I Believe in The Dark Knight (Review)

or Why so Freakin' Awesome?!

There are many words that can be used to describe the latest addition to the long spanning Batman franchise, Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight. None of them are adequate.

Batman Begins was only the beginning. The Dark Knight takes all of the good bits of Batman Begins, scratches out a few of its predecessors flaws, and expands it all up to larger than life (and perhaps even larger than IMAX) proportions. This is the movie event of the summer.

Bruce Wayne: Batman. A man with two faces: billionaire heir to the Wayne fortune and extravagant playboy to the world at large; avenging dark detective and dreaded masked vigilante to the nefarious criminal underbelly of Gotham City. While Begins eponymously showed the creation and Year One-esque first trials of Batman, The Dark Knight revolves around the obvious progression of where this whole Batman thing is headed. Specifically, when it will "end" and if Bruce can even give up his cape and cowl.

Central to this is the alluring Rachel Dawes (played by Maggie Gyllenhaal in place of Begins’s Katie Holmes) who, in another improvement upon the first film, has a much more dramatic, meaningful and enjoyable role. She is the focal point of a love triangle between Bruce Wayne and Harvey Dent, Gotham's new District Attorney (who, as most people entering the theater know, will be another entirely different new surprise for Gotham before he gets a chance to be an old DA).

Forefront to the romantic backdrop is the insane Joker who is wreaking havoc all over Gotham. It cannot be denied that the true star of The Dark Knight is Heath Ledger’s portrayal of the psychopathic Joker. This is no clown prince of crime, but rather a deluded lunatic, a chaotic trickster force murdering with wanton glee. A terrifying, puzzling and fascinating figure, Ledger’s Joker shambles around the streets of Gotham, going after politicians and innocents (there is a difference…) in a mob-connected attempt to simply "kill the bat". Most terrifying of all, and closest to the intriguing conception of the Joker as portrayed in the comic titles Arkham Asylum and The Killing Joke, is that- to steal an apt on screen analogy- the Joker is like a mad dog chasing after cars with no conception of what to do if he ever catches one. He just… "does things"…

"Do I really look like a guy with a plan?" he smirks.

Really, director Christopher Nolan and his brother Jonathan Nolan are the guys with the true plan. The Dark Knight is an elegantly structured movie, with a tight plot and a haunting cityscape straight out of the darker black and white pages of Frank Miller’s interpretation of Batman. With sensible and compelling character parallels, outrageous and beautifully choreographed action sequences, heart pounding ethical dilemmas, startling decisions, a gritty city flooded with crime, and the Joker dressed in a nurse's uniform, The Dark Knight is more decked out than the caped crusader’s utility belt.

The day the Dark Knight hit theaters was a bright day for Hollywood, cinephiles and, well gosh darn it, damn near everyone and thing I can think of. This film deserves multiple exclamation points!! And while I may be crossing partiality into the realm of unprofessional fan boy worship-

Oh, damn it.

Enough has been said. Go out and see this movie. And if you already have, go again. And again.

If repeated viewing of the Dark Knight aren't enough for you- or perhaps if you just want to let your mind gnaw on some good comics while you wait in line to see it again and again- here is a small list of fabulous Batman comics, most of a topical nature considering Two-Face’s and Joker’s presences in the film:

Batman: The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller
(While not immediately related, it does contain a shocking "last" Two-Face story, as well as the Sons of the Batman, which are reminiscent of the copy-bats in The Dark Knight)

Batman: Year One by Frank Miller
(More Begins styled, but essential to the dark, noir take that Nolan adopted for the movie franchise)

Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth by Grant Morrison with AMAZING art by Dave McKean

The Long Halloween by Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale

Batman: Dark Victory by Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale

The Killing Joke by Alan Moore and Brian Bolland

Batman: Dark Detective by Steve Englehart, Marshall Rogers, and Terry Austin
(Contains the classic "Joker Fish" story, which became the equally great episode of the 90's animated series)

(NOTE: the film Batman Forever is NOT recommended.)