Wow, this turned out to be a REALLY long article! Hence, this will be an ALL Batman week! Yeahhhh!!!! So to start with, I wrote up a few frequently asked questions by Christians about Christopher Nolan's new film, "The Dark Knight." Hopefully they will answer a few of the rumors and concerns that have been floating around the webernet recently. After that I'll get on with the review.
Questions Frequently Asked (by Christians) about "The Dark Knight"
Q1) Should "the Dark Knight" have been rated "R"?
A) No, I don't think so. Personally, I would not recommend the film to anyone under 13....oh, wait... it's already rated PG-13!!!!! In all seriousness, most of the really bad violence isn't even shown on-screen (the infamous scene where the Joker stabs a mans head with a pencil, for example, is so quick and bloodless that you don't even know what happened until several seconds after it's happened.) To be even more blunt, there were giant ants crawling into peoples' mouths and peoples' eyes bursting into flame in "Indiana Jones 4". I didn't hear of anyone complaining about THAT being PG-13!!!
Q2) Does Heath Ledger play a demonic character in the film?
A) Well, um... yeah, he does. The Joker is pretty evil here, but I think that it's called for. We're dealing with a much more realistic Batman now, so you need a more realistic villain. i.e. One that is really, really evil, as the Joker is in all the comics. Seriously, Ledger makes Jack Nicholson look like a big teddy bear in this movie!
Q3) Does Ledger really deserve a posthumous Oscar?
A) I don't know. I think that his performance was exceptional, but I think the postmortem nostalgia still has everyone misty eyed about giving the late Ledger an Oscar.
Q4) Is "the Dark Knight" really the best superhero movie ever?
A) Yes and no. Yes because I think that it was MUCH better than "Spiderman 3" (which was my previous favorite), no because I do not think that it was really a superhero movie (more on that later).
Q5) Is "the Dark Knight" so morally tainted that I should not support the film?
A) Definitely NOT! A lot of Christian nut jobs have been going around saying all kinds of things about this film: how we shouldn't support it because Heath Ledger was a demon and played a homosexual in "Brokeback Mountain," or because Warner Brothers in trying to push the PG-13 rating over the edge, or just because it's a grim movie. There is nothing wrong with being grim! A lot (and I mean A LOT) of the Bible is grim. Does that mean we throw the whole thing out because we don't want to hear bad news? The Narnia books have horrible baddies in them. Do Christian book stores ban THEM? How about the Narnia films or "The Passion of the Christ," they're grim, they have secular actors in them. Christians never got up in arms about THOSE films! So why project on "the Dark Knight"? Because a Christian didn't write the script? 'Cause Focus on the Family isn't promoting it? That's EXACTLY the kind of double standard that makes us so hateful to the world!
Personally, I think that "the Dark Knight" has as much spiritual application, if not more, than does the "Prince Caspian" film.
Q6) Is there a sequel already in the works?
A) NO!!!!! Do NOT believe the rumors that you hear! The Nolan brothers have NOT signed on to do another film... yet. NO, they have NOT cast Johnny Depp as the Riddler! And NO, NO, NO, Angelina Jolie is NOT playing Catwoman! Speculation this soon after the release of the film is just pointless. Let's at least wait until the DVD comes out before we start guessing.
Now, for the review you have been waiting for...
The (K)night is Darkest
“The Dark Knight” is not a superhero movie; plan and simple. No, it aspires to be something far greater. Many movie critics have compared it to Martin Scorsese’s “The Departed.” Although I have not seen “The Departed,” I would disagree, because even though I have not seen it, I have read the story and see nothing redeeming about it. Everything about “The Dark Knight” is redeeming.
Why I say that it is not a superhero flick is simple: It defies the stereotypes. We’ve had plenty of superhero fare this summer. From Iron Man to the Hulk to Hancock, we always seem to get the same thing, lots of cool action, lots of “yuk, yuk” jokes and really campy plotlines. Sometimes campy isn’t all that bad, I mean, every now and then it works. But after a while you just get sick of superhero clichés. I know I do. “The Dark Knight” throws all that out and starts fresh. Much like what the Bourne series did to spy movies such as 007 and Mission Impossible. I don’t know if you noticed, but after “The Bourne Identity,” “M:I:III” and “Casino Royale” came out…. And what did they do? They tried to emulate Bourne’s realistic and gritty style, and for the most part, it works.
The Nolan brothers have done the same with Batman. No more silly gags to break the tension, no more dumb filler characters and most notably, no assurance at the end telling us that everything will be alright… just more dread for the hero and less respect from the general public. Batman really becomes hated at the end of this film. And, no, don’t even try to compare it to Spiderman, because Parker’s trouble in Spiderman 2 looks like the Sunday funnies when compared to Batman’s trouble.
(WARNING, SPOILERS TO FOLLOW!!!!!)
Ultimately, “The Dark Knight” is about choices. LOTS of choices! And how those choices affect the people around us and how others can affect the choices we make… if we let them.
The movie starts with the Joker robbing a bank, and killing all but one of his henchmen along the way... on purpose. Meanwhile, Bruce Wayne (Batman) is dealing with radioactive dollar bills, mob activity and a bunch of goons who think that it’s cool to dress up like him and go around shooting bad guys. Police Chief James Gordon confronts Batman about the Joker, believing that he is a major threat to Gotham. Batman disagrees, believing that the mob still posses more problems for the city.
Wayne is also having relationship trouble. His girlfriend, Rachel Dawes, is now dating the DA of the city, Harvey Dent. However, after seeing Dent in action, Wayne sees that he could be good for Gotham. Dent is seemingly fearless against the criminals and mob bosses. Ulimately, Wayne believes that he has found someone with a face to take his place, so he can retire the suit. But hey, this IS a Batman movie… how likely is it that something like that would happen? You guessed it, not likely at all.
So just when things are looking up, the baddies caught, the streets cleaned up, here comes Joker. Suddenly, several higher ups in the police force turn up dead and a Batman pretender winds up hanging from a noose. The city panics as the Joker shows up on the local news telling everyone that he will kill more people if Batman does not reveal his identity.
With the help of a lot of high-tech gadgets, Wayne figures out through a series of clues that the Jokers next targets are Rachel Dawes, Harvey Dent and the Mayor. Batman and the police rush to put them into protective custody, but when the Mayor is almost killed, Gordon takes the bullet instead. In a long chase scene, the Joker, who is in a semi, attempts to kill Dent, who is in an armored vehicle, with a bazooka. The end result of which is that the Joker is captured and Dent gets away.
Sadly for Dent and Dawes, the cops who were suppose to protect them are bent, and both of them end up in separate rooms filled with explosives, while the Joker just smiles and taunts his captures from his cell. Once Batman learns of their disappearances, he is enraged and assails the Joker in his cell, while the Joker just laughs manically. Finally, the Joker gives Batman the addresses of the hostages, and Batman goes after Dawes, while Gordon (who we learn faked his death in order to capture the Joker) goes after Dent. Little do they know that the Joker lied (of course.) Hence Batman is able to save Dent, but the sparks of the explosion light Dent, having half his face soaked in gasoline, aflame. Gordon is not able to save Dawes.
Enraged and in pain, Dent lays in a hospital bed, refusing skin grafts to correct the damage done to his face. Deciding that all he needs is a little “push,” the Joker (who has escaped from prison through rather disgusting means) arrives to encourage him to take his revenge for the death of Rachel Dawes. So off Dent, now Two-Face, goes, after the crooked cops, now Commissioner Gordon and Batman himself, whom Dent believes are all responsible for the death of his girl.
The Joker, after blowing up the hospital that Dent was in (all the people had been evacuated, thank God), he informs the citizens of Gotham that after tonight, the city will be under his rule. In panic, authorities load two boatloads of people on ferries to escape the city. One is filled with Gotham’s worst convicts; the other with hapless civilians Apparently, the Joker was expecting this. He cuts the power to both boats, and then addresses the passengers through the ships’ intercom. He tells them that he has rigged both ships with bombs, and has placed the trigger for each on the opposite boat. If one boat blows the other, he will let the surviving people live. But if no one has pulled the trigger by midnight, he will blow everyone sky-high.
Batman rushes to the scene to confront the Joker. He is able to pin the villain to the ground as the clock ticks past midnight. The Joker realizing what time it is, is enraged that the people did not succumb to his evil plot. Resolving to kill them all he attempt to knock Batman off of himself to grab the trigger, but Batman defends himself by knocking the Joker off the building they are in. Refusing to let someone knowingly die, Batman save the Joker with a grappling hook and leaves him for the police, while Batman goes after Two-Face.
He finds Dent with Commissioner Gordon and his family in the building where Rachel Dawes died. Dent, deciding whom to kill with a coin toss, shoots Batman in the abdomen, and then proceeds to threaten Gordon’s son, but before he can pull the gun, Batman gets up and tackles Dent, sending them both through a hole in to burnt out building. Dent lies motionless, while Batman struggles to get up. Gordon and his son come up to thank Batman, who tells them to inform the public that the murders that Dent committed where Batman’s fault, in order to preserve the people’s belief that Dent stood for something noble till the end. The film ends with Batman riding off into the night on his Batpod while Gordon’s son asks:
“But he didn’t do anything wrong, dad. Why did he say that?”
“Because, he’s our dark knight.”
See any spiritual symbolism? I most certainly do. Even if Nolan didn’t intend it, it is clearly there. Batman sacrifices his life, his image and his future for the people of Gotham. Sounds a lot like someone else I know.
The main theme, as I said above, is choices. And specifically how the Joker tries to form those choices for other people. Specifically the part with the ferries threw me. After my dad and I walked out of the theater, I asked him:
“So what did Batman prove, when the people didn’t blow up the ferries? That humans are basically good? I mean, as Christians we don’t hold to that, right?”
My dad gave me a look that said: “Of course we don’t believe that!” Then explained it like this: No, the movie didn’t prove that people are mostly good. It proved instead that the Joker didn’t have as much power over peoples’ decisions as he thought he did. See, through out the film, the Joker’s constant refrain is that he’s not after anything at all, or at least, he isn’t after anything logical. This is then backed up by several other characters… specifically Alfred. And while it is true that the Joker isn’t after money, I believe that he IS after something:
POWER.
By the end of the film Nolan takes that power away from him, and asserts that the choices made by the individuals in the movie were not indeed the Joker’s, they were their own. For example, Dent’s decision to murder the people that had wronged him, that was his own vendetta for vengeance… not the Joker’s.
In the end I think that this film makes a very powerful statement against terrorism. It does not work if we refuse to play the villains game. If we play along and run and hide, we have failed. But we are able, even in the face of evil, to make our own decisions, decisions that may define us for many, many years to come. This same concept applies to sin. We may be tempted, but as Christians, we are given the choice NOT to sin. I pray that we, like the convicts and civilians on the ferry, make the right choice… even if we don’t make it out alive.
5 out of 5. Definitely!
Until next time,
Scott
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