The Dark Knight

Every now and then there comes a movie in which no one can stop talking about. One that had huge hype leading up to its debut and managed to garner even more attentioon when it was released. Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight is one of these films that had everyone buzzing when it was released in the summer of 08.

Whats interesting about The Dark Knight is that despite getting glowing responses from audiences and critics, its story and plot is really is quite simple and is not at all original. It follows its super hero Batman as he tries to bring peace and order to the city of Gotham while his arch nemesis, the Joker, tries to bring about chaos and panic throughout the city. There are also smaller subplots involving other characters. A large amount of attention is paid to Harvey Dent, who eventually becomes another villain of Batman. One of the film's most impressive feats is carefully crafting his story and arc. He spends a large portion of the film as a likeable character who is just as passionate as fighting crime as Batman. Yet after the events of what he is put through throughout the film, his turn to evil is believable and does not feel out of character. There is also a love triangle between Batman, Dent, and their love interest Rachael.

Whats surprising is that the film manages to feel mostly balanced and well-paced despite so much going on and so many different characters getting screen time. However, things take a bad turn in its final twenty or thirty minutes in which things begin to feel rushed. There were many who felt that Harvey Dent's portrayal as the demonic Two Face did not receive nearly the amount of time he should have gotten and should have been left for the sequel. There is also a late plot device in which Batman uses people's cell phones to track where the Joker is. This device pretty much came out of no where and was not explained very well.

However, there is a reason The Dark Knight made over 500 million dollars domestically and it easy to to see when looking at its script. Another Batman movie called Batman and Robin was notorious for having cringe inducing lines and puns. The Dark Knight manages to keep its dark tone, and still have plenty of funny lines and comic relief . Batman's butler Alfred as well as his gadget maker Lucious Fox manage to provide some spark while still maintaining their "wise old leader" status. However, no character can upstage Heath Ledger's Joker. If most other actors had atttempted this role, the results would have been disaterous, yet he is able to deliver every line with a twisted voice and tine which is chilling and sure holds your attention. One of its best scenes is an interrogation between Batman and the Joker, in which the Joker manages to give an interesting and inciteful speech about the way of the world while still managing to appear completely insane and in-character.

Another reason the film excels, is because of its dark tone. In movies today, there seems to be a trend that darker is better. The Harry Potter films have received this treatment as well as the newer Bond movies. Here, however it really works. You can feel the despair and fear of the citizens of Gotham as well as Batman's determination to stop the madness and his guilt over the events that occur. The Joker also manages to invoke fear and terror while still being very entertaining to watch. All in all, the film does not have a great story, but the way in which the way the events are written and are able to stretch the film into nearly two and half hours of suspensful viewing make this movie a very interesting film to study.