I finally got to see the Dark Knight for the second time. I am aware it has only been 5 days since the midnight showing, but it could NOT wait. So on take two of watching the movie I decided to pay attention to details that have been brought to my attention that I did not notice before. I also reevaluted the problems I had with the film the first time around. If you haven’t seen the film and for SOME UNHOLY REASON have not heard how freakin’ amazing it is, and you somehow need to be convinced before seeing it. Then read my first review, because I will be getting very nit-picky in this article.
SPOILER ALERT! DO NOT READ ANY FURTHER UNLESS YOU HAVE SEEN THE DARK KNIGHT!
This is pretty much my analysis of certain parts of the film, and other thoughts as I watched it for the second time:
Opening Scene: The Bank Heist
I love the opening of The Dark Knight. No opening credits, a bat sign coming out of blue flames and BOOM we are in the film. The opening bank heist scene is the best opening that I could have hoped for. It is the perfectly twisted plan to expect from The Joker. He hires everyone and tells them each to kill the other guy so that the shares are bigger, but nobody knows that the other guy was also told to kill a guy. Out of confusion and a perfectly crafted plan, The Joker is revealed to actually be involved in the heist and is the last man standing.
The Parking Garage Scene
This scene is where the problems start, and overall it is a weak scene. The Scarecrow and some mobsters are meeting over a problem with the Scarecrow’s drugs. A copycat Batman steps in and starts shooting people. Not a bad start to the scene. In comes the awesome tank-of-a-Batmobile under remote control. Again, pretty awesome start. So where’s the Bat? He appears in the garage out of the darkness, as usual, and BENDS A GUN BARREL WITH ONE HAND!? I’m no scientist or physicist or geinocologist but I think we can all agree that it takes more than human strength to bend a barrel of a gun in the way it happened in this film. Not only that, but, if Batman actually had super strength, that thug would not be able to hold that gun as Batman bent the barrel. It would just get lifted out of his hands. How did the makers of this film let that one go? I understand expirimenting, but there had to be a point where someone was like, “Wait a minute, that’s fuckin cheesy.”
I did really enjoy the next part when Batman jumped on the side of the van and tried to cut his way in. He failed badly and got slammed into one of the garage’s support pillars, and just to be attacked by a couple of dogs. There was no better or funnier way than to show how he is still not so perfect and very human. But he kicks those pooches asses and jumps off the ledge to land on top of the van that the Scarecrow is escaping in. So then Batman ties him and the copycat Batman up and drives off. THAT’S IT?!
Here’s what I was hoping for: In the movie Face/Off there is a scene in the start of the movie that looks like the ending action sequence in most action films. It just takes the action, emotion, and intensity to the max right off the bat(ha ha). So I was hoping that if they were going to finish off the Scarecrow in the beginning of this movie, make it huge. Have a crazy fight with the Scarecrows poison shit spraying everywhere and give Batman a HUGE run for his money from the start. The dog bites and the slam into the pillar were a good touch on that front, but imagine him high on that Scarecrow angeldust with two dogs on his ass.
Overall, it was a weak ending for Scarecrow and a weak introduction for Batman.
Maggie Gyllenhaal as Rachel Dawes
Don’t worry, it gets positive here.
The first time seeing this film I totally forgot to watch Maggie Gyllenhaal’s performance, and the difference between her and Holmes. I made sure to pay attention this time, and she blew me away. The chemistry she had with Harvey Dent and Bruce Wayne was fantastic and worked so well. She brought a whole new dimension to the character that was not brought out at all from Katie Holmes’s performance. I especially noticed how awesome she was during the interrogation scene with Lau and her last scene in the warehouse rigged with explosives. Great casting choice.
Heath Ledger as The Joker
I won’t get into detail here because the performance speaks for itself. Some of the best parts in the film and the best parts with the Joker are when he is talking. Ledger as The Joker is one of the best performances I have ever seen(TAKE NOTE: I only said the best performance, I PERSONALLY, have seen.) Definitely one of my favorite performances ever. Up there with Daniel Day-Lewis as Daniel Plainview in There Will Be Blood. The real tragedy is that Heath Ledger is not around to receive the praise in person.
Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne/Batman
The first time watching all my attention was on the Joker, but this time I made sure to pay closer attention to Bale and his, no doubt, perfect performance. The performance of Bale as Bruce Wayne is great, because it is actually Christian Bale acting as Bruce Wayne acting as an irresponsible playboy enjoying daddy’s trust fund. The true character of Bruce Wayne is actually Batman. Just like Superman’s costume is Clark Kent, Batman’s costume is “Bruce Wayne The Playboy”.
Aaron Eckhart as Harvey Dent/Two-Face
There is no other word that comes to mind other than perfect. Watching him from the start of the film, being fresh into the DA position, through his path to madness, becoming (a short-lived) Two-Face, was nothing short of phenomenal and moving. That brings me to my next point:
The Death of Two-Face
As awesome as Eckhart was as Two-Face, I would have liked to see less of him in this film and more of him in another Batman film. If they had left him where he was in that hospital bed, incredibly pissed off and vengeful after having talked to the Joker, then that would have freed up a lot of time. That extra time could have been used to compliment my idea of a bigger demise to the Scarecrow and bigger entrance for Batman in the beginning of the movie. Don’t get me wrong, everytime Two-Face was on screen was still amazing, but he was so underused. The whole scene with Two-Face and Gordon’s family should not have happened. Even after all that happened to Harvey Dent, I think it would have taken a lot more time to drive him crazy enough to want to kill a child. Enough time would be, say, the first two acts of a third Batman movie?
Film Conclusion
After Two-Face is dead on the ground, Batman and Commissioner Gordon exchange some grand speeches. My understanding is that Batman and Gordon have realized that Gotham needs a hero, obviously, but Batman can not be the hero they need…yet. Batman says he will take the blame for the men that Two-Face killed. He has to break his only rule of not killing people, and that makes him The Dark Knight. The savior of Gotham City who has to KILL the bad guys because it’s the only way. Now sticking to that philosophy. All they had to do was have Batman kill the joker. That was a great scene when the Joker and Batman fought it out for the last time. One of my favorite parts in the whole film was Joker falling off of the building. It was just very intense for the short amount of time it happens. And then him talking while hanging upside down was equally intense and a great performance by Ledger. The details of what should have happened next could be up to the film-makers, but ultimately there should have been some last bit of scuffling between the two and then the Joker falls and does NOT get saved. And my opinion on having the Joker die in the end is in NO WAY influenced by the death of Heath Ledger. I think it was in the film maker’s intention to leave the ending with the Joker the way it was before the death of Ledger.
Side Note: I absolutely loved that they saved showing the title, “The Dark Knight”, until the very end of the movie when he truly becomes The Dark Knight.
The Film Kicks Ass
There is no doubt that this is the craziest, darkest, and most awesome comic book movie to hit the screens since Batman Begins. Most of this article seems like a downer on the film, but I am mearly PURPOSELY pointing out the bad parts. I couldn’t write an article on ALL the great parts of this movie because it would be way to long, not to say this one isn’t.
As much as I would like to have seen more Joker in a third movie, I would have been plenty happy with the Joker meeting his death at the hands of THE DARK KNIGHT!
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