After Tim Burton’s two excellent silver screen adaptations of the famous Batman comic book series, the two movies that followed turned out to be sad attempts to milk the cash cow. In 2005 director Christopher Nolan successfully restored the caped crusader’s dignity with Batman Begins, telling the story of how a man named Bruce Wayne developed into a crime-fighting Dark Knight.

Prologue

Since my early childhood I have always loved the dark world of Batman comics. When I was eight years old a fire destroyed the majority of our home. Nearly all of my toys were melted into shapeless black lumps, including my beloved Batman toy figure. The restoration of our house nearly bankrupted my mother and for a while she had no money left to buy me new toys. I clearly remember drawing a Batman logo on a piece of paper and cutting that out, so I could play with the cut-out logo as a flying Batman, to keep him fighting against injustice.

In the Sixties Batman starred in a now campy series where each punch yielded a visually echoed “POW!”, “BIFF!” or “THWACK!” In those days both the comics and the series did not exceed a childish level of amusement, which was a pity, because Bob Kane’s iconic creations carried the potential to be shaped into a perfectly dark world.

Batman and his sidekick Robin in the vintage Sixties television series.

After the comic scenarios had gradually become a bit more mature and realistic in the Seventies and Eighties, director Tim Burton was the first to translate a relatively dark vision of Batman’s world to the big screen in his 1989 blockbuster Batman. With Jack Nicholson playing a memorable role of Batman’s crazy but clever arch-nemesis the Joker, the movie triggered a true Batman craze, with many people attending the movie dressed as Batman, the Joker or other related characters.

Jack Nicholson’s incarnation of the Joker in Tim Burton’s first Batman movie.

The success of Burton’s Batman movie triggered a new breed of Batman comics, presenting a really dark, sinister view upon Batman and his world. In fact, the comics were so cinematic that they were referred to as graphic novels in stead of comics. Influential titles include Batman: Year One and Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, both created by the acclaimed comic writer and artist Frank Miller (Sin City, 300). Another graphic novel that is definitely worth mentioning is Batman: The Killing Joke, written by Alan Moore (Watchmen, V for Vendetta, From Hell), with great artwork by Brian Bolland.

Brian Bolland’s view of the Joker in The Killing Joke.

As far as I’m concerned the most extraordinary Batman graphic novel is Arkham Asylum, written by Grant Morrison and masterly visualized by Dave McKean. Morrison and McKean succeeded in creating a gripping graphic novel with an intense psychological depth, telling the story of Batman entering Gotham City’s Arkham asylum for the insane, to be confronted with all of his mad enemies, led by the most demonic and intelligent Joker ever seen in a Batman comic. As Batman proceeds through the Arkham asylum he is gradually faced with his own internal demons, realizing that he does not differ from his twisted foes, who are like him mentally deformed by a traumatic experience in their past.

Dave McKean’s demonic Joker from the Arkham Asylum graphic novel.

Tim Burton’s second Batman movie, Batman Returns, is considered by many to be even better than its prequel, featuring Michelle Pfeiffer as a sexy Catwoman and Danny de Vito as a monstrous Penguin. Danny Elfman’s dramatic and moody score for Batman Returns is also considered being better than his music for the first movie.

After Batman Returns, Burton moved on to direct other movies, and Batman degraded to two superfluous pulp movies directed by Joel Schumacher, desperately trying to prolong the success of Burton’s blockbusters. It seemed as if Batman’s movie career had come to an end.

Then, in 2005 a director named Christopher Nolan proved that Batman’s movie adventures had not ended at all. In fact, they were about to really begin. Batman Begins tells the tale of how a young man named Bruce Wayne developed into a mythical crime fighter. Nolan’s interpretation of Batman’s world introduced a darker, more sombre atmosphere than Burton’s semi-comical vision of Batman. Batman Begins successfully resurrected Batman and paved the way to a sequel named The Dark Knight, which premiered in 2008.

The Dark Knight

While Batman Begins can be considered to be an extensive prologue, Christopher Nolan’s dark, fatalistic vision of Batman’s world really takes off with The Dark Knight. The movie’s plot takes the essence of a typical Batman adventure where he fights his foes using his combat skills and custom-made high-tech gadgets, while the nature of the practiced crimes have been elevated to big modern day themes such as terrorism and large-scale company fraud.

The Dark Knight features a number of fabulously choreographed action sequences and spectacular stunts, but Nolan’s scenario is really completed by effectively interweaved layers of psychological and philosophical depth, establishing a disturbingly dismal atmosphere, complemented by the movie’s dark art direction, photography and soundtrack.

Like Batman Begins, The Dark Knight features an impressive cast of laurelled actors such as Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman and Gary Oldman. Oldman plays a remarkably reticent role as Lieutenant Gordon, contradictory to his former roles of intense villains, such as the memorable bad cop in the 1994 movie Léon.

Christian Bale does a great job creating a convincingly dark Batman, but he is also perfectly cast to play Batman’s bored, rich yuppie alter ego Bruce Wayne, reminding of his great role as the psychotic yuppie in American Psycho. Other characters from Batman’s world include Batman’s butler Alfred, strikingly performed by the skilled acting veteran Michael Caine, and Harvey Dent, a very motivated District Attorney played by Aaron Eckhart.

But the surprise star who undeniably steals the show is definitely Heath Ledger’s Joker. Ledger has brilliantly succeeded in creating a perfectly twisted, anarchistic Joker, redefining the character as a highly intelligent, manipulative and frightening personality with unprecedented depth. The Joker’s intense, charismatic performance grabs you by the throat and leaves an impression that keeps haunting you even after the movie has ended. Ledger impresses with numerous acting refinements, establishing a very convincing, unpredictably insane character, while at the same time instigating sympathy from the viewer by adding a right amount of humor and a sense of being lost to the Joker’s personality.

Heath Ledger’s dark Joker reincarnation in The Dark Knight.

Heath Ledger’s performance is so memorable that every scene in The Dark Knight featuring his Joker made me feel regret that such a remarkable talent passed away at the mere age of 28, not long after the movie production was finished. It seems as if Ledger has literally put his soul into creating a magnificent Joker, exhausting the actor behind the makeup. May he rest in peace. To die young is to live forever, especially when you’ve left an impression of this extraordinary kind.

The Dark Knight is full of clever audiovisual touches that enhance the tension throughout the movie. I especially love that almost every time a scene nears featuring the Joker, a disquieting tone arises in the movie’s audio track, effectively eliciting a feeling of disturbance when the Joker appears. I also love the Joker’s makeup, believably reflecting how a disturbed person would apply makeup: smeary and chaotic, as opposed to the smooth, finished makeup of Jack Nicholson’s Joker.

Also interesting about Christopher Nolan’s Batman movies is the creative reinvention of certain facts from the traditional comic. For example, the Joker from the comic series turned insane because his skin and hair had become permanently discolored after swimming through chemical waste during an escape. Burton followed that convention, but Nolan’s Joker is much more convincing because he is a real, twisted person who wears clown-like makeup to conceal his scars.

In contrast with The Dark Knight’s fairly excessive violence, there is a remarkable absence of blood, effectively keeping the movie from becoming too explicit. I don’t recall any blood flying around, even in scenes where people are shot at close range and during heavy fights. Of course this must have been a strategic decision to keep the movie suitable for a younger audience, but in my humble opinion it also keeps the movie digestible by not letting it lose the last bit of familiar comic unreality. Despite the grim nature of The Dark Knight’s scenario, I guess displaying a lot of blood would have made the movie lose appeal.

One of the great sinister poster artworks for The Dark Knight. In contrast with the movie, some of the movie posters do show blood.

Judging by the gloomy atmosphere and psychological depth of The Dark Knight, as well as looking at the dark, Dave McKean style movie poster artwork, I’m convinced that the aforementioned graphic novels must have played an inspirational role in defining the movie’s atmosphere as well as the Joker character. I can heartily recommend reading Arkham Asylum and The Killing Joke to those who love The Dark Knight, and vice versa. A good movie is one that leaves you satisfied, but a great movie crawls under your skin. The Dark Knight is one of those movies I can watch over and over again, and I will definitely do that.

My personal tributes to The Dark Knight (copyright Sevensheaven.nl) …

P.S.: You can read my review of a Dark Knight Joker figure by Hot Toys over here.