Film review: The Dark Knight

THE DARK KNIGHT (12A)
*****

DIRECTED BY: CHRISTOPHER NOLAN
STARRING: CHRISTIAN BALE, HEATH LEDGER, AARON ECKHART, MAGGIE GYLLENHAAL, MICHAEL CAINE, GARY OLDMAN

LIKE Bruce Wayne, Batman's slick and flashy billionaire alter-ego, The Dark Knight is a movie with a secret identity. On the surface it may look like just another comic book film, another studio-sanctioned sequel, another box office booster. But co-writer and director Christopher Nolan's brilliant, brainy, blockbusting follow-up to his franchise-revamping Batman Begins uses that guise to deliver something bigger, better and much more ambitious: a genre-redefining crime epic for our freaked-out times.

So banish all thoughts of CGI-fuelled spandex shenanigans and forget any lingering prejudices you may have about superhero movies: The Dark Knight really doesn't have much to do with those kinds of films at all. Sure, comic book fans weaned on Frank Miller's 1986 masterpiece The Dark Knight Returns will certainly thrill to the sight of a movie that finally does justice to his radical reinvention of the character as a psychologically-scarred, cowl-wearing vigilante. But the film's cinematic reference points are more along the lines of The Godfather, The Departed and, especially, Heat.

Like those movies, this is a film rooted in pulp but approached with intelligence, sophistication and artistry. It also understands the narrative freedom that comes from working with classic archetypes, yet knows the value of adding flesh to the bare bones of those archetypes to create complex characters that resonate for longer and in ways you can't quite put your finger on.

And make no mistake: it's a visual stunner too. Kicking off with a mother of a bank heist that, if seen on Imax, will probably leave you gasping (the film is the first live-action feature to be partially shot using special cameras that make full use of the format's giant screens), The Dark Knight is full of breathless set-pieces that are hardwired into every thing that makes epic, mainstream cinema great.

That bank job is our first introduction to what has, thus far, been the film's major talking point: Heath Ledger's interpretation of Batman's iconic nemesis, The Joker. His last completed role (he died before finishing work on Terry Gilliam's The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus), all the posthumous Oscar chat might still seem a little crass, but the hype about his performance is more than justified.

Unrecognisable beneath a dirty, straggly mop of green hair and layers of messily applied clown make-up, Ledger makes the character his own, delivering as chilling a portrait of screen villainy as you've seen – and one that certainly eliminates Jack Nicholson's buffoon-like take on the character (in Tim Burton's first Batman film, in 1989) from the equation altogether. Ledger's Joker is scary, sadistic and all but motiveless. In interviews Nolan has compared him to the shark from Jaws and there's something in that: the film doesn't delve into his origins, he's simply there, a force of nature wreaking havoc on everything he comes into contact with.

But while he may be anarchic and psychotic, Ledger (and Nolan) smartly remind us that he's still human by having him offer multiple contradictory accounts of how he received the Chelsea smile that contorts his mouth into a mocking rictus of pain. The fact that each account is as plausible as it is false makes him seem all the more frightening.

The Joker is certainly The Dark Knight's most electrifying element, but the film is big and bold enough to ensure the character doesn't overwhelm it. He's the agent of chaos pushing Batman (once again played by Christian Bale) to the limit in his quest to save a city crippled by crime, corruption and terror and it's a sign of The Dark Knight's ambitions that it questions the validity of its hero's actions almost from the off.

As the film opens, the symbol Batman was supposed to present to Gotham's criminal underclass has already proven problematic: rather than wiping out crime and inspiring fear among the mob his actions have spawned a raft of imitators and vigilantes who are actually exacerbating the problem, not solving it.

Hope for the city – and for Batman, whose nightly escapades are taking their toll on Bruce Wayne's body, mind and soul – thus comes in the form of Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart), the idealistic district attorney working hard to do Batman's job within the framework of the law. Many will already know Dent's destiny from the comics and Nolan doesn't deviate from it here, but he delivers plenty of surprises along the way to keep it interesting and it gives the film a real, tragic dimension.

This basic set-up also affords Nolan a broad canvas to examine the murky morals involved in fighting an enemy bent on upsetting the natural order of things for no other reason than "to watch the world burn".

Needless to say there are plenty of real-world resonances here and the film will probably be smacked down in some quarters for having ideas above its blockbuster station, but they're so deftly woven into the fabric of the story that they don't rip you out of the experience or saddle The Dark Knight with a specific political agenda: the film raises awkward questions, it doesn't provide glib answers.

It's a remarkable achievement that in many ways expands the possibilities of mainstream filmmaking. It's also just a thrilling piece of cinema – and there really is no disguising that.

HOWLER OF THE WEEK: IRINA PALM

Everyone knows the lack of good roles for women – especially older women – is scandalous. As if to prove that point, not only does rubbish Brit flick Irina Palm degrade Marianne Faithfull by casting her as a granny sex worker, but it includes a thoroughly embarrassing scene in which her shocked, respectable friends – including the great Jenny Agutter – excitedly quiz her about penis sizes. Would somebody please write these women a decent film so they don't have to go through this again?