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Sunday, July 20, 2008
The Adventures of Joker and Harvey
That should really be the name of the film I just saw (from the business its been doing you probably just saw the film, too).
Batman Begins gave The Caped Crusader the operatic origin he deserves. Now that Christopher Nolan and Christian Bale got all that out of the way Batman is pretty much a force that other characters have to react to. The character with the most dramatic struggle and the one who goes through the most drastic change is Aaron Eckhart's Harvey Dent. In fact, Bruce Wayne seems to be a minor mirror to what Dent is in this film. The most charismatic performance (in the film and probably for the year) is by far Heath Ledger's Joker. Batman is really third banana here.
I'm fine with that. Bale is still good and there's a lot of cool Batmayhem on screen (including a masterful sequence that informs us why The Joker should never join a trucker's union). It's the heart of this film and the themes it explores that separates it from something like Iron Man. I liked that film a lot but it walked the path expected of superhero films, albeit with more style and grace than most. The Dark Knight uses pulp fiction tinged view of urban politics and corruption to meditate on the battle between chaos and order. Which is really at home in the hearts of men? Are so-called civilized people really hiding animalistic behavior under society's mores? Can people really aspire to a greater good? That's what this film is really interested in. The story of Harvey Dent and The Joker give you no easy answers. It's truly cynical at times but that's just befitting the dark streets of Gotham.
I'd love to see Nolan explore more of the Batman mythos. This realization of Batman exists entirely on its own. I have trouble relating it to other versions I know, although that's not a criticsm. I love the animated series by Bruce Timm and now whenever I read Batman's dialouge in the comics I hear Kevin Conroy's voice. The two aspects from different media just work together. But Nolan's Gotham is a world upon itself. Most people crafting Batman stories view the superhero as the real person and Bruce Wayne as just a facade. Bale's performance has it the other way around. We have a confident Wayne working with Alfred in the Batcave while Batman speaks with a voice that's clearly put upon to scare criminals (which I think actually sounds a bit awkward at times). The Joker here is clearly a guy in make-up, not someone with bleached skin due to some chemical accident. This is really ground-level superhero storytelling. I can't imagine the more sci-fi Batman villains like Mr. Freeze or Clayface showing up. This is a singular vision, nothing gets in or out. I would love to see what they would do with The Black Mask or Penguin. What I would love the most for the third film is for Catwoman to be introduced. I hope the character isn't radioactive after her solo celluloid outing. This franchise needs a strong female presence after the damsel-in-distress Rachel Dawes.
Fanboy speculation aside I wouldn't mind in Nolan stopped telling Batman stories now. I don't really know how he could top this. We can ponder new villains but really, what actor wants to be the one who is going to top Ledger's performance here? Can it even be done?
Permanent Link: 9:48 PM |
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