Dark "Knight" of the Soul

The most effective "comics to film" adaptations have been able to deal with deeper human themes that resonate through the comics themselves. "SpiderMan" was as much a tale of the higher responsibility that comes with becoming powerful as it was of Peter Parker battling Norman Osborn; the "X Men" films successfully translated the comic's theme of the power of community against prejudice and loneliness, and "Iron Man" also dealt with personal responsibility and accountability, with Tony Stark finally understanding how his gifts affected the world, and attempting to assert some control over it.
With "The Dark Knight", director Graham Nolan ratchets up this notion to its highest level yet, with Batman's first encounter with the newly active Joker becoming a meditation on both the true meaning of the word "hero" and moreover, on the moral dilemma of being confronted by absolute evil. These parallel and overlapping themes propel "Dark Knight" into virtually new cimematic territory; the adult superhero movie.
"The Dark Knight" opens a short while, perhaps a few weeks or months, after the first film in the series "Batman Begins" ends. A new mysterious criminal, the Joker, is making his presence felt in Gotham, staging daring and creative bank robberies and threatening to take over the entire Gotham underworld. Meanwhile, a new ambitious and incorruptible district attorney, Harvey Dent, is also making the scene, taking on the city's most powerful crime figures and daring to destroy the entire criminal infrastructure. The Joker presents the criminal syndicate with his solution to the crime world's problems; kill the Batman. Not only will this blunt the vigilante's war on crime, it will send a signal to the city, now full of optimism with the new DA and masked protector, that they are powerless to stop the criminals. The Joker's real war it seems is not against the city, the law or even Batman, but against hope.

As the war escalates, the Joker begins taking more and more extreme measures, including murdering several top city officials and law enforcement personell, as well as the leader of a fringe "Batman" inspired group of citizens, who is ghoulishly taped being tortured before his death. Batman struggles first with how to help DA Dent bring down the crime syndicate, and later realizes his real battle is with the Joker and his attempt to destroy the city's spirit and unleash total chaos upon it.

Two themes emerge from this rich tapestry of plot, the first and possibly most intriguing is what the proper response is to pure evil. The Joker and his horrible crimes of violence present Batman, and by extension, the viewer, with the moral dilemma of how to react to what seems to be a totally irredeemable human being. Unlike the vast majority of criminals Batman has investigated and fought, or the vast majority of people we all encounter in our daily life, the Joker has no easily categorized motive. He doesn't care about money or power. The Joker's agenda is insidious but detectable; he intends to deprive the world of hope, to bring about the same kind of nihilistic thinking in others that is present in him. He wants to plunge Gotham in general, and Batman in particular, into a state of constant, undead despair, by committing random acts of wanton, ghoulish cruelty.

In this way, the Joker is really Batman's ultimate challenge. For all his darkness and pragmatism, Batman's unwillingness to kill demonstrates on some very fundamental level he believes in the possibility of redemption, not just for himself but for everyone. The Joker, by his very nature, tasks Batman to truly examine the veracity of that belief. Here he is confronted with a human being who seems, on the surface at least, to be utterly lacking in any sort of compassion of basic decency, who commits crimes "just to see the world burn", to quote Alfred. The moral and ethical questions that the introduction of the Joker represents to Batman is really the centerpiece of this superhero drama, and Jonathon and Christopher Nolan's tight, unrelenting script does a great job of using this challenge to illustrate the depth of Batman's dedication not only to his city, but to his personal ethos. This time Batman cannot just defeat his foe physically; he has to prove to him, the city and himself that the Joker's philosophy is dead wrong, no matter what the personal cost. Its a dilemma with no easy answers, and watching Batman struggle with it and himself is absorbing and completely compelling filmgoing experience.

It's hard to watch this film and not see echoes of the real world struggle against evil; specifically, the battle against modern terrorism. Who watched the Joker's videotaped murder of the leader of the Batman inspired vigilantes and didn't recall the similar video tapes that issued forth from the battlefield in Iraq several years ago? And who didn't hear Alfred's description of the Joker's motivation to spread chaos and didn't think of Bin Laden and other contemporary terrorists who commit horrible acts in order to spread random fear and despair? Likewise, Batman's struggle with how far to go (and what moral boundaries to cross) in pursuit of ending this reign of terror can be seen in the real world debates involving the Bush government's controversial methods of combatting terrorism including the Patriot Act and constructing the military prison on Guantanamo Bay. In this way, the film has a real world resonance that takes it out of the realm of fantasy and puts it, at least thematically and philosophically, into the realm of the everyday.

The film's other theme is that of defining what a hero is, and the importance of icons. Much of the film deals with the city's newfound hope in combatting organized crime, and that hope comes not only from Batman and Commissioner Gordon but from new District Attorney Dent, and his indefatigueable and incorruptible personality. It's difficult to discuss this theme fully without giving away key plot points, but by the end of the film this theme is illustrated powerfully by testing Batman's character and the absolute extent of his loyalty to Gotham City. It's a wonderfully relevant and timely theme that really adds even more dimension and texture to the character and shows how often the most heroic actions are those that no one is ever truly aware of, made in the dark of night and the core of the heart.
No film can succeed without strong acting and this one is remarkably well cast. Much has been made (and rightfully so) about Heath Ledger's turn as the Joker; make no mistake, the praise is deserved. While I was initially quite skeptical of this casting, as I watched the film I kept trying to envision Delmar, the stoic gay cowboy from "Brokeback Mountain" beneath that makeup and role and I just couldn't. Obviously I didn't think the character would be there, but Delmar LOOKS like Ledger and even so, this man had totally submerged himself inside the persona of the Joker. With each nasally, irritating utterance, with each twisted gesture and Macheavellian chess play, the Joker sprang wholecloth from the mind and body of Ledger, seemingly an independent entity and far and away the most menacing character in all the "Batman" films, in fact one of the most chilling villains in film history.
Less ballyhooed but equally important was Christian Bale's return performance as Batman. For the hoopla over Ledger's performance, Bale's measured, stoic, still tormented and yet resolutely and believably noble Batman could be overlooked but obviously its just as key to the film's success. Bale continues to help define Batman as a serious work of adult fiction; his intensity matches Ledger's which is just what you want in a hero/villain matchup. Bale is supported well by the Aaron Eckhardt's portrayal of Harvey Dent. Eckhardt is dashing and brash but ultimately a man of great depth and tragedy and dimension. Michael Caine returns in fine form as Alfred, Bruce Wayne's loyal and wise butler and his appearances here prove the character to be just as wise, supportive and often funny as he was in "Batman: Begins". His father like role for Wayne is shared by Morgan Freeman's Lucius Fox, back again counseling and helping Wayne with covert inventions and a biting sense of humor. Maggie Gyllenhahl (replacing Katie Holmes) does good work as Assistant D.A. Rachel Dawes, but her character still seemed a bit superfulous to me, though obviously romance is a part of the mythos that Nolan can't very well just ignore. Gary Oldman also returns as Commissioner Gordon and again Gordon plays a key role in Batman/Wayne's war on crime in Gotham and is fleshed out even more than previously. It's a great cast that imbues the Nolans' script with a soul and brings these iconic characters to startling and brilliant life.

"The Dark Knight" turbo charges the superhero movie genre into the world of human drama and adult myth. It sets a new standard for the entire genre and succeeds on not only the "popcorn" level of sheer entertainment but also as an exploration of heroism and resolve in the face of extreme adversity.