Dark Knight Review

I must say that Heath Ledger’s passing left a void in the art of villainy that will not be filled for a long time. His masterful portrayal of Joker, the arch-nemesis of Batman, surpasses the good work done by Jack Nicholson in Tim Burton’s Batman, I dare say. While Jack Nicholson’s Joker is more campy (which is untypical of Tim Burton’s movie), Heath Ledger’s Joker is the pure, psychotic and maniacal force that can stand by its own in the movie.



I think the director’s understanding of the Joker is immense and accurate. The Joker works not for money but understands the usefulness of it. His purpose and reason for crime is to ‘play’ with Batman, to challenge him. As a parody of Jerry Maquire’s famous (perhaps infamous) line, “You complete me”, the Joker acts as the star-crossed lover of Batman. Joker’s ‘love’ of Batman is the hatred of him, yet Joker will not kill Batman because without the challenge that Batman poses to him, he will have nothing to live for. At the same time, no matter how much hatred Batman had for Joker, he will not kill Joker because otherwise all that Batman fought for will be for nought. A love-hate relationship thus plays out nicely in the movie. Another thing worth mentioning is the social experiments that Joker tries out in the movie. A true student of game theory by John Nash, he plays out big scale human experiment, pushing the frontier of experimentation beyond ethical limits. The Joker had such a masterful understanding of the human psyche that he manipulates and twists to create another villain in the same movie.

A pity that Heath Ledger will not return to play the Joker again – perhaps it’s for the best, for he left at the peak of his performance and all shall remember him for this last superb portrayal of Batman’s greatest enemy. I really love the body language he poured into the characterization of Joker, especially the scene after he bombed the hospitals and was walking out in a nurse’s uniform. His awkward, slightly stooped, almost resigned manner speaks much more than words can do.

The movie also plays on this major theme of Batman – his fear that what he does every night will turn him into the very people that he fought for in the first place. For the first time since watching Batman movies, I saw consequences in Batman’s nightly adventure in the streets of Gotham city. Self serving vigilantes appear, bearing the mask of Batman but without his philosophy. My girlfriend asked me how do I know which is the real Batman and I replied – Batman do not use firearms. His parents are killed by firearms and he will not use it to fight crime, hence his preference for fist fights and ninja-like weapons. The movie also plays out the Batman as the dark lonely fighter, who can never be the same again after donning the suit. What kind of person can lead dual lives – acting as a rich businessman in the day and a dark vigilante in the night? Perhaps only a psychopath can. Batman is driven by revenge for his parents but at what cost? This a good theme to explore in future Batman movies.

Someone mentioned that this Batman movie lacks weaponry. I do agree. Batman’s greatest weapon– his superb detective mind – is not portrayed in the movie. What I see here is his internal conflict of breaking the law to catch criminals who broke the law. There can be much more time allocated to showcase Batman’s Shylock Holmes-like mind in solving crime, rather than fighting crime. I really love Batman because he is about the only superhero whose superpowers are not superhuman. His superpowers is his very human but excellent mind (ahem, though his status as a billionaire and thus the moo lah acts as the icing to the cake).

My girlfriend commented that the show is a little boring in the first half and gets better towards the end. I disagree. How would the siege of Helm’s deep by Saruman’s Uruk-hai be without the events and circumstances that lead to it? In my opinion, the control of the pacing and tension are done nicely by the director.

Watch this movie. If not for Batman, at least for Joker.

Ps: As a side note, I half expected Peter Parker to leap out to punch Bruce Wayne/Harvey Dent for stealing his ‘Mary Jane’ :)