This city deserves a better class of criminal

Allow me to begin this review by saying that I’ve seen just about every superhero blockbuster produced in the past ten years, and none of them have particularly impressed me as anything more than an entertaining action flick. Not one has ever raised philosophical questions, not one has ever changed the way I think about the nature of a hero, not one has ever even attempted to shake the philosophies I hold most dear—that is, until The Dark Knight.

If you haven’t seen it—well, statistically speaking, you’ve all probably seen it twice—just know that you’re in for more than the special effects extravaganza and thinly-veiled patriotism that was Iron Man. This movie has depth, enough so that I walked out of it reordering my personal top five movies of all time.

Like its predecessor, Batman Begins, it’s a tragedy, but in this film Nolan adopts a much darker tone. He did away with the unnecessary clutter in which Gotham found itself strangled in the previous film and instead went for a cleaner, and somehow more sinister feel for the city. Dark Knight is streamlined, perfected to the point that the grit and rough edges of Begins disappeared and left Nolan elbow room to add philosophy and rich, memorable characters to the mix.

About the characters first. It’s generally accepted that Heath Ledger stole the show, but I think it’s terrible that he had to die for people to agree on that. It seems like they’re only saying that due to his untimely death, but I think he deserves better. Had he been alive for the release of the film, I believe he still put on the best performance of his career, and indeed the best performance in any superhero movie in history. In all honesty, I think he deserves a posthumous Oscar for his brilliance. The Joker was simultaneously frightening, haunting and hilarious, and even raised questions concerning the necessity of rules and the validity of anarchy. He had countless memorable quotes, including, “This city deserves a better class of criminal,” “The only sensible way to live in this world is without rules,” and “Poor choice of words” (spoken after Batman vainly tries to save his love interest by muttering, “Let her go”).

Not only was Heath incredible, but the entire cast seemed to step up their games to meet his level of brilliance. Maggie Gyllenhaal is always a great actress, but she made the character of Rachel Dawes, who was dying under Katie Holmes’ lead, feel human and very believable. Harvey Dent, the “white knight of Gotham,” was played incredibly by Aaron Eckhart, and Michael Caine is always one of my favorite actors. Even Christian Bale seemed more talented this time around, although his voice still changed between suits as in the last film (Bruce Wayne has a normal, human voice while Batman sounds like Lucifer speaking through a Darth Vader mask). All around, the cast was perfect, mainly because I love Gary Oldman as Commissioner Gordon so much.

Batman’s identity as the titular “dark knight” presents wonderful questions about the nature of a hero. Eckhart as Dent delivers the perfect line, “You die a hero or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain,” which is ironic for him to believe given his tragic outcome. The plot was almost perfect, and audiences were on the edges of their seats the entire time as the tension and suspense never let up. And the music, orchestrated by Hans Zimmer, was perhaps the most beautiful and haunting thing in the whole movie, always adding to the epic scenes and heightening the tension.

Because it was, for me, the most perfect action (let alone superhero) movie ever created, The Dark Knight earns a colossal 9.8 out of 10. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, the film was that great. See it twice.