Batman Begins and The Dark Knight

The comic book hero is given a more realistic and darker, in his journey to become a symbol of hope in Gotham City’s streets and then to take on the role of villain. He faces psychotic anarchic villains ‘The Scarecrow’ and ‘Joker’ both of whom are unnerving 100% of the time.

I was going to combine the two films in one review, but I think, as good as Batman Begins was, its longer and higher budget sequel ‘The Dark Knight’, with its questions about humanity and standing up for good, has eclipsed its younger brother. Jim Gordon talks at the end of ‘Batman Begins’ about escalation of crime – if police carry guns, criminals need bigger guns. That principle is applied to ‘The Dark Knight’, which, I think, is the first sequel I’ve seen to top its prequel.

Whereas Batman Begins is all about the performance of Christian Bale, ‘The Dark Knight’ adds Heath Ledger’s brilliance to an all-star cast and produces a gem. If you haven’t seen it yet, try and see it before they stop showing it at the cinema. It is utterly breath-taking. The music by Hans Zimmer keeps you on edge the whole way. Rightly I think, my friend questioned whether the film should be a 12A, so if you’re not 12 yet or thinking of taking a young person, be warned.

Heath Ledger, who shockingly died as a result of the medication he took during the film, performed stunningly. I have to admit, I thought people were saying that just because he’d died, but I was blown away. It was partly the make up, partly the cold look in his eyes, but right down to the repetition of his victim’s words as he filmed them reading out a speech, he was the creepiest villain I’ve seen. The Joker’s design, to turn Gotham upside down is seen best in two brilliant examples of ‘social experimentation.’ [Plot Spoiler Warning]

Firstly, he gives Batman the choice of saving Rachel or saving Dent. Batman chooses Rachel and ends up saving Dent. That is sick! But not as sick as the choice he gives two boats – one of convicts and the other of ‘ordinary innocent civilians’ – destroy the other and live, or both wait till midnight and die. My favourite moment in the film was the big black prisoner facing up to the guard and taking the detonator say ‘I’ll do what you should have done 10 minutes ago’ and throwing the detonator out of the window. That was sweet! (I actually punched the air, which was a new experience to me in the cinema.) The other boat was left to a democracy, in which three quarters of the people wanted something, but (in this case, thankfully) nobody went through with it. This boat speaks volumes about a passive democracy that expects everything to be done by the government they elected. It also shows that, just because it is the majority feeling, that does not make a feeling right, nor does it make the feeling effective. The ship of fools has long been an image in satire – but here the fools wise up and, make the right choice.

The film’s message was overall very positive. Down to the shockingly loud sound of the guns, there was a feeling that to kill someone is something not to be taken lightly and it is a victory when someone is given the choice to leave someone alive and chooses to do so. Batman particularly shows this, with multiple opportunities to make the film an hour shorter, he decides not to kill the Joker. At other points we wonder why they don’t just kill the villains – it would make it easier. But I think that showed me my mindset towards onscreen killing most clearly and so I am grateful to the director for that.

Again, there is so much more that I would like to say – about both films. But one last nod in the direction of Heath Ledger. I think he has raised the bar for villains in these films. He is colder and more calculating, yet faster and more unpredictable than any I have seen. All other villains will be measured against the psychotic character that even killed him for a very long time to come.