Some reviewers these days tend to see conflict escalation and the moral ambiguity of vigilantism in superhero movies and perceive them as 'commentaries' on America's foreign policy. I've seen reviews of 'Hancock' and 'The Dark Knight' go along these lines, and though people have been debating over this, I feel that the director may have had some sense of purpose in including story elements such as city-wide, pervasive surveillance and violent, no holds-barred interrogations.
I think that great movies caricature; they don't make commentaries. Commentaries suggest an in-depth and balanced intellectual insight into a topic. A scene of Batman and Morgan Freeman contemplating the use of a city-wide surveillance system doesn't spark off an internal debate about the moral validity of employing such measures in the name of security. I don't think that a two-minute scene in any movie could provide enough food for thought to do that. What the scene could do is to bring its subject matter to light in a way that can be understood immediately, and to evoke emotional responses in us instead of just disconnected, intellectual ones. TDK achieves this masterfully.
Every minute of the two and a half hour show has a strong direction, whether it is towards developing the sadistic and twisted character of the Joker, exploring the consequences of Batman's choice of vigilantism, or what it means to truly be a hero in a world where seemingly black and white moralities are challenged by the apparent benefits and justifications of 'morally gray' decisions.
The actions sequences are absorbing and have a sort of comic book element to them. That is, the focus is not on being realistic and fast-paced with swerving camera movement, rather all his actions are captured in a rather flowing manner that allows you to absorb the way he fights and dodges, just like in a comic book. The plot-moving scenes are executed crisply according to their dramatic or comedic natures, and all the scenes are enriched by thrilling, immersing musical scores.
I can't comment on whether anyone else could have been a better Joker, but it is irrefutable that Heath Ledger played a great Joker. The expressiveness of the Joker's role and the quality of its execution often overshadows the acts of the other characters, but it can safely be said that Christian Bale, Aaron Eckhart, and the rest of the actors gave pleasing renditions of their multi-faceted characters. A proportionate amount of screen time was alloted to the characters so that no individual story or character felt like dead weight.
Can anything bad be said about this movie? Yes, if you look hard enough. But you will find yourself feeling obsessively picky for trying so hard to seem objective and fishing for flaws that are being swept down a rushing river of good points. It might be said that the first one-third of the movie, while meaningful, was a bit draggy in pacing and could've used tighter sequences for some minor improvements.
TDK is a story that is rife with tragedy, and the depictions of characters who pursue morally ambiguous paths in their desperation will evoke experiences and memories from your own life because they happen everywhere, all the time. It is Jim Gordon and Batman's grim and steady determination to stay their course in the face of this reality that gives emotional balance to a movie that is otherwise dark and pessimistic. Batman's choice at the end of the movie marks him out as a character of truly high caliber and gives weight to the description that he has become something more than just a hero.
Or to cut it short, awesome movie. Haha. It had a guy from Singapore. The Americans lauded our magical counting and 'calculation' powers. Lol. I've been reading a lot of rottentomatoes.com and now I fancy myself a movie reviewer. Ha. This is an excerpt from a review I liked quite a bit:
"This Batman is a pragmatist, willing to break the law to stop Joker’s terrorism. Sure, you can draw a parallel between his willingness to take expedient measures and that of the Bush administration, but the more crucial, existential question is how can any man be genuinely good in a complicated and dangerous world? Sure, this movie is grim and black; it’s grounded in a plausible reality. One of the problems with Nolan’s first take on the legend - 2005’s Batman Begins - was that it neglected Batman’s prowess as a detectivein favor of a more conventional brawny action hero ethic. This time out Batman is more cerebral and seems vulnerable to Joker’s unhinged attacks. Not only can he be killed, he can be hurt." -Philip Martin, Arkansas
