The Movie We Deserve, and the Movie We Need Right Now

I had much grander plans in mind for this entry. I wanted to write a review of The Dark Knight that was as polished as the script was tight. Actually, that's not even it. I was well on my way to writing an interminably long, grand unifying theory of Batman. Particularly for my humble ol' blog, that's a touch too much. It's just taken entirely too long.

And then two things happened to make me--as the man says--mad as assholes. First, in the midst of the backlash against the movie, people are reaching for the most inane reasons not to like the film--like questioning Christian Bale's voice as Batman. (When, again, was it so bad to sound like Clint Eastwood?) Second was this article, entitled "The Dark Knight Regurgitates," from Comic Book Resources, http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=17578

And so, here I am, my wry smile holding back vomitous contempt.

Now, most of you reading this...you're a group of kindred spirits and like minds, and what I'm about to write in these next two sentences is not for your discerning eyes. For those of you random strangers who will stumble upon this blog (and, bizarrely, I know you're out there), take heed:

If you didn't like The Dark Knight, I'm sorry to say that one of two things is the cause:

1) You're engaging in exceptional self-delusion, or
2) While the film was running, your eyes were shut.

After all, I can't think of a movie in recent memory that has garnered such a universally positive reaction as The Dark Knight. Oh, but no...we can't have that. Not a superhero movie. It can't be that great. Not a chance.

But you know what? Yes it can. I went in with the highest expectations possible. I came out with those expectations surpassed. As I said before, this is the Batman film I've always dreamed of seeing. Instead of posting some elaborate treatise, just lemme give ya the reasons why.

CAUTION: for those of you who haven't seen the film, SPOILERS AHEAD!!!! Come back when you've seen it, or keep going if you don't mind spoilers...but you DO mind spoilers, don't you?


(HINT: You bloody do.)


Here we go, in no particular order...

1. Let's get this out of the way: Heath Ledger's performance as the Joker is one of the greatest in cinema history. Bar none. I'd speak of it in the same breath that I would Renee Falconetti as Joan of Arc or George C. Scott as Patton. He gets "all those little emotions," hilariously terrifying though they may be, so perfectly right that it's heartbreaking. Ledger flawlessly strikes the balance in the script between the chaotic clown and the scheming psychopath. Even taking into account that final, epic fight in Spider-Man 3 or the final scene of Batman Begins, the hospital scene between the Joker and Two-Face captured the spirit of a comic book scene more than any other film. Near the end, when the Joker says to Batman that they're destined to battle each other forever, it should make us all sad--as my good friend Brandon put it--because he's absolutely right...and they tragically can't.

2. The movie captures both the hope and the tragedy of the Gotham trinity's war against crime (i.e. Batman, Jim Gordon, & Harvey Dent) better even than most of the books, including Batman: The Long Halloween, which provides much of the spirit of these characters' relationships. You need only look at the final showdown when Two-Face holds a gun on Jim's son to see that come together. I don't think there's been a more tension-filled scene in recent movie history, particularly with that crushing declaration from Harvey: "You thought we could be decent men...in an indecent time!"

3. Batman goes to Hong Kong. Seriously, what's not to love there? Particularly in IMAX. And aside from the automatic cool factor, it worked quite well narratively. With a few exceptions, it always seemed strange for Batman to leave Gotham in the comics. It works here. And the fact that the skyhook that's used to lift him out of that building was seen before in a little film called Thunderball...well...that just warms the heart.

4. The action sequences were fantastically shot. Forgive my harsh, rhyming tongue here, but I don't give two bits and a bucket of shit for the opinions of those who claim the fight scenes are woefully incomprehensible (you same, ahem, critics who just splooge over the Bourne films being the pinnacle of action cinema). TDK's staging was just plain great. The cutting was admittedly quick, but you know what? So are real fights, kids, or real fights between people who know how to fight, anyway. Besides, the quick cutting was never to the point of "confuse-o-vision" (TM pending). At no time did I lose myself in the space, and the planar staging had the added bonus of allowing me to watch Batman dispatch--one by one--anybody in his path with just the sort of elegantly brutal hand-to-hand combat I expect from the world's greatest martial artist.

Additionally, Nolan has stated in an interview that he's thought about doing the next film entirely in IMAX. This thrills me no end with the possibilities for future fight scenes. After all, in a 1.44 ratio, it'd be pretty fantastic to see fights taking place on, say, the ground floor of a room, and then a second floor scaffolding...all in the same frame.

Two floors of kick-assery. In IMAX. Yes.

5. One of the changes to this Bat-universe that I love is cemented once and for all in this film. Namely, Lucius Fox (as portrayed by Morgan Freeman, in a performance every bit as reliable as his character) knows that Bruce is Batman. This is a correction the comics have required for years. Admittedly, it may have come and I might have missed it, but I don't think I have. It's heartening to see the film treat Lucius as the brilliant man he would have to be to run Wayne Enterprises for Bruce. More than that, it gives Bruce an extra member of his extended family, which as a whole is much more grounded and compelling in these films (Alfred, Rachel, Lucius, Jim, Harvey) than in the comics (Robin, Nightwing, Batgirl, Oracle, etc.).

Oh, let's see...what else...

6. Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard top their already superb score for the first film. It's easily one of the best 5 or 10 scores of the past 8 years (hmmm, I see that entry in my future).

7. Gary Oldman is Jim Gordon. Rolling Stone offered the best comment I've seen about this film, and it regards his performance: "Oldman is so skilled he makes virtue look exciting."

8. On the subject of performances, the rest were outstanding too. I remember Christian Bale said something that caught my ear at the 2007 TDK panel in Chicago: "Once I put on the suit, there's only one way to play it." In much the same way that Daniel Craig has brought my vision of Bond to life, so too has Bale done for Bruce and for Batman. I could rave about everybody else, but I'd be remiss if I didn't mention Maggie Gyllenhaal, who imbues Rachel Dawes with greater beauty, intelligence, and screen presence than Katie Holmes ever could.

9. At the film's end, when Batman chooses to shoulder the blame for the cops Harvey's killed, he says something to Gordon that moves me every single time I hear it:

"I'm whatever Gotham needs me to be."

That's the other focus of this Bat-universe that sets it above its source material: Bruce's love for Gotham, and his resolute belief that it is a city both worth saving and within his power to save. The comics have moved away from this in favor of...oh, how best to put this...other aspects of the character's mythos (read "continuity porn," a new favorite phrase of mine). There's that line in Rachel's note where she tells Bruce not to lose his faith in people. It seems very much like a throwaway line, but remember that this is a Batman that's out not only to terrify evil but also to inspire good. He believes in Gotham's people.

That's the truly great thing about the ferry scene: some of us may not think it's realistic, but it taps into that part of us that believes that humanity could actually be that noble. (Reminds me of the unmasking scene in Spider-Man 2...except better.) Gordon says of Batman that, "He's the hero we deserve, but not the one we need right now." He was, heh, half right.

10. I like the fact that the movie leaves Two-Face's fate ambiguous. I've talked with people who are convinced he's dead as can be, and I've talked with others who are convinced that his funeral was a sham and that Gordon secreted him off to Arkham Asylum. While there's more evidence in the film to support the first viewpoint, I tend toward the second for two reasons: 1) Two-Face is my favorite villain next to the Joker, and I really would like to see him in another film (though perhaps not the next one), and 2) it seems to me that if Two-Face is dead, then Batman would have to concede that the Joker did indeed win. After all, Batman would have broken his one rule: not to kill. This was a problem I had the first time I saw Batman Begins, when Batman says to Ra's al Ghul, "I won't kill you...but I don't have to save you."

Then again, whether with killing Harvey to save Gordon's son, or using the cell-phone sonar device, there now comes an interesting possibility for the plot of the third film. With Bruce having now "finally learned to do what is necessary," and running from Gotham's finest (time to introduce Montoya and Allen and the rest of Gotham Central), I'd like to see the return of Liam Neeson as Ra's al Ghul to try to reclaim Bruce as his greatest student. For those who don't know, Ra's al Ghul is able to return from the dead through Lazarus Pits, which are...argh, just go here for more info on how he's definitely not dead.

As further enticement for Bruce to go over to his former teacher's side, his daughter Talia could be introduced. I like Eva Green for this, but then what don't I like her for?

This approach makes so much more sense to me than to introduce a new villain, such as the Riddler or the Penguin, who couldn't possibly top the Joker. We might as well have the next film bring us back to the beginning, which provides some really interesting character opportunities for our Dark Knight.

However, the next installment would need a new, bona fide love interest, and Talia won't do--particularly if the series continues after a third film. Ms. Selina Kyle? You're up.

Regardless of the storyline, though it will have nothing to do with the book of the same name, there's really only one title for the third film.

The Dark Knight Returns

I could talk more about how amazingly tight the script is, how excellent the dialogue is, or even how the film really ISN'T an endorsement of the Bush administration's wiretapping tactics (after all, that technology nearly costs Batman his life in his fight with the Joker).

Instead, I'll leave you with this...

Grant Morrison, in his very aptly titled blog, "HEAD," compared The Dark Knight with the comic epic Watchmen, in that he believes that The Dark Knight's impact on superhero filmmaking will be as comparably enormous as Watchmen's on superhero comics (Watchmen itself to come to the silver screen in '09). I agree, but there's a modicum of dread that stems from that notion. In Watchmen's wake followed a slew of "dark" and "edgy" comics that pushed that medium's mainstream storytelling into the intellectual red. I don't want that to happen with the films yet to come, for making films like The Dark Knight or Casino Royale--it's not about making them dark or edgy. It's not even about making them serious.

It's about making them right. It's about giving us, as intelligent moviegoers, the movies we deserve, and the movies we need right now.

And every bit as much as Batman is the hero Gotham deserves, The Dark Knight is exactly the movie we deserve.


Read: Screw reading tonight, kids. Go see The Dark Knight.
Watch: Um...I believe we've covered this.
Listen to: A certain soundtrack. I'll give you two guesses, but you'll get it in one.