The Dark Knight

To categorise The Dark Knight as just another summer blockbuster hit should be considered an insult. To top the box office for several weeks, then disappear, as its screening listings become tomorrow’s roti canai linings. No, not The Dark Knight. What Christopher Nolan has crafted is a masterpiece. Mark these words; Heath Ledger’s Joker will iconize the year that was 2008, for all the right reasons. He didn't just play the Joker, he was the Joker.

The Dark Knight picks up a year after Batman Begins. With the help of Lieutenant Jim Gordon, and District Attorney Harvey Dent, Batman has effectively dismantled the remaining iniquitous organizations that seemed to perpetually plague Gotham City. Everything seems peachy keen until Gotham’s trail of corruption leads to the Joker, an upcoming psychopathic criminal mastermind. Their struggle rapidly becomes deeply personal, confronting and deconstructing everything the Batman believes in and finds strength in for a powerhouse showdown. What ensues is a subversive line-up that not only sets up ethical descent for each major character, but also forces us to laugh at sadistic moral discord. The Dark Knight is so dark; it’s black.

Which is, really, everything it should be. In the comics, the only hope for salvation in Gotham lies within a superhero that isn’t clear-cut pure. Batman is grey area. Christopher Nolan captures that to a precise perfection. Heath Ledger’s incarnation of The Joker is not comical, nor cartoonish. The Joker in his hands is a fearsome sadist who has genuine fun instigating human weakness. And Ledger is unrecognisable; he disappears into The Joker’s perverse reality completely. However, while Ledger affects and traumatises the most, the rest of the cast hold their own quite fittingly. Though, I still might have a problem with Christian Bale’s husky Bat voice.

Cast Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Gary Oldman, Aaron Eckhart, Maggie Gyllenhaal Director Christopher Nolan Runtime 152mins Opens 17 July

Text Claudia Low