a calling card…“
The Dark Knight picks up where Batman Begins left off. Starting with an ingeniously staged bank robbery the film shows Gotham spiral into chaos at the hands of The Joker whilst Bruce Wayne considers hanging up his cloak in light of a new crusader; District Attorney Harvey Dent – I wont reveal any more plot details because I don’t want to spoil it but director Christopher Nolan and his brother Jonathon (plus story ideas from David S. Goyer) have put together another great story that is full (bursting even) of incidents without ever falling into the episodic mess that seems to cripple most big blockbusters at the moment. Another big plus that the writers have introduced is the decision to the make Gotham a regular city. Gone are the arches and monorail (although technically it was destroyed in the last film) and any trace of Burton’s Gotham and so the events play out in a real world setting that magnifies the extreme nature of the characters… not that these guys wouldn’t stand out anyway.
With a cast that includes Christian Bale, Gary Oldman, Heath Ledger, Aaron Eckhart, Michael Caine, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Morgan Freeman and is happy to have someone as good as William Fichtner pop up for just a couple of minutes, it really is fair to say that the standard of acting in this film is universally high.
Of course there are also stand outs but it feels unfair to focus on just one or two of these great actors, however, I will say that Ledger was definitely the man for the job (giving us easily the best Joker so far although not quite the ‘Oscar’ performance being talked about) and one of few niggles I have with the film is that Christian Bale isn’t given as much to do as I would have liked (Bruce Wayne needed a more substantial role in the story) and with all the media focus elsewhere Eckhart and Oldman have been slightly overlooked by many critics.
One thing that isn’t overlooked though is the word ‘dark’. As well as being a summer blockbuster this is a thoughtful film that deals heavily with notions of good versus evil and the nature of chaos and control. In bringing this to the screen Nolan has also enhanced the violent content on display. Gone are the slightly-too-fast edits in the fighting and instead we have solid punches and, in some instances, open displays of sadism and plenty of nasty moments. In fact, this film is such a step up from Begins in terms of violence that I think the BBFC have seriously dropped the ball in granting this a 12A certificate. This is not a ‘kid’s film’ by any measure and a 15 cert. would have been much more appropriate.
The Dark Knight is one of the most satisfying films that I have seen in quite a while and none of the very slight problems that I can rustle up damage it in any way. For once the hype is justified and one can only wonder where the series will go from here.
9/10
