Some Men Just Want to Watch the World Burn

"The Dark Knight," the second installment of Christopher Nolan's Batman reboot is the best superhero movie ever made. In fact, the sequel to "Batman Begins" is the best film I have seen this year. It is closer to a crime epic than a superhero film. The audience is launched into a Gotham City on the brink of collapse. It has been brought to this point by the self-described "agent of chaos," The Joker played by Heath Ledger. In a film full of spectacular performances, especially by Christian Bale and Aaron Eckhart, Ledger's Joker stands out as a classic villain performance. Constantly licking his lips and walking with an animalistic hitch in his step, the Joker emerges fully formed with no back story or motive. He asks, "Do I look like someone who has a plan?" and mocks average citizens who try to make meaning out of their existence, "I'm a dog chasing cars. I don't have plans. I just do things. I'm not a schemer." He is pure id, pure anarchy. What is particularly interesting is the suggestion that it is Batman who is complicit in the escalation of Gotham's violence. The Joker tells him as much, "You've changed things... forever. There's no going back." The symbiotic relationship between the Joker and Batman transforms "The Dark Knight" from a standard superhero film into an existential meditation. We see the toll Bruce Wayne's personal mission has taken on him and his loved ones. Batman is Gotham's Dark Knight. Aaron Eckhart plays its White Knight as Harvey Dent, a courageous District Attorney who is the symbol Gotham needs because he can inspire good. Unlike Batman, who only inspires fear and a string of incompetent copycats. Nolan does an exceptional job of maintaining tension and strikes the right emotional note at every turn. The film's moral ambivalence and downbeat ending does not come at the expense of the action which is worthy of a Batman film. Gary Oldman, Michael Caine, and Maggie Gyllenhaal all turn in excellent supporting performances. See "The Dark Knight" and see it in Imax.

"Why don't we cut you up into little pieces and feed you to your pooches? Hmm? And then we'll see how loyal a hungry dog really is. It's not about money. It's about sending a message."
~The Joker