Movie and Television Reviews

This isn't the review you deserve, but it's the one you need:

As the people from the previous showing were leaving, one bat-shirted patron said, "Dude, that was the best two hours of my life" (His youth and the fact that he wears Batman t-shirts inclined me to believe him.). I wouldn't go quite as far, but I will say that Dark Knight is certainly the smartest, and probably the best, two and a half hours of superhero cinema ever projected on a screen.

In the second of the non-silly Batmans, Gotham is experiencing a crime wave, an anachronistic problem more appropriate to the late seventies than the late 0s (But I went with it.). The Joker (Heath Ledger R.I.P.) bursts onto the scene and offers the multi-ethnic Gotham crime hierarchy the opportunity to rid themselves of Batman (Christian Bale), whose red tape-free vigilante-ness makes him particularly effective.

While Batman specializes in difficult, unofficial stuff like super-legally extraditing Chinese corporate outlaws from Hong Kong skyscrapers, Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart), a clean, district attorney-boy scout, handles the mundane task of prosecuting criminals. It's a nice little partnership until the Joker masterfully drives a wedge between them, pushing Gotham, Batman, and Dent to the limit.

Holy movie of the year, Batman:

1. The odious, non-humorous Joker successfully pushes all of my buttons: He's a cruel bully, tempter of the good, and enemy of good order- more of a serial killer-terrorist hybrid than criminal mastermind. Indeed, the public videos of his torture technique remind me of Al-Qaeda. Heath Ledger has a lot to do with this, obviously, but even the best actors have to have something to do, so props to the writers and director.

2. This is the smartest superhero movie ever made in the creative execution of plot elements. The combination of technological genius and spectacular physical bravery that Batman uses to kidnap the Chinese criminal would be appropriate in a spy thriller (James Bond can only dream of such cleverness. There is, however, a very Bondish scene in which Lucius Fox [Morgan Freeman] shows Bruce Wayne his latest gadgets and Wayne accidentally triggers one.). and leaves one both breathless and intellectually satisfied. The Joker's burning of a pile of money reinforces his anarchic goals.

3. The plot successfully adds emotional and moral depth without taking away from the movie's comic book essence.

4. Like the best action movies, we have a false resolution, where we think the plot is resolved only to ramp back up for an even bigger ending.

4. Because Batman is just a man, the directors spare us the CGI and, instead, fill Batman with brilliant stunts and a couple of wonderful chases. Good fighting too. Batman enters a strip club and moves towards his goal like John McCain upon sighting Osama bin Laden, dispatching flunkies all the way.

Holy imperfection, Batman:

1. The plot, while a solid-enough skeleton upon which to hang the above meat, doesn't justify some of the characters' motivations. Joker demands that Batman remove his mask before he [Joker] stops terrorizing Gotham. Even setting aside no-negotiation policies and pretending that Dennis Kucinich were mayor, who would fall for this? Would the people of Gotham cower so quickly? I still don't know whether commissioner Gordon was crooked or not. And the "you can only save one" dilemma is from Superman I.

2. Audience reaction shots, where average street people are minding there own business and then gape at a display of superhero prowess or collateral damage, aren't funny and cheapen the mature Dark Knight.

Message/Politics:

Very interesting and ambiguous. No one side can claim Dark Knight for its own. We have great gobs of "ends justify means- even noble crusades can corrupt- don't lose the moral high ground" tension summarized in the conceit that the hero eventually becomes the villain if he sticks around too much. One character goes off the rails completely while Batman takes the middle ground- he'll listen to people's cell phone calls (FISA allusion), but "only this once;" He prefers the legal system to his own personal justice. Batman's not above lying to the public for a good effect. All in all, neither too preachy nor nihilistic.

Dark Knight both gives the public too much credit and too little. I described how they cave into the Joker too easily, but they also make a somewhat unrealistically noble mass choice (I can see one, but a whole boat?). One Army captain should be relieved of duty.

I couldn't help but think of Gotham in relation to other cities on the brink like fifth and tenth century Rome, 14th century Constantinople, 2005 New Orleans, and 2006 Baghdad.

Expert review.

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