The
second film in The Dark Knight trilogy
builds on the good will earned by the first installment and delivers on pretty
much every level. It’s cool, it’s
engrossing, it has impressive action, and the characters positively
crackle. On rewatch, you really feel the
two-and-a-half-hour run time, but overall, this film improves on an
already-strong debut outing.
Now
that his origin story is out of the way, Batman is fully in the public eye, and
that means a lot of cons thrown in with the pros. Bruce is serving up numerous lowlifes to be
put away by Gotham’s one honest cop, but at the same time, copycat vigilantes
are getting in his way, endangering themselves and muddying the waters of what
he’s trying to do in the process. Public
opinion as to whether the caped crusader is a hero or a menace is divided, with
some thinking Batman needs to be locked up alongside the criminals he’s
caught. And most significantly, his S.O.P.,
with its high theatrics and flashy technology, has led to escalation among
Gotham’s seedy underbelly. The presence
of a superhero begs a super villain, and the Joker is eager to fill that post. As his volatile new foe begins to wreak
sadistic havoc on the city, Bruce’s limits – physical, mental, and moral – are
tested to the utmost.
When
this film came out, the big news was the late Heath Ledger’s performance as the
Joker, and, since it’s every bit as good today, I’ll start there. Ledger is chameleonic in the role – twisted,
flippant, manic, dangerous, and mercurial.
Truly, one for the ages. And
generally, I like that the Joker is portrayed as an intelligent wildcard, a
force of chaos without a lot of discernible goals or desires. That seems like a weird thing to praise in a
character, but for the Joker, it really works.
He’s not a criminal mastermind, and even though he’s obviously a bad
guy, he’s not really with the bad
guys. He’ll do some dirty work for them,
but he doesn’t strictly ally with them – the man is an object lesson in the
phrase “no honor among thieves.”
This
unstable element makes for some fine storytelling, audacious stuff that keeps
you on your toes. I like seeing Bruce
try to cope with being so thoroughly messed with. In a way, as an adversary, the Joker reminds
of the Master at his/her best: someone
who yanks the hero around and makes him question himself. Bale does a fine job playing off of Ledger
and the tumult the Joker creates. New
cast members Aaron Eckhart (as Harvey Dent, prospective white knight of Gotham)
and Maggie Gyllenhaal (replacing Katie Holmes as Rachel) are also
effective. With Rachel, it’s hard for me
to tell how much of it is writing vs. acting, but I definitely like her better
here than in Batman Begins. I think
a lot of it is down to Gyllenhaal, who seems to spark in a way that Holmes
didn’t for me.
The
action is good, although it’s different from the first movie. It’s a bit more standard comic-book fare,
more fighting and less reliance on fear and misdirection. Overall, I think the cloak-and-dagger stuff
from Batman Begins feels a little
more original, but some of the stunts (and gadgets!) here are cooler, so it’s a
tossup.
Warnings
Heavy
comic book violence (including some grisly images,) thematic elements, and
drinking.
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