The Dark Knight turns 10 today and over the past decade, it has held the title of the best “superhero movie” ever. Movies like Logan have rivaled it but for the most part, nothing has matched the Batman sequel’s quality in the eyes of the masses.
I’ve gone back and forth on The Dark Knight over the years. I saw it in the theater opening weekend and loved it, got it on DVD and still enjoyed it, but as time went on I began to shift to this thought of it being overrated. When I decided I was going to do a retrospective on Christopher Nolan’s acclaimed film, I decided I’d go in like it was my first viewing.
With a clear, open mind, my phone and distractions put away, I was quickly hooked into Christopher Nolan’s reimagined take on Batman. The opening heist with Joker’s gang is one of the most engaging introductions to a film and a character ever with a criminal mastermind like Joker manipulating the other henchmen to help him overtake the bank, only to eventually kill all of them and take the money for himself.
This is when it dawned on everyone this isn’t just another Batman movie, this was the start of something much larger. This is an expertly written crime thriller about the corruption of good men, manipulation, and much more but it’s not a superhero movie. Yes, it has Batman in it but it goes so far beyond what a superhero movie is that I’d say it’s not in that genre.
The Dark Knight is ultimately an outlier in Nolan’s trilogy because of this. The first movie is an origins story with a comic-booky villain like Scarecrow who has a villainous plan to inflict fear in all of Gotham, The Dark Knight Rises isn’t as extreme as Begins in terms of that comic-book element but the scale is so grand and there are moments that are pretty outlandish that I’d consider it a superhero movie. I love all three of these movies but The Dark Knight is something incredibly different.
While Batman Begins was used as a way to ease us into Christopher Nolan’s grounded Batman, it still has a larger than life feeling to it. The film has a distinct visual choice of everything feeling quite grimy with a focus on dark yellows and browns in the color in the film.
On top of that, the third act of the film is pure lunacy (in a good way) with civilians that have glowing red eyes murdering each other from the fear toxin, a speeding train hurling itself towards a vital building in Gotham City, and ninjas.
The Dark Knight opts to get rid of that unique visual style in favor of a very real look of deep blues and greys, the world feels a bit more flat but this isn’t a sudden instance of laziness. It’s embracing the real world element that was used as a foundation in Batman Begins. There’s more weight than ever before because of the fact it feels like we’re watching something more real than say Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice which has incredible cinematography but feels very staged and theatrical.
Using Chicago as a stand-in for Gotham City, Christopher Nolan paints a very vivid picture of what a real Batman story would be like. It has unnerving terrorism, police corruption, criminal empires, and much more.
This movie could’ve failed in the hands of a less capable filmmaker because it’s something so different than what we’ve been accustomed to for superheroes and especially Batman. DC’s golden boy has had a very gothic look with Tim Burton and a campy, very colorful world with Joel Schumaker’s Batman Forever and Batman and Robin so it’s always been far from reality.
What Nolan does is set the stage for the right story, an intricate crime story indicative of genre classics like Martin Scorsese’s The Departed which released four years prior. There are several different plots going on simultaneously and they all eventually weave together seamlessly. We have Harvey Dent trying to clean up Gotham with Gordon, a subtle love triangle, the Joker climbing the ranks of the criminal underworld, and Bruce Wayne learning to grapple with the responsibilities of Batman and the consequences that come with it.
By the time the third act rolls around, everything ties together to create a chaotic climax bursting at the seams with suspense. There’s a payoff for every single character, story thread, and motif. Perhaps my favorite arc in the film is the complexity of Christan Bale’s Batman/Bruce Wayne.
I’ve never been a massive fan of his version of the character, it’s fine. He does what he needs to and works really well with what he’s given but he was never really the standout in any of the movies. I always thought people meant they loved his movies and not his portrayal of the character when talking about the best Batman actor but I think I finally see what everyone likes about him.
He’s a man trying to inspire hope in the people of Gotham, a man who puts others before himself, a man who must sacrifice everything. That’s all he is, a man. He bleeds, he makes mistakes, Bale’s Batman fails on multiple occasions but it’s his perseverance that makes him so strong. He endures despite his heartache and physical pain that he suffers from.
While I like Affleck’s Batman a lot, he’s a lot more obvious. He’s very brooding, mega-violent, and he’s always boiling with rage. For that version of the character, it’s great! Bale goes for a much more subdued approach which is arguably far more tragic.
The one bit that really caused me to notice this was at the end when Batman comes to talk Harvey down from shooting Gordon and his family. As Gordon is on his back, helpless, Batman and Dent have a face to face confrontation. Dent agonizes over the loss of his potential fiance and Bruce Wayne’s crush, Rachel, claiming out of everyone involved in The Joker’s acts of terror and violence, Dent was the only one who suffered.
“Then why was it me who was the only one who lost everything?” He asks. There’s a moment of silence and then with an almost whisper tone to his voice, almost slipping out of his gravely Batman voice and transitioning back into Bruce, Batman replies, “It wasn’t…”
At the start of the film, Bruce’s first conversation with Alfred is about how much a man can take, how far Bruce can go as the Batman. “Batman has no limits,” Bruce says. “Well, you do, sir,” Alfred replies. “Well, can’t afford to know them,” Bruce says back. His limits aren’t physical, they’re mental domination and that’s exactly what Joker does to Batman. He puts pressure on Batman, he takes everything from him. Batman has to endure the loss of Rachel despite believing that she was going to pick him over Dent.
Even with all of this, there’s some triumph. While Joker has had a victory in a sense, Batman doesn’t let him take hope away from Gotham. Despite Dent’s fall from grace, the city is unaware of his villainy. While his classic “You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain,” line is foreshadowing, it has a double meaning.
Harvey Dent lived long enough to see himself as the villain but in the eyes of the city, he died a hero. He took down the mob and was one of the few guys left who didn’t fall to the knees of the Joker while in reality, he did. Batman uses himself and Dent as symbols to prevent Gotham from caving in on itself, keeping hope, keeping the spirit alive in a city of misery.
It’s this kind of mature storytelling that sets The Dark Knight apart from every other movie with superheroes in them.
So many movies since The Dark Knight have seen its success and tried to ape the dark and gritty feel but they don’t always totally understand why this movie works so well. They’re unconventional character pieces that just happen to be dark. The tone comes from the proper story, the right world. There’s a vision from Nolan and that’s why only Logan has come as close as it has to the caped crusader’s follow-up. It set out to tell a mature story with extreme depth and an emphasis on breaking down the characters we’ve followed for decades.
The point wasn’t to just have more amped up violence, although when done properly that can factor in quite heavily especially in a film like Logan which centers around mortality and heroism, it’s to have a character-driven narrative that uses the darker elements to help propel it along rather than using them as a crutch to seem cool and edgy.
We also see a very different Joker, he’s not your very whacky antics clown. You won’t find a taser on his hand when he offers a handshake, no lethal laughing gas, no dollar store prankster tools turned into weapons. He’s a psycho who uses his skinny body and goofy looks like a classic rope-a-dope, everyone looks him and underestimates him. We see this when he walks into the mob meeting and a guard tries to take him away and he pushes the guard’s head into the pencil, when he overtakes a cop at GCPD and escapes the interrogation room, and even when Batman goes toe to toe with him.
Heath Ledger’s Joker is the core of this story, while it’s sold as a Batman film, I’d argue that it’s a Joker movie. We all know his performance is top notch, even netting him an Oscar and no, it’s not some pity trophy given because he died, it’s because he earned it. He embodies the Joker in a way no one else has because his version is unique.
He’s an incredibly intelligent master manipulator with a deranged psyche who never loses control even when it looks like he’s in a corner. It’s all a part of his plan even though he claims he doesn’t have one, he does or at the very least, he’s good at turning the tables to make it look as if he carefully orchestrated something.
The Joker ends up beating Batman and causes him to break his one rule, just like he says he will get him to. While Joker’s plan to get the citizens to blow up a boat is foiled, he tears down Harvey Dent and creates Two-Face, a shell of a man that was supposed to bring Gotham back to its former glory. He destroyed all of Gotham’s heroes and while he, Batman, and Gordon may be the only ones who know that, that’s all that matters to him.
This is a loss that’s so devastating that it puts Batman in retirement for eight years and turns Wayne into a hermit. He proved that it’s not too hard to manipulate people and public perception, it’s a shame we’ll never get to see where Nolan would’ve taken him in the third film as it probably would’ve been great but what we did get was a truly masterful interpretation of the iconic villain.
The last thing I want to touch on is the idea of hope and belief in something better. The theme of hope and symbols of faith is incredibly prevalent in the film. “I believe in Harvey Dent”, Batman living as an idea to protect people, Bruce clinging on to the hope that his former lover will wait for him to hang up the cape and cowl, and the idea that good men can endure.
Despite all its darkness, it’s an incredibly hopeful movie once the credits roll. The night is always darkest before the dawn but the dawn is coming, this narrative throughline throughout the whole film moved me to tears during that final scene with Batman being chased into the night. Nolan manages to go to the darkest of places and have our hero fall but still manages to retain hope and it’s magnificently moving and beautiful.
The Dark Knight isn’t overrated. It has earned its place as one of or the definitive movie based on a superhero. The incredible escalation of stakes and chaos throughout the film, the complex characters, the intricate story of crime, and much more all come together to mold a movie that will be remembered favorably throughout all of history.
The thing that’s so great about movies like The Dark Knight and Logan is that because of their rarity, it’s easier to appreciate the complexity and thoughtfulness. We’re hammered with by the numbers superhero movies all the time and just like actual comics, some are just filler or give us something to just relax with for a couple hours.
But every now and then, there’s that nugget. That one story that sticks with you, that one story that breaks the mold and becomes legendary. That one story that transcends genres and has a profound impact on its medium. That’s The Dark Knight.
