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THE DARK KNIGHT Midnights This Weekend at The Tivoli

By Tom Stockman | May 14, 2017

“You either die a hero or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain.”

In 2008, Christopher Nolan did something no other Batman film director could ever do – he made a darker film than Tim Burton. Burton’s over-the-top, circus-like direction in his two Batman films, while albeit dark, isn’t anywhere near as dark and gritty as THE DARK KNIGHT.

Let’s start with the Joker first off. Heath Ledger outclassed Nicholson in this role (see CHINATOWN at the Tivoli Wednesday night for quintessential Jack). This isn’t the prim and proper Joker that Nicholson displayed – this Joker is a force of nature that plays by absolutely no rules except his own twisted moral code. He cares more about chaos and mayhem more than he would ever care about money or fame. He lives off the fear of the populace. Nicholson’s obsession with the Batman had more to do with him creating the Joker, versus a twisted and depraved fascination with Batman being the symbol of hope for a doomed city. Turning the Joker into a bona fide terrorist fit the post-911 world. Nicholson’s Joker was more preoccupied with settling personal vendettas than being a terrorist, which means that his Joker isn’t near as fascinating.

Likewise, Two-Face in this film, as played by Aaron Eckhart, is more in line with Nicholson’s Joker this time around. His existence in this film is purely about personal vendettas, though he’s largely overshadowed by the Joker. Harvey Dent in the film was a good idea to move Batman’s story along, but Two-Face was not the star attraction of THE DARK KNIGHT.

All the stars here seemed to know what was at stake with THE DARK KNIGHT, so they give it their all. Even with Heath Ledger out of the equation, the performances are fine. Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman really do take advantage of their supporting roles in the film, and use the limited screen time they have to make an impact. Christian Bale did another fine job as the freewheeling playboy as well.Too bad the next and final Nolan Batman, THE DARK KNIGHT RISES (2012) failed to live up to this one.