GEEK VS GEEK
Okay,
let’s clarify to begin with: I’m not a raving fanboy. I
enjoyed Adam West’s Batman for the
tongue-in-cheek series it was, and whilst I’m generally
a fan of Tim Burton’s work, I struggled with his
incarnations of the Bat: they just didn’t give me a
reason to watch, apart from the typical hyper-realistic
visuals. As for the Joel Schumacher ones.... well. They
were Joel Schumacher.Enter Christopher Nolan and Christian Bale. Finally a storyline that provides motive and characters that you can understand. Something as dark and gritty as Gotham on the brink should be.
So Batman Begins sets the scene.... What now?
I want more from a sequel than just the same good guy bashing a different bad guy. I want it to go further. I want it to give me some new ideas. This is why The Dark Knight succeeds.
So there are a few characters to get our heads around. More than characters, though: each one of these individuals encapsulates a possible future for Gotham.
Gordon: Here’s the good guy, the run of the mill cop with unquestionable morals. Gordon’s the guy that will look out for the people, because he is one of the people.
The Joker: Here’s our ultimate villain. The guy without rhyme or reason, the guy that just wants to watch the world burn. In the Joker’s hands, Gotham goes up in flames. There’s no hunger for power; he is the essence of pure anarchy. It is a simple beauty. But more of Ledger’s Joker in a bit.
Harvey Dent: The glorious dictator, ruthless, charming. He wants to rule, and realistically will ensure that Gotham will prosper,.... but at what cost? He is almost too good to be true, a veritable white knight, at least at the outset. His is probably the most interesting storyline,.... probably because there’s the most progression here... From the “2-headed” coin that stands for certainty, how that certainty is tested and eventually gives way to chance. Here the shining beacon of hope is tried, tested, and found wanting.... “understandably so,” you may think, but if this is what the shining light ends up as, maybe Gotham doesn’t need one to start with?
Then
we have the namesake of the film: Batman. Still the
antihero, the hero Gotham needs, but the one it will
inevitably turn against. What we are treated to is a
comparison between Batman and all these characters, and
we have to question which one is best for Gotham.Each one of these is more than just a character: they are an idea, a possible future. They each challenge the viewer to take sides, some easier than others. What’s amazing about each one of these characters is that they’re all only human. There’s no radioactive accident, no phenomenal cosmic power. Just people, and the choices they make.
Sure it’s a long movie; well, maybe for Gen Y , for whom instant gratification is not quick enough. Yes, they are obviously setting the background for future movies. This takes away from the shiny things and explosions slightly, but is this such a high price to pay for a quality storyline next time? Or are we content to watch Michael Bay movies for the rest of our lives?
Damn...
All this (and more) in a movie about a clown and a guy in a bat suit. How seriously can we take this movie? Let me ask this: If you had the option of watching one of two movies: One about a caped crusader trying to keep his city afloat from the shadows, and the other about political leaders vying for leadership of an electorate, which one will you go see? There’s a reason you’ve seen The Dark Knight. It’s exciting. It allows for ideas to be conveyed in an entertaining way. There’s a reason that “suspension of disbelief” has been coined as a term.
Ledger.
Let’s
call a spade a spade. Would as many accolades have been
given to Ledger for his portrayal of the Joker if he
were still making movies? Probably not. Same could be
said for the Mona Lisa, and the question asked: is it in
its rarity that lies its value, or is it inherently
valuable in its own right? True, Ledger’s death gave the
movie a lot of hype, and probably didn’t hurt his award
nominations. (Or, to continue the comparison, Da Vinci’s
auction values.) Life lost is tragedy, but that isn’t
the question under debate.Traditional villains, especially in superhero movies, have adhered to a certain formula – an over-the-top, egomaniacal, power-hungry, revenge-driven, manipulator type character is what we have come to expect. What Ledger does so well here is break this mould. There’s no power, no money to be gained from his plans. He isn’t a one dimensional character out for revenge because Spider-Man killed his fathe... err... sorry, wrong movie. He is literally out to create chaos for chaos’ sake. What’s even scarier about this character is that he is so effective at it. He’s not super strong, he has no real powers, so how does a villain that is no more than human walk into an underworld meeting, make a pencil disappear, and stroll out again? How does he survive? It’s because he’s already doing what no one else is game to do. No one is game to call his bluff, because no one, not even the viewer, is quite sure if he’s bluffing. Ledger manages to convince us that it’s possible. This “mumbly, twitchy, inexplicable bundle of tics” (as my opponent would have it) seems like a raving idiot, but is already one step ahead... There is method to the madness, an understanding of how people will react to his plans, and a perverse pleasure in playing the puppeteer with puppets that could kick his head in if
given
the opportunity. Think of Hannibal Lecter: Not a
particularly physically inspiring individual, yet one of
the scariest villains to grace the silver screen. Yeah,
I just drew that comparison. In short, is The Dark Knight the greatest movie ever produced, bar none? No. I don’t think any of us are kidding ourselves there. But does it MORE than deserve the repeated accolades that it received?
For a movie about a guy in a costume to take an audience on this much of a journey, for a movie about a clown to offer an audience this much, to go beyond the classic good guy- bad guy storyline and provide viewers with characters that represent more than people, and to do this convincingly with astounding visuals, and an atmospheric soundtrack rather than a theme song, The Dark Knight has proven to be a great movie. On top of that, Ledger’s performance was nothing short of inspirational. To take what could have been a “comic, over the top” character and turn it into a creepy, unhinged person requires brilliance. That brilliance is what Ledger provided.
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Jason Murdoch
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