Hard to believe I know but it has been three long years since Batman Begins first hit cinema screens across the globe, and now as I write this The Dark Knight takes the story on a seamless transition from one movie to the other. 2008’s most anticipated movie would have been a blockbuster hit alone, but the death of one of the co-stars Heath Ledger an icon of our time solidified its place in history; when The Dark Knight opened a week ago in America it smashed box office record by achieving a whooping turnover of 67 million pounds on its first day.
At the end of the already dark Batman Begins we were told The Joker was coming, and as The Dark Knight begins you’re very well reminded of this, but now no longer just coming, The Joker is here. This time history does not repeat itself, from the old Adam West movies and TV shows to the 1989 movie The Joker onscreen has always provided amusement, that journey stops here. If you are expecting laughs from Heath Ledger’s Joker be prepared for a nasty shock, and if you’re expecting traditional superhero capers, prepare to be shocked again. The Dark Knight crosses the boundaries of the superhero movie offering not just great special effects, but possibly the most extreme horror, yes horror that the cinema screens have seen this year. This Batman outing is no fairy story, it’s cruel, harsh, and completely un-relentless. I would go as far as to say that I was mortified by the horror of this movie, but let‘s be honest it’s not like it was unexpected, we were warned, it’s just that more often than not we choose to avoid the publicity in order to avoid disappointment.
I guess as good a place as any to start is with the performance of Ledger, The Joker’s first onscreen appearance is in a rather daring bank robbery in which he marches into a bank with a gang of footmen armed to the hilt, and leaves alone having performed the perfect crime. It’s not however until The Joker returns some twenty minutes later that we get the real feel for ledgers performance as he offers a group of Gotham’s most notorious gangsters a unique glimpse of his latest magic trip: How to make a pencil disappear! This magic trick takes you in places I never expected to take, and Ledgers delivery of the said trick it’s a truly magnificent sight. Last week I mocked Michael Caine having heard him say that for this role Ledger deserves an Oscar, my reason for mocking is to be honest with you I never really got the whole Heath Ledger thing, but now I’ll have to agree if Hopkins could win an Oscar for playing Hannibal Lector, then Heath Ledger is without a doubt deserving of one for his horrifying performance. I cannot help but wonder what Ledger went through to deliver such a mortifying portrayal of evil. From the look, to the voice Ledger sets the bar higher for any future actor playing the character, in fact scrub that, the bar should stop here and out of respect the role never be recast again, you really cannot tamper with perfection.
Like Batman Begins, the story here is two-fold, or I guess you could say two faced; because while The Joker takes the role of the movies main villain, the story more than anything else follows the story of another villain who rises from the ashes to become something equally evil to the scary Ledger; just whom holds this title I’ll leave a secret because if you’re not up on Batman, and specifically the character names then this little revelation will come flying at you like a bolt from the blue.
What I find most amazing about this 150 minute movie is that its not got the greatest storyline, all of the movies progression is packed into the performances of Christian Bale (Batman), Maggie Gyllenhaal (taking over from Katie Holmes as Rachel Dawes), Michael Caine (Alfred), Morgan Freeman (Fox), Gary Oldman (Lt. Gordon), Aaron Eckhart (Harvey Dent) and of course Heath Ledger (The Joker). Beyond these performances you have a simple tale of a crazed villain trying to get attention the best way he knows how.
The effects rather unsurprisingly are nothing short of spectacular, from big devastating explosions, to physical scenes carried out by the wealth of actors. But of all those little things that go into the movie the factor that really created the total ambience was the music. The Dark Knight’s score is delivered by Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard and for the most part is fairly bog standard movie music, but what these creative minds do is deliver the most simplistic musical device three times to the extent that it literally unhinges you as you realise something truly major is about to happen. The piece of music in question revolves around one simple music bar, that increases is volume and length as it continues to play its solitary tone. Rather like Ledger’s hair raising performance this music really puts you into the movie, “Oh my God, what’s going to happen next”; from a scene where The Joker offers Rachel what we in the UK used to refer to as a Chelsea grin (where the sides of the mouth are split in order to cause further ripping of the face as the victim screams out), to a memorial parade where The Joker reveals his hand, the music is the thing that takes these fairly uneventful moments to a different level altogether.
I have been purposefully skating round the storyline, and providing snippets of the power of the story, but I’ll warn you now there is a most unexpected death, which takes the movie in a completely different direction. Having dramatically overplayed a series of incidents this mortifying death of a much loved character is completely understated giving the viewer yet another grotesque glance at our favourite superhero turning to the world of horror.
All of the movies performers excel themselves, Freeman’s Fox gets a bigger more eventful role, while Caine’s Alfred is more understated than before. Christian Bale the movies star just kind of skims along the edge here not because he is over confident, or has little purpose; but because the movies emphasis is not on him it’s all about the other characters. Speaking of underplayed, you might bea bit surprised by the under use of Ledger too, just why his name appears further down on the posters cast list is made blatantly apparent, not only is he not the movies pivotal villain in reality; he is actually onscreen probably for less than 20 minutes. Katie Holmes’ shoes fit Gyllenhaal very well, but let’s be honest it’s not like there was much for her to fill; I mean no disrespect to Holmes but in Batman Begins I felt she was totally out of place, in both her acting ability and the character she tried to portray; Gyllenhaal is a much better fit for Rachel Dawes, moments of fieriness now convincing rather than a little girl throwing a fit. Aaron EckHart is a big player in the movie his character Harvey Dent a man with a perfect vision for how Gotham can be a safer and better place. While Gary Oldman provides some solid straight up support. The Scarecrow played by Cillian Murphy makes a reappearance kind of carried over from the first movie.
It’s with little regret that I find myself awarding The Dark Knight the award of being my favourite movie of the year, as a horror movie fan I love this new feel to Batman, I loved the menace of it. But this comes with downfalls, I’d certainly have to question the moral standing of anyone that tried to show the movie (in whatever form) to anyone under the age of 15, where as other horror movies or thrillers can have that age negotiation The Dark Knight does not. This is an incredibly adult movie, clearly designed for the adults only.
Despite what I say about the movie, make your own conclusions don’t be swayed into loving it or hating it because of trend or to effectively lose face, judge it on your own merits and I’m sure you’ll find yourself loving this darker version of a family favourite.
The Dark Knight is in cinemas from the 24th July.
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