In this, new, segment, sponsored by Ronseal, we watch a film a second time to judge whether it has longevity and, with that, whether it has lived up to the hype either we, or others, initially heralded it with. Perhaps it might also be a forum for us to challenge our own views on things we have welcomed, and things we have dismissed. So, I start with this, an effort destined to appear, in one form or another, in my end of year lists.
It is impossible to watch this without sadness since you are constantly reminded of what a truly great talent each and every one of us has lost in such tragic circumstances. It was not only a fitting tribute to Heath Ledger that he picked up Best Supporting Actor for his performance as the psychotic joker here, but a fully merited one. As things stand, Ledger, too, will be my number one male performer of the year, an opinion that has only been enhanced through my recent second viewing of The Dark Knight. Ledger's astonishing Joker is a sublime character and a delicious villain. You feel the revulsion towards him of every character he approaches in the film, good or bad (or neither or both), apart from the Batman, intrugingly, a deliberate touch, surely, on Ledger's part, on Christian Bale's (Batman) and on director Christopher Nolan's. Malevolent, driven, but certainly not mad - the Joker has everything planned down to the last, anarchic detail. Perhaps there is order in anarchy after all. There is a message here, isn't there? Even anarchy requires planning of the highest order. The Joker represents both the darker side of the world and the darker side of human nature, the yearning in each of us to break out into disorder and chaos from our rigid, computerised lives, but unable to do so without allowing the world to burn in immorality, injustice and confusion. The Joker doesn't care about any of this, of course, and we are given tantalising, contradictory, hints as to why. Is there, after all, some tragic humanness, some awful unresolved, deep trauma behind it all? The hideous scars, bejewled by distorted and frightening make-up, are an all too constant reminded to the Joker of whatever trauma it is he is unable to face up to. A deep character indeed. Is there any 'deeper' villain in film history? That I can even ask the question is a measure of Ledger's achievement. The film belongs to him, and it always would have done regardless of the tragic events that were to befall him before the film's opening. There is some order, some meaning, some history, some reason, behind the Joker. And it is a touch of genius that we never see it.
Of course, Ledger is not alone. Nolan has assembled a tantalising cast to support the film. Bale is a good Batman, and, like his character, is in the shadows here. Caine and Freeman provide perfect, and very different foils, and Gary Oldman is full of an earthy humanity as Comissioner Gordon in a role different from those he usually plays (perhaps, for a lesser director, Oldman would have been the Joker and Ledger, Gordon). Maggie Gyllenhaal is a great improvement on Katie Holmes and is, bravely again, given an interesting and early demise which contributes hugely to the story arc of two major characters.
There are two disappointing factors. The first, a major one, is that Aaron Eckhart's Harvey Dent is not given another film to let his fascinating portrayal of Harvey's tragic story arc come full circle in the extra cinematic space it deserves. The second, a minor one, is that Cillian Murphy's Scarecrow doesn't return for more than a single, tantalising, scene. A shame, but a minor quibble. Dent's demise, on the other hand, comes too quickly, as does his transformation. At least the make-up doesn't look as bad and actually holds up better under the microscope of a second viewing.
I haven't, yet, said anything about the film itself. So many high points and very few lows. The major low is the unbelievably irritating digitisation of Bale's voice. So many people I know have commented on this it is becoming almost scandelous that it was not picked up in first screenings and changed. Aside from that, it is very difficult to formulate criticisms. The action is well judged and well paced and punctuated by interesting scene after interesting scene, from the very first, during which the Joker's gang gradually bump one another off as the result of the clever machinations and planning of their devious and cunning boss. A scene towards the end (captured in the picture above) where the Joker, a passenger in a squad car, is driven around the city, hanging out of the window, with a beautiful gloaming falling behind him to near-darkness and the quiet silence of hollow solitude hanging and resonating deeply in the coming night air. It is a stunning moment, 20 or so seconds to make your hair stand on end, and is my scene of the year. It is, again, a testament to Nolan, and to cinematographer Wally Pfister, that a big-budget actioner such as this pays such attention to cinematography. Credit to Ridley Scott's Hannibal here, one of the pioneers of such an approach (I remember a similarly beautiful, silent and still, moment in that film where, amidst carnage and terror, neon police lights cross a suspension bridge with great delicacy and lightness of touch). It is hard to describe how such a seemingly meaningless moment can have such an effect on you, and, indeed, to describe the kind of effect that it actually has, but, if you can bottle meaning, it is there, in that moment, as the Joker parades deadly amidst Gotham's twilight.
There are other sublime moments too - the Joker's face as he realises he has underestimated humanity and the essence of his plan has failed (Ledger deserved the Oscar for this moment alone); the entire last set piece is brilliantly done and, as I wrote in my original review, a priceless testament to the intersubjective character to ethical truth; the scene where Freeman's Lucius Fox offers his resignation, and its sister scene, some half an hour later, when he voicelessly withdraws it; the Hong-Kong grab; the Joker at the party. The Dark Knight is just full of these moments and it never feels a moment too long, or like it is dragging. And not to forget the great lines (e.g. "I wanna drive") and the great dialogue (particularly the moments where the Joker offers up his contradictory histories, a great touch, effortlessly delivered by Ledger).
As you might have guessed, the Dark Knight's grade is going to improve on second viewing. Certainly not an easy effect to acheive and, particularly, for a superhero film. There is so much to enjoy with this, the performances, the cinematgoraphy, the script, the dialogue, the scenes, the set-pieces, the direction, the Joker...And there is potential for it to improve for further viewings, so vast this universe is, and so deep the character who inhabit it are. Perhaps those reviews that acclaim this to have changed movie-going forever are premature - it is no Jaws - but this is still an incredibly original, brave and beautiful way of pulling punters in through the doors. Incredibly impressive and improved by a second viewing
A-
Not to mention, of course, those last, great lines:
Because he's the hero Gotham deserves, but not the one it needs right now. So we'll hunt him because he can take it. Because he's not our hero. He's a silent guardian, a watchful protector. A dark knight
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