Dark Knight Review – A Masterpiece

Date: September 2009

Overview

A nuanced, largely positive review acknowledging The Dark Knight as a near-masterpiece that falls just short of perfection due to structural flaws, despite exceptional execution.

Key Thesis

The film is described as “a blockbuster as cautiously crafted as any of its kind” but plagued by “a certain alienation between abstraction and execution” — comparing the relationship between form and content as “FUBAR” (Fouled Up Beyond All Recognition), though “necessarily a bad thing it is not.”

Strengths

Heath Ledger’s Performance

“The Joker (a constantly ablaze Heath Ledger)…”

• Compared to exchanges between Neo and Agent Smith in The Matrix trilogy
• His words “effectively summarize the conflict inherent within The Dark Knight”
• Ledger’s mannerisms reach “above a bald physical armory of gestures” to “additional cerebral tremors”
• His lack of backstory adds to the character’s baffling nature
• Quote: “Ledger goes above the accounting folio so finer that all about him ache in comparison”
• Performance “actually lives up to the advertising” surrounding it

Visual Craftsmanship

• IMAX cinematography praised as “seamlessly” transitioning between IMAX (1.66:1) and standard (1.85:1) aspect ratios
• Camerawork pronounces “the aggregate of the activity at hand, aerial over the burghal landscapes”
• Both narrative and locations are “effectively labyrinthine”

Narrative Structure

• Film described as an “ultra-high abstraction affair esplanade ride” — moves forward “actually clashing any I’ve anytime seen, not abandoned kinetically but narratively”
• Every moment is “meant to betray something” — character traits, advance tragedy, death, conflict, crisis resolution
• Compares favorably to “Cameron’s Terminator 2 and Spielberg’s pro-life Jurassic Park”

Thematic Content

• The Joker represents chaos; Batman represents autonomous virtue; Harvey Dent represents pure black-and-white justice
• Implicitly reflects “21st Century concrete and cerebral warfare”
• Remains relevant like “12 Angry Men” regardless of era

Notable Sequences

• Opening: Heat-inspired bank robbery
• Centerpiece: Street chase
• Violence is “debilitated by ample dynamics and a absorption faculty”

Criticisms

Over-Exposition Problem

“Not artlessly chargeless of annihilation that could be alleged about pacing or affection… the blur flaws itself via abundant redundancies – overemphatic repeats of account and questions”

• Compares Nolan’s repeated themes to George W. Bush’s repeated mentions of “fear” in State of the Union addresses
• Dialogue/phrases often repeated “two, three or four times in the same scene”
• Quote: “It’s alleged a thesaurus, Chris. Use it.”

Third Act Issues

1. The Joker’s “social experiment” plays like “a arena from an abstract aftereffect to Paul Haggis’ acute Crash”
2. Aaron Eckhart’s Harvey Dent/Two-Face arc is “awash into a sickly developed third act”

Political Commentary

Morgan Freeman’s Lucius Fox scene criticized as:

“A last-minute anti-Patriot Act abuse… feels beneath like 18-carat appearance thoughts than a bruised grab at authentic angary via lip account to appropriate issues”

Overall Assessment

• Reviewer feels “two accomplish forward, one footfall back”
• Film moves too fast: “no time to flavor and no time to reflect”
• Despite flaws, “a abundant brand cine exists at the affection of this agrarian and untamed beast”
• Problem moments are “valleys amidst an operatic mural”

Final Verdict

“It’s the Batman cine we charge appropriate now, if not actually the one we deserve.”