redblog

It’s hard to wrap one’s head around the fact that one of the most artistically exciting, politically complex, and philosophically intriguing movies of the year is also a box-office record-setting popcorn film about a billionaire playboy who dresses up like a bat to fight crime. But Christopher Nolan, the director and co-writer of The Dark Knight, has pulled off a minor miracle in modern film making with this film; look past the big-money box office take and the comic-book roots of the Batman character in The Dark Knight and you’ll find a real piece of art that also works as real entertainment.

There are plenty of things to love about Nolan’s follow-up to 2005′s Batman Begins; in the theaters (especially in IMAX), the action fireworks and screen-filling spectacle of The Dark Knight were impressive, and a little overwhelming. After seeing The Dark Knight on the big screen, I recalled one of Roger Ebert’s finest reviews, where he noted that he didn’t know quite how to explain that James Cameron’s Aliens was exciting and exhilarating but also left him feeling "wrung out." The DVD is a great chance to sit and sink into how good The Dark Knight actually is; the action and spectacle are a little smaller — still impressive, just not sixty feet high — on your home theater, so while still enjoying the stunts and special effects in The Dark Knight, you can actually get a better grasp on the story and characters and performances that run between those big spectacular moments, and really see just how good those elements actually are.

Take, for example, the film’s two main supporting characters, Heath Ledger’s Joker and Aaron Eckhart’s Harvey Dent. Ledger earned raves for his performance, which also (tragically) turned out to be one of his last before his accidental death from an overdose of prescription drugs. Ledger is great in the part — it’s a scary, majestic, impressive and fully-committed piece of work, and it sent audiences out of the theater to buzz about it in the lobby. But watch The Dark Knight on DVD and you also gain a fresh appreciation of Aaron Eckhart’s work as do-gooder District Attorney Harvey Dent, mutilated by fire and broken by tragedy until he becomes the villainous Two-Face. Long before his transformation, Eckhart sells us Dent’s decency and dignity — but he also hints at darker, dangerous things lurking underneath; after his transformation, Eckhart’s just as scary and unhinged as Ledger, with a rich and bitter note of sadness in his work as Two-Face that’s just as impressive as Ledger’s brilliant, tooth-baring savagery as the Joker.

Watching The Dark Knight again, you can also see the big ideas and real-world concerns that lie just beneath the costumes and comic-book origins of the material, and sense the work that went into Christopher and Jonathan Nolan’s script.  Batman, Harvey Dent and the Joker are all set against each other in this film, as embodiments of righteousness (Batman), law (D.A. Dent) and chaos (the Joker).  Batman’s crusade is illegal and unsustainable; Dent’s work is within the letter of the law but needs Batman behind the scenes to lend it a little muscle; the Joker’s actions seem less like a comic-book supervillian’s crime wave and more and more like a terrorist’s campaign designed to turn rational society insane. (It’s worth noting how Ledger’s Joker turns a constitutionally protected legal right into a weapon of mass murder. …)

Christian Bale is pretty much perfect as Batman/Bruce Wayne — you get how Wayne’s not dressing up as Batman but rather vice-versa, with the silly, spoiled Wayne as the perfect disguise for a covert crimefighter. And the supporting cast — Gary Oldman as Gotham’s only good cop, Michael Caine as Batman’s friend and Bruce Wayne’s butler, Maggie Gyllenhaal as the woman torn between Bruce and Harvey — all get nice moments from the script and give good performances to make those moments.  The DVD also delivers floor-shaking sound and screen-straining cinematography; there are no extras on the single-disc edition of the movie, but the movie’s so good you don’t miss them. The Dark Knight is hands-down one of the best-shot American movies in years, from the amazing action sequences to quieter, bruise-blue nightscapes or moments when the sunset is seen in the background blurry and beautiful as a lipstick smear. The Dark Knight‘s buzz of box-office money and off-screen tragedy made it one of the most talked-about films of the year, but this DVD gives you a second chance to look past the hype and see how great a movie it actually is.

Related Posts

A Bigger, Badder Dark Knight

Dark Matter

Erika Reveals One of Her Fave Flicks of the Year