Review: ‘Dark Knight’ should get Oscar’s attention

Directed by: Christopher Nolan

Starring: Heath Ledger, Christian Bale, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Gary Oldman, Aaron Eckhart, Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman

Rated: PG-13

To categorize “The Dark Knight” as a comic book/superhero movie is tantamount to categorizing “Moby Dick” as a “story about fishing.”

In a summer rife with top-of-the-line comic book films (“Iron Man,” “Hellboy II”), director Christopher Nolan has reset the bar. “The Dark Knight” has all of the trappings of a Greek tragedy or Shakespearean drama. It’s a study of the depths of the human soul.

It is dark. It is troubling. It will keep you awake during a dark night. It’s an incredibly good, ultimately affecting, film.

Superhero movies are usually ignored at Oscar time (except in the special effects categories), but “The Dark Knight” may change that. It can deservedly garner nominations for direction, screenplay, picture and most certainly best performance by an actor. That would be Heath Ledger as The Joker, not Christian Bale as the title character (although he is superb and the quintessential Batman).

This is the late Ledger’s film all the way. His Joker will forever be ranked with the scariest movie characters ever to slither onscreen. “Hannibal Lecter, please meet The Joker. Have a nice time, gentlemen.”

Director Nolan has a penchant for darkness. His breakthrough film was “Memento,” the story of a man with short-term memory loss who uses his tattoos to trace his life’s circumstances back to the man who murdered his wife. Nolan also directed Al Pacino in “Insomnia,” a film that exuded an uncomfortable feeling from frame one, especially for those who suffer from that hideous dysfunction.

In 2005, Nolan, working with a script he co-wrote with his brother Jonathan, redefined the Batman character in “Batman Begins.” When Bob Kane originally created the “caped crusader,” he was indeed a dark and brooding knight. But after comics got watered down and tamed by government intervention in the 1950s, Batman became less troubled and more mainstream. The 1960s TV show turned him into sheer camp. Tim Burton began redeeming the original character with his franchise of “Batman” films in the 1990s, but it is Nolan who brings the hero/anti-hero back to his roots.

And there has never been a better actor filling the cowl. Christian Bale plays both characters, billionaire playboy Bruce Wayne and his alter ego, Batman, with utter perfection. As Wayne, Bale is nonchalant in his insouciance. But when he is Batman, he is all work and no play. There’s a scene that features Batman standing atop a Manhattan skyscraper where he appears to be more of an architectural gargoyle than a man.

“The Dark Knight” picks up where “Batman Begins” ended. Batman had all but taken care of the crime bosses of Gotham City, but the public was split. Some saw him as a hero, others as a vigilante. In the wake of his crusade, imitation Batmen have come on the scene – pudgy guys with bad bat suits and ways less than noble.

Then someone else comes to town – sprouted from nowhere. He calls himself The Joker, and he makes it clear that he does what he does not for money. He simply loves chaos. Ledger redefines this character as a sadomasochistic sociopath. The performance chills to the bone. Caesar Romero was campy and demented as The Joker in the TV show, and Jack Nicholson brought a hint of evil to him in the Burton films. But Ledger owns the role.

The Joker meets with the remaining crime lords of Gotham and offers his assistance. He then makes a public statement that the streets will be filled with blood until the Batman removes his masks and reveals himself.

In “Batman Begins,” Batman had a shaky ally in police lieutenant Jim Gordon (Gary Oldman). Here that relationship has solidified, and a new character, District Attorney Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart), signs on to make it a trio. But Dent has a date with destiny that happens in the film’s third act.

The opening bank robbery could be a short film in and of itself. It is one of the best heist scenes ever put onscreen and is a perfect introduction to Ledger’s Joker.

“The Dark Knight” is a great film. It’s unsettling. The mood is a brood. It hints at a world in a state of malaise, and while it makes no reference to the events of Sept. 11, 2001, it’s plain that Nolan understands how the world was changed on that day.

See it. But prepare to be disturbed.

Jim Wunderle owns Wunderle Sound Services and is a Springfield freelance writer and musician. He can be reached at info@wunderlesound.com.