Screenhead

Glare in envy, fanboys, I have managed to charm Warner Brothers into letting me into a preview screening of The Dark Knight. Sure, I had to stagger out of the cinema at noon and burst my daze as I returned to work, but it was worth it. It’s no secret that The Dark Knight is the most anticipated film of the year, after Spielberg and Lucas destroyed a great franchise earlier this summer. The promos for the second revived Batman movie have been astounding, as have the rumours that the recently deceased Heath Ledger has delivered an award-winning performance. But, is the story of Batman’s battle with Joker and Two-Face going to live up to its expectations?

Before I continue with The Dark Knight, I should explain that I found Batman Begins to be a disappointing film. While I appreciated Nolan’s attempt to reinvent Batman according to Miller’s grim style, Batman Begins felt too serious, too much in love with its sense of unjustified gravitas to acknowledge that the plot was rather silly, despite Nolan’s best efforts to portray the villain as a moral force.

Fortunately, the sequel manages to avoid this, by generating a dizzying world of chaos and violence, represented by one figure: The Joker. This is not the prancing prat from the CRACK POW Batman series, nor is it the self-destructive maniac that is Jack Nicholson after a few pints of booze. No, this Joker has a one-track mind on a mission to revel in endless destruction.

Heath Ledger gives a mesmerising performance. At times some of his quirks (the lip licking) are a little distracting, but at other times Ledger is as intimidating as Hopkins’s Hannibal Lector. The Joker reminds me of Chigurh in No Country for Old Men (albeit in a more anarchic way as opposed to the Coen’s 80’s Judeo-Christian figure), a symbol of the stretched fabric of peaceful society, a deadly reminder of the fragility of the world we live in. Yet, he manages to fire out a few one-liners that will make you laugh, though probably it’s a nervous laugh to relieve the film’s tension.

But the Joker is only a part of what makes The Dark Knight so engaging. The Nolan brothers and writer Dave Goyer never lose track of the villain’s purpose: to represent something. What sets this film aside from most other superhero films is that it successfully stick to its themes, and tells its story to develop that, and not just to keep the action rolling. Two central strands determine the plot of the film: the dormant chaos in society; and the limits of a symbolic hero’s role in society. For while attempting to stop Joker’s fiendish games, Batman must also consider that, as the Joker says, he and his enemy are the same, they are destined to act together. And thus, Batman must ask if he should hang up the cape to save his city.

Batman’s motivation is tied to the third main character of the film: Harvey Dent. While Joker provides the action for the film, Harvey Dent’s journey is arguably more interesting. We start with Dent as an optimistic crime-fighter, dedicated to prosecuting every crime organisation possible, unfazed by the threats. But once the Joker introduces his organised chaos, and despite Dent’s most honourable attempts to fight on, the film slowly shows the man cracking. Other filmmakers would have most likely made Dent into a one-dimensional hero that with the flick of a switch becomes a mass murderer. But this film spend just enough time to feel proud of his achievements, devastated by his loss, and disturbed by his disillusion that turns into insanity.

Nolan obviously paints a very dark picture of Gotham City. Indeed, the last time I left the cinema having difficulties distinguishing fantasy from reality was when I walked down a busy Dublin street waiting for a gang of gun-wielding mobsters to assault me after watching Sin City. Yet while the mood and the disturbing characters create a dense atmosphere, the film has one brilliant scene toward the end, a life-affirming moment that feels real yet instils faith in humanity. It’s writing of the highest quality.

There’s no doubt that the fanboys are going to be wetting themselves over this film for years to come. But for those of us who don’t dream of donning a cape, it is worth noting that the film isn’t perfect. The films is slightly too long, and that’s because Nolan felt the need to inundate us with action scenes. While most are directed excellently, there are one or two (such as the Hong Kong scene) that are unnecessary. Also, Nolan returns to the origin story by again highlighting his masturbatory obsession for the invention of gadgets. The Hong Kong scene starts with Batman learning how to use his new equipment. Then the next 5 minutes are dedicated to showing us what we’ve already been told what’s going to happen. For a 2.5 hour movie surely that deserved a spot on the cutting room floor. I also see very little point in having Morgan Freeman in the movie, for his role is far too similar to Alfred’s to be justified. The Scarecrow (who was under-developed in the first movie) appear again, but acts as an insulting reduction of Cillian Murphy’s talents to that of an extra.

And of course, there’s Nolan’s ongoing problem of female characters. Katie “Scientologist #2” Holmes ruined the first Batman movie, though her character wasn’t particularly well-written. And Scarlett Johansson in The Prestige was completely forgettable. And here, Maggie Gyllenhaal improves on the role of prosecutor Rachel Dawes, but again her role is incredibly weak, somewhere lost between the affection of two men, and then barely acknowledged later in the film.

Yet, with all that said, these problems feel almost superficial. Nolan and his team have managed to improve on my problems with the first movie: it’s bigger, it’s darker, it avoids being too serious and preachy, and it vastly improves its portrayal of Gordon. It should become the prototype for future blockbusters. Iron Man showed us the possibility of great popcorn entertainment, but The Dark Knight is testimony of the potential of cinema to make blockbusters that are as thought-provoking, philosophical, in tune with society’s anxieties, and yet deeply, truly enjoyable.

by Eoin O’Faolain

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