My Thoughts on The Dark Knight

Writing a review of "The Dark Knight" is somewhat pointless given the glowing hyperbole flowing from the keyboards of nearly every movie critic on the planet. Instead, a mere 25 minutes after walking out of the theater, I have a few thoughts on the film.

On the relationship to "Batman Begins" - The flick sort of dispenses with the first film early on. The Scarecrow is locked up in the first 10 minutes, the Batman As Ninja thing is all but gone and very little is referred to. With a few tweaks this could very well have been the first film in the Batman reboot, but this divorce from the first movie doesn't hurt the film as a whole.

On Heath Ledger's Joker - Well, everything you've heard is true. It's a great performance. It's one of those rare performances where writer, director and actor all "get" what's going on and move in the same direction. It's the same sort of thing we saw with Robert Downey Jr. playing Tony Stark in Iron Man, all pistons fire and the character flies off the screen. I fell officially in love with the character the second time he told the story about how he got his facial scars, and the movie so underplayed this pivotal point in the character's psyche that it was hard not to love. He's flushed out, fully explored but not inaccessible and Ledger is pitch perfect in this film. The Joker was truly frightening and this version perpetrated my favorite magic trick, probably ever filmed.

On the film's flaws - Christopher Nolan still can't stage a coherent action sequence to save his life and Batman continues to swallow actors whole. It's not that the acting is bad (it's not), but what the character calls for is so empty, which is kind of the point, that you can lose an actor inside it. If it wasn't for his almost annoying snarl, Christian Bale would have been swallowed up. The movie also didn't "click" in a few places, meaning while the acting all movies in the same direction all the plot points do not. Some pieces of the movie feel random. It's not a perfect film by any means.

On social relevance - However, what "The Dark Knight" does better than any other movie of its post 9/11 brethren is create relevant social allegory and tie it into the story as a whole. The Joker is a terrorist, plain and simple, though a genius terrorist in white face. The idea of symbols and their relevance, what revenge does to "nobility" and what fear can do to bring out the good in people - it's all relevant without slapping you in the face, which is a tall order for a comic book movie. Most effective is what happens when you cross lines, and how you can't go back.

On guts - Oh how people die in this film. Major people. People whose names are above the title. I turned to my wife about 2/3 of the way through the movie and said "The Joker's going to win, isn't he?" and in a big way he does. That's not so much as a spoiler as it is a conversation after the film. This movie goes directions that would scare major studios out of their $3,000 suits. The film's biggest praise, aside from the acting, need to go to the Nolan brothers and David Goyer for pushing these ideas and characters in directions they normally could not go. As a result, this flick plays more like a crime thriller than a superhero movie, and it's unique in that way.

On Aaron Eckhardt - This movie would not work without Aaron Eckhard as Harvey Dent. It just would not. It's easily a roll that plays strongly on his natural acting strengths, and he is the rock in which "The Dark Knight" builds its church. Ledger is flashy and fun and scary, Eckhard is absolutely necessary.

In Conclusion - Great stuff. "I'm not crazy, I'm just ahead of the curve," is my new favorite saying. The scene with Tim "Tiny" Lister actually moved me. I was tense and enthralled through the entire thing. Great stuff.