Movie Review – The Dark Knight (2008)
The excitement for the new The Dark Knight Rises Batman movie continues to grow.
My girlfriend and I already have our movie tickets for Batman. Our tickets are actually part of a cool package deal with AMC Theatres. For like $25 you’ll get to see Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, and then the midnight showing of The Dark Knight Rises. The deal also includes a special movie poster and even a Batman lanyard. It also includes some theater rewards points good towards goodies at the snack stand. It’s going to be an epic night!
In the meantime, let’s continue our review of Christopher Nolan’s vision of the Batman comics with 2008′s The Dark Knight, the second movie in his outstanding superhero trilogy.
The ending of Batman Begins left Wayne Manor in shambles after almost completely being destroyed in a fire; Rachel Dawes leaves Bruce Wayne; and the previous inmates from Gotham’s Arkham Asylum are running loose. A particularly nasty villain has been taunting the police department by leaving Joker playing cards at the scenes of his crimes.
The Dark Knight begins with an elaborate bank robbery. We see a few bank robbers wearing creepy clown masks as they break into a bank and restrain the workers and customers. One-by-one the robbers kill each other as they’ve been instructed to until only a couple of them are left. One of the bank’s workers kills a clown robber, but he warns the last clown that the money he’s stealing belongs to the mob. The clown robber pulls off his mask, revealing himself to be the Joker (brilliantly played by the late Heath Ledger), and then makes a clean getaway with all of the money.
The Dark Knight (2008) – (c) Warner Bros. Pictures
In another part of town, the Scarecrow (played by Cillian Murphy) is trying to sell some of his narcotics to a gang. Several people imitating Batman try to disrupt the meeting, but they really suck at crime fighting. The real Batman (played by Christian Bale) appears and fights the gang and Scarecrow. Before leaving, he warns the Batman imitators to stay home and let him do the crime fighting.
The Dark Knight (2008) – (c) Warner Bros. Pictures
Up next we’re introduced to newly elected District Attorney Harvey Dent (played by Aaron Eckhart). He’s tough on crime and is not intimidated by the mob, even when a mob member tries to kill him in a supposedly secure courtroom. Harvey Dent is also dating Rachel Dawes (played this time by Maggie Gyllenhaal), Bruce Wayne’s childhood friend. Later, Batman, Lt. James Gordon (played by Gary Oldman) and Harvey Dent have a secret meeting and form a plan to tackle the mob.
The Dark Knight (2008) – (c) Warner Bros. Pictures
Meanwhile, the Joker is also dealing with the mob. During a meeting of mob bosses, the Joker crashes the meeting, warning them that Batman cannot be stopped by any jurisdiction or police control. The Joker offers to kill Batman for half of their combined money, but the bosses laugh at him and refuse. Later, the Joker kills one of the mob bosses and takes control of the criminal organization.
The Dark Knight (2008) – (c) Warner Bros. Pictures
The Joker makes a video and issues an ultimatum to Batman: reveal your true identity, or innocent people will die each day. His threats are real, and police Commissioner Loeb and the judge of the mob trails both die. The Joker tries to kill Harvey Dent at a fundraiser, but Bruce Wayne quickly hides him. Batman interrupts the Joker while he has a knife against Rachel Dawes. Batman is forced to save Rachel when the Joker drops her out a window, allowing himself to escape from the masked vigilante.
The Dark Knight (2008) – (c) Warner Bros. Pictures
Gotham City hosts a massive memorial for the slain commissioner. The Joker strikes again, attempting to assassinate Mayor Garcia. Lt. Gordon jumps in front of the mayor and takes the bullet, apparently dying from his injury. The Joker escapes again during the ensuing chaos.
The Dark Knight (2008) – (c) Warner Bros. Pictures
In an attempt to stop the Joker’s attacks, Bruce Wayne decides to reveal his alter-personality to the public. Just as he’s about to step to the microphone, Harvey Dent reveals himself to be the Batman vigilante. He’s quickly whisked away into police custody as the reporters shout questions to him.
The Dark Knight (2008) – (c) Warner Bros. Pictures
More determined than ever, the Joker tries to capture Harvey Dent, the man he believes to be Batman. During a fantastic action sequence, the Joker and his men launch an attack against an armored police convoy. Batman comes to the rescue in his badass Batmobile, and the fighting continues. At one point the Batmobile has so much damage that Batman has to “downgrade” it into the two-wheeled Batpod. He continues after the Joker and his men, but the Joker is ready. The Joker strikes and Batman ultimately gets knocked to the ground. The Joker is victorious. Just as he’s standing over Batman and about to finish him, Lt. Gordon, still alive and disguised as a police officer, takes the Joker into custody. Lt. Gordon is promoted to commissioner of the Gotham police department. In the meantime, both Rachel Dawes and Harvey Dent disappear.
The Dark Knight (2008) – (c) Warner Bros. Pictures
At the police department, Gordon doesn’t have any luck interrogating the Joker. Batman appears in the interrogation room and tries his luck with the Joker. Batman’s threats mean little to the Joker. The Joker though, already has his leverage for just such an occasion. He tells Batman that Rachel Dawes and Harvey Dent are both held captive in separate warehouses — warehouses filled with explosives and set to detonate in moments. He gives Batman the locations and the masked man takes off to rescue Rachel. Lt. Gordon and the police race to rescue Harvey Dent.
The Dark Knight (2008) – (c) Warner Bros. Pictures
Batman arrives at Rachel’s warehouse only to discover the Joker’s cruel trick — he told Batman the opposite contents of the warehouses. Batman really arrived at Harvey’s location, and he’s forced to rescue him instead of Rachel as he intended. Rachel hears him calling for Batman to stop through a speakerphone. As the police arrive at her location, both warehouses suddenly detonate. Rachel Dawes dies while Harvey Dent’s face is horribly burned by the fire. While this is taking place, the Joker makes a phone call to set off a bomb that was surgically implanted in a fellow prisoner’s stomach. He easily escapes from prison during the resulting chaos.
The Dark Knight (2008) – (c) Warner Bros. Pictures
The Joker disguises himself as a nurse and visits Harvey Dent in the hospital. He convinces Harvey to strike back and get his revenge. As soon as the Joker leaves the hospital the building detonates, exploding in a massive fireball. Thankfully, the hospital was evacuated and nobody dies in the explosion. Harvey Dent follows through with his revenge and kills some mobsters and corrupt government officials.
The Dark Knight (2008) – (c) Warner Bros. Pictures
The fun of the Joker continues as people try to flee Gotham City. The bridges and tunnels are wired with explosives, so the officials decide to use ferryboats to evacuate the citizens across the river. Two ferryboats are used to flee the city, one to transport the innocent people and another to transport convicted felons. Both ferryboats suddenly stop in the middle of the river. The people and inmates quickly learn that the Joker filled both ships with explosives. Each ship has a controller that will detonate the opposite ship. If neither ship is detonated by midnight, then both ships will be destroyed.
The Dark Knight (2008) – (c) Warner Bros. Pictures
While the captives on each ship argue how to handle their situation, Batman and the police attempt to find the Joker and rescue his hostages. Of course, the Joker doesn’t play fair and tries to fool the police by having his hostages dressed as his clown guards and the gunmen disguised as hostages. Batman and the police battle everybody, and Batman ultimately captures the Joker.
The Dark Knight (2008) – (c) Warner Bros. Pictures
Meanwhile, Harvey Dent, still on his rampage, has Commissioner Gordon’s family hostage at the site of the building where Rachel Dawes died. Batman and Gordon both arrive there after the Joker is taken into custody. Holding everybody at gunpoint, Harvey uses the flip of a coin to determine their fates. He shoots Batman in the stomach, spares himself, and flips again to determine Harvey’s son’s fate. Batman (who was wearing body armor and uninjured by the bullet) tackles Harvey and pushes him off the building, killing him. Batman convinces Gordon to place the blame on him so the public wouldn’t learn Harvey’s secret and lose their faith in everything he stood for. Gordon reluctantly agrees and Batman flees the scene while being pursued by the police.
The Dark Knight ends with Batman being a wanted criminal.
Whew!
That ends part two of Nolan’s Batman trilogy. Thankfully, the four-year wait for the epic conclusion comes to an end this Thursday (tomorrow!) at midnight.
The Dark Knight isn’t just a fantastic superhero movie, but it’s a freakin’ awesome movie as a whole. There’s no need to go over character’s intricate backgrounds this time around. It’s straight to the action!
Aside from the stunts and overall plot, part of what makes The Dark Knight such a great film is from Heath Ledger’s incredible performance as the Joker. Watch the movie and you’ll see how masterful of a job he does bringing the sadistic psychopath to life. Jack Nicholson was good as the Joker in Tim Burton’s 1989 film, Batman, but Heath Ledger’s version in The Dark Knight is nothing short of spectacular. He stole the show in this movie. It’s a shame he died before release of the movie and without knowing just how much people loved his performance.
Everything that you love in Batman Begins is present in The Dark Knight, and then some. Bruce Wayne and Batman use some new tactics and weapons, and the Joker’s criminal behavior is far more sinister than the Scarecrow and Ra’s al Ghul. There’s plenty of fresh action and scenarios to make The Dark Knight not only a great sequel, but a fantastic movie as a whole. You’ll just get more out of it as long as you see Batman Begins first.
The Dark Knight (2008) – movie trailer
If you love anything involving action, criminals, and/or superheroes, then The Dark Knight is required viewing. There’s no way around it. Witness the marvel (in this case it’s DC Comics) of Christopher Nolan’s masterpiece and then wonder just how he’s going to top it and end the trilogy in The Dark Knight Rises.
Bozo – “I believe whatever doesn’t kill you, simply makes you…”
[takes off his mask, revealing the Joker]
The Joker – “…stranger. “