I work for a paper as a critic.
Here was my review as it appeared in print...
Agent of Change
The Dark Knight has changed things, forever
By now you have been told, comic enthusiast or not, to drop everything and see The Dark Knight, director Christopher Nolan’s sequel to his 2005 franchise-reviving Batman Begins. Early excitement for this film was forged not only by a brilliant viral marketing campaign but also by the tragic loss of Heath Ledger, who died in January of this year from an accidental prescription drug overdose. A week before the release, reviews started to trickle in, and the word was one of almost unanimous praise, touting the film as this generation’s Godfather II or Empire Strikes Back.
Although the comparison to the aforementioned films is a hyperbole-fueled stretch, that is not to take anything away from The Dark Knight. To be fair, if one reflects honestly, Coppola’s pacing issues and Lucas’ wooden dialogue reminds us that even Godfather II wasn’t GODFATHER II, nor was Empire the glorious second act that geeks around the globe would have you believe.
Picking up right after its vastly inferior predecessor left off, The Dark Knight shows us a Gotham that is down but not out, hoisting itself up after the wallop it received in the first film with the help of the Batman (Christian Bale). Aligned with Lieutenant Gordon (Gary Oldman) and new district attorney Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart), Batman now sets his sites on eradicating the mob. The crime-fighting trinity enjoys a modest win, even as they continue to feel one another out. Can a two-faced goody-goody from Internal Affairs really be as clean as Dent appears? Can a Lieutenant who hand-picked a questionable assortment of cops to fill his Major Crimes Unit truly be that blissfully ignorant of their past charges? Can a man dressed as a bat be anything other than absolutely out of his mind? Their friendship is a gamble that nearly pays off until the mob turns to a mysterious figure known as The Joker (Ledger).
Once unleashed, the Joker goes on a killing-spree of epic proportions, and the film’s remaining second and third acts jump ship from the sinking comic vessel. There is no microwave emitter that could destroy the city; no mind-altering machines need to be smashed. In fact, The Joker has no master plan. Plans are for schemers. “You had plans,” the Joker quips to a fallen foe. “Look where that got you.” Indeed, the film’s protagonists spend the remainder of the film trying to keep one another from being murdered. This isn’t so much Empire Strikes Back as it is Magnolia with the shark from Jaws unleashed in a melodramatic, self-obsessed world. This is a disaster movie leaps and bounds above The Day After Tomorrow or Armageddon, and Ledger’s Joker is the unparalleled wave of destruction. “This is what happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object,” he laments to Batman.
Near dissertations are being frantically scribbled about Ledger’s performance as the “agent of chaos,” and deservedly so. It is the performance of a lifetime: a sick and vile psychopath more gripping, more terrifying and perversely more real than Jack Nicholson’s infamous take on the iconic villain. There is only one moment in the entire picture that Nolan lets you remember that you are watching a fallen star. “We’re destined to do this forever,” Ledger says to Bale’s Batman, finally delivering to rabid fans that clear distinction of codependency so celebrated between the two in the comic books. It is impossible, however, to let this settle without thinking that this is the final Ledger-tackled Joker we will see.
Unfortunately, due to the tragedy, Ledger is the only one grabbing headlines, despite impressive turns from the supporting cast (Oldman particularly gives a knock-out performance as the very real Gordon) and Nolan’s impeccable vision. Far removed from Nolan’s own previous styling, this new Gotham is glass-covered, towering, magic-hour lit and heartbreakingly authentic. There is no falsely defaced architecture taking up space on a back lot somewhere in Burbank. This is Bale and Ledger pounding one another to a pulp on Chicago’s cleverly disguised pavements. This is as down and dirty as any episode of “The Wire.”
What has arrived is not the best film ever made, although I thought so moments after seeing the film. Nolan still has yet to master the ability to reel in an actor who is off the mark (such as Eric Roberts as Salvatore Maroni), and Bale’s Batman voice has gotten worse. But these minor infractions are nit-picks in the grand scheme of the unsettling morality play Nolan and company have crafted about the modern fear of terrorism. This is not a film to be easily shaken off. With its thematic struggle for the soul of a populous tittering on insanity and Ledger’s legendary performance, this is truly an experience that will haunt you for days to come.
Grade - A
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