The Dark Knight

By Robbie Collin

IF you watch only one film a year . . . I’m surprised you’re reading this page, to be honest.

But however many films you do watch, you should be booking tickets for The Dark Knight pretty much NOW.

The 561st comic book film of the summer, it may be. And the chances of any sequel improving on Batman Begins—director Christopher Nolan’s first, superb take on the Caped Crusader—seemed pretty slim.

But here’s the good news.

The Dark Knight not only improves on Batman Begins—hugely—but it lives up to every last parp of guff and burble pumped out by the Hollywood hype machine.

Because we are looking at the strongest contender yet for film of the year.

The plot begins where Begins ended—if you get my drift.

Batman (Christian Bale) and Gotham City police force are dismantling the metropolis’s various criminal gangs with the help of District Attorney Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart).

And because they understand mob tactics and motives, it’s all going pretty well. That’s until a new crook shows up called The Joker (Heath Ledger).

More terrorist than gangster, The Joker’s seemingly aimless wave of murders and bombings has Gotham in the grip of fear. Naturally it’s down to one man to straighten things out.

And to call their epic 2½-hour struggle a mere “superhero movie” is to do this film a mighty disservice.

Because this is a dark, mature crime thriller of huge scope, executed with a brilliance that’s occasionally frightening.

It brings to mind such modern masterpieces as Heat and The Departed, and banishes all thought of George Clooney in Spandex, cracking weak snow-based puns with Arnold Schwarzenegger. Thank feck.

Now this is down to a lot, lot more than Heath Ledger. But there’s no question it is this guy’s performance that transforms the movie from great summer blockbuster to a film that is about to crash into many, many people’s all-time top tens.

He takes probably the most set-in-stone villain in comic-book history and makes him unlike anything you could have ever imagined.

No wacky schemes and gadgets here. And no Jack Nicholson/Cesar Romero style campery either.

And as for his, um, jokes—well, how about this crowd pleaser?

“I’m going to cut you up and feed you to your pooches. Then we’ll see how loyal a hungry dog is.”

Haw haw haw! Ladies and gentlemen, he’s here all week! Ledger’s Joker is funny only in that, whenever he shuffles on screen, you have no idea what is going to happen next. Other than it’ll be pretty damn horrible.

So, make no mistake. This is not a film to take the kiddiewinks to. If Indiana Jones was a particularly mild 12A, The Dark Knight is a particularly brutal one.

Terrifying

Brief moments of violence are strong and grimace-worthy.

But it’s more the constant, stomach-churning threat oozing out of the Joker—his plots, his puzzles, the tapes he sends to the TV news—that makes him, for want of a better expression, so utterly bloody terrifying.

So all this talk about Ledger picking up a posthumous Academy Award isn’t just a cynical “Oscar for the dead bloke” cash-in.

Because really and truly he deserves one.

There’s so much more to enjoy in The Dark Knight than Ledger—ie everything—that there’s no room to mention it all here. But it includes:

Aaron Eckhart’s masterful performance as Harvey Dent, whose film this is every bit as much as The Joker’s.

Christian Bale. Fast becoming one of my favourite actors out there, for bringing more depth to the Batman/ Bruce Wayne role than Kilmer, Clooney, and yes, even Keaton, could scrape together between them.

Gary Oldman and Morgan Freeman. Fleshing out the Commissioner Gordon and Lucius Fox roles from the first movie just beautifully.

The perfectly judged banter, which is always witty, never corny.

The unforgettable, magic vanishing pencil.

The breath- taking centrepiece that ends, or so you might think, with The Joker’s arrest.

Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard’s ticking insanity bomb soundtrack.

The astonishing Hong Kong segment —not- ably the first time ANYONE has been brave enough to have Batman flying around anywhere other than Gotham City.

All the very clever, very subtle stuff to do with dogs. (Watch for how The Joker drives the police car.)

Michael Caine. Absolutely top rate as always.

The fantastic Maggie Gyllenhaal replacing moonface Katie Holmes as Batman’s love interest Rachel Dawes.

Twist after perfect twist.

And the film’s stubborn refusal to rightly refuse to give away a single morsel about who The Joker is and what turned him wacko.

On the downside? Well, Batman's voice is a bit growly, innit.

And, er, that’s it.

The Dark Knight is a towering achievement that deserves to be seen and seen again.

Which comes as bad news for only one poor sod: Director Christopher Nolan.

Because, mate, there is no way you are ever, ever, going to top this. Are you?