Many deem Christopher Nolan’s (Interstellar, Oppenheimer) The Dark Knight the best comic book movie ever. Those and others consider Nolan’s three Batman films the quintessential superhero trilogy. The Dark Knight is the franchise’s standout, successfully eclipsing the superhero genre and delivering an eerie tale of good versus evil that requires many chief characters to make layered, moral decisions at a moment’s notice. In particular, The Joker (Heath Ledger – Brokeback Mountain, Monster’s Ball), the film’s villain, continually requires its protagonists to choose between what is best for them and society’s greater good. Fans of superhero movies and those who traditionally have little to no interest in that genre can equally appreciate The Dark Knight.

The Dark Knight grips its audience from the opening scene. Half a dozen men, each donning clown masks, break into a prominent Gotham City bank. Each man has a designated assignment deemed no longer needed when he completes that task. The Joker reveals himself just as the bank’s branch manager tells him that the money he’s stealing belongs to the Gotham City mob, to which the Joker replies that this was his plan all along.

During a meeting, the local mob bosses have a forged alliance with (Chin Han – Ghost in the Shell, Mortal Combat), a foreign investor/bookmaker who keeps stolen money from previous crimes in Hong Kong for safekeeping. The Joker appears and offers an alternative arrangement. For half the money, he will kill Batman (Christian Bale – The Fighter, Out of the Furnace), the unrevealed city’s protector who brings down the criminals that the police force cannot. Unfortunately, the recent deaths of police officers and citizens have resulted in many calling him a reckless vigilante and asking for him to reveal his identity.

Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart – Sully, Rabbit Hole), the city’s new district attorney, has become curious about the unofficial relationship between Batman and Commissioner Gordon (Gary Oldman – Darkest Hour, Lawless). In particular, he has been able to prosecute members of the mob due to the limit. Like many others, Dent believes Batman has recently been doing as much harm as good and should turn himself in for the good of the city, something that Gordon does not advise, as do others who know his true identity, including faithful butler Alfred (Michael Caine – The Cider House Rules, The Quiet American), Lucius Fox (Morgan Freeman – Million Dollar Baby, The Shawshank Redemption), the CEO and President of Wayne Enterprises, who provides Batman with his many weapons, vehicles, and suits, and childhood friend and Assistant District Attorney, Rachel Dawes (Maggie Gyllenhaal – Crazy Heart, Stranger Than Fiction). Despite those votes of confidence, Batman continues to wrestle with what is in the best interest of Gotham City.

Batman’s foil, and the top highlight in a film with many, is The Joker. Ledger posthumously won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his version of the diabolical criminal mastermind at the height of his power in Gotham City’s criminal underworld. There is sadness, brought on by unprocessed childhood trauma between him and his father, behind The Joker’s eyes. He wishes to bring down Gotham by disrupting the city’s social order. The Joker is hellbent on seeing how far Batman will go to save Gotham from chaos and destruction. He wants to prove to the world that Batman isn’t the hero they believe him to be. Ledger described his version of the character as “a psychopathic, mass murdering, schizophrenic clown with zero empathy.” Scenes with The Joker are the film’s most engaging, with Ledger deftly combining violence with humor and Nolan’s ability to make us want to see The Joker but not cheer for him.

The film’s two-and-a-half-hour runtime breezes through. Nolan sequences his scenes so there is never a dull moment, even when scenes are dialog-driven. There is plenty of action, but it never feels too much, too often, or too lengthy. The action sequences are some of the film’s best, with each surpassing our expectations. What Nolan does best, though, is give us equal access to Batman and The Joker’s thought processes, decisions, and motives in their game of cat and mouse. We spend as much time with our chief protagonist as we do our lead antagonist. This is evidence of Nolan’s mastery. It’s no coincidence that he earned his first Best Director Oscar nomination.

Unlike most superhero franchises, which often seem to continue a story as long as each subsequent film generates a hefty profit, Nolan’s trilogy had a clear beginning (Batman Begins), middle (The Dark Knight), and end (The Dark Knight Rises). Nolan’s vision, brilliant, engrossing scripts, cinematographer Wally Pfister’s skillful use of lighting, camera, and other composition techniques, and Hans Zimmer’s haunting scores unite the three stories while allowing each to be a standalone film. That is not always an easy feat, but it is most successful when the writer knows the end early in the writing process.

Overall, Batman-only centered movies have mostly faired well with both critics and audiences. The first two films (Batman and Batman Returns) in the our-film franchise that ran between 1989-1997 earned 77% and 82%, respectively, though the third and fourth installments did far worse. The 2022 Robert Pattinson-led The Batman scored 86%, while The Batman Lego Movie earned 90%. The Dark Knight’s 94% is the highest of all Batman movies, topping the highly successful trilogy that includes Batman Begins (85% )and The Dark Knight Rises  (87%). Nolan did have the advantage of having a lead character that is universally well-received and a world that is a bit more morose than that of many other superheroes.

One of the criticisms of many television shows (Lost, Heroes, The Walking Dead, Dexter) is that they continue as long as the viewership is there. In particular, Lost had no coherence by the end of the first season. The end of each season was often written without knowing if the show would be renewed. When the show did receive its renewal, the writers scrambled to connect where the story left off to new chapters/episodes that had yet to be devised. The same can be said for the majority of film franchises. Nolan knew from the start that there would be three movies and would not budge when asked to continue the series. The decision’s result was what many consider a perfect franchise.

Plot 9.5/10
Character Development 9/10
Character Chemistry 9.5/10
Acting 9.25/10
Screenplay 9.5/10
Directing 10/10
Cinematography 10/10
Sound 10/10
Hook and Reel 10/10
Universal Relevance 9.75/10
96.5%

A+

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