Like Harvey Dent’s gruesome alter ego in the second half of the film, The Dark Knight, Christopher Nolan’s second installment of the franchise that shares its titular character’s uncanny resilience, has something of a split personality.  On one side are the script, a stiff Christian Bale, and three under-utilized iconic actors of their time.  On the other are the action, the set pieces, and an absurdly engrossing, scene-chewing Heath Ledger.

When the Joker is off the screen, the movie is rigid and without the gritty edge that made Batman Begins so enthralling (and refreshing amid a gaggle of cartoony comic book reprises).  The lines fall flat, sometimes reminiscent of even the ghastly Schumacher treatments the franchise received in the 90’s.  Batman Begins succeeded because it took itself seriously as a film, side-stepping the pitfalls of the comic book medium while still showing the utmost respect for its source material.

At times, The Dark Knight comes off as another victim of sequelitis: a studio throws $180 million in the follow-up to a hugely successful first film and waters it down to secure a hefty return on their investment.  The dialogue, especially the first half an hour, is stilted and too expository.

Luckily, the film completely transforms and exceeds the original every second Heather Ledger is on-screen (and he’s there a lot).

It’s as if the scenes with the Joker were written in a vacuum, isolated from the rest of the script, incubated in the same acid bath of edginess that spawned the first film.  Where Jack Nicholson’s Joker was a Buster-Keaton-on-shrooms caricature, Ledger hones in on a truly psychopathic core that implausibly sidesteps the typical machinations and hyperbole of big screen bad guys.

Ledger completely disappears, leaving a raw, unpredictable force of evil on the screen.  Like Daniel Day Lewis or co-star Gary Oldman’s classic performances, nuance pushes it over the edge of greatness. Gleefully hanging out the window of a taxi, relishing his escape from police custody, with no natural sound, just an eerie fluorescent hum to compliment the bombast on screen.  A simple delivery of the word “Hi” while in a nurse’s outfit and a wig.   A slithering, menacing prance around Rachel, chewing the scenery and sporting a knife (best scene of the movie).  Ledger’s cadence, his intonations, and the impeccably crude make-up job all combine to create one of the most perfect movie villains ever.  Ever ever ever.

So much so that he does more than save the movie.  He elevates it to probably the best one I’ve seen this summer.  He’s that effing good.  Behind this epic performance are some clever (and subtly written) motivations.  The variations on the story of how he got his scars.  His monologue after Harvey Dent (Eckhart) undergoes the Two Face transformation (“I’m just a dog chasing cars…an agent of chaos”).  The conversation with Batman while dangling upside down in the finale (“This is what happens when an unstoppable force slams into an immovable object”).  Brilliantly written.  Brilliantly acted.

It would be doing the film a disservice to not credit the action, set pieces, effects, and stunts as well. The semi truck and motorcycle sequence in downtown, Batman’s capture of the mob’s moneyman, and the Joker’s reacquisition of the same moneyman (and subsequent demolition of several large buildings) are all mind-blowing.  No frills, no lame-o curved bullets, just straightforward, badass action.

At the same time, to let Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine, and Gary Oldman essentially go to waste as window-dressing characters – vehicles to either advance the plot or deliver information to the audience – is painful to watch.  Bale is one of the better young actors of this generation but is vacant of the complexity that was so painstakingly developed in Batman Begins.  Gyllenhaal and Eckhart have some meatier roles, but they just don’t say much of interest.

The relationship between Batman, Joker, and Gotham is where they stashed all the heady stuff.  The motif of duality and the blurred lines of good and evil are rampant throughout the film.  Comm. Gordon (Oldman) repeats one line about how Batman redefined himself as a hero to Gotham several times.  The coin-flipping Dent muses that you “either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain.”  And the Joker is consistently identifying himself through Batman, the ying to his yang.

These thematic elements are reasonably well fleshed-out, but they remain shackled by clunky dialogue and Bale’s exaggerated rasp while speaking as Batman.  Both pulled me straight out of the film several times.  Thankfully, Ledger came back on to draw me back in with each maniacal lick of his lips.

Though it’s a comic book movie, I walked away thinking of it as a tragedy.  Not for its attempts at heady themes or operatic character arcs, but because we will never get to see Heath Ledger play another role again.  I think an Oscar nomination is a sure thing.  If Academy voters tack this on to the Brokeback snub (imho), a win is almost a lock .

Regardless of its flaws, The Dark Knight has the best performance of the year so far, and the best action of any summer movie.  Those alone make it one of the best summer flicks.  It’s just a shame that the atmosphere and tone weren’t as consistently brilliant as in the first film.

Tags: batman, batman begins, christian bale, christopher nolan, heath ledger, review, the dark knight