THE DARK KNIGHT is an artistic, well plotted, visually sumptuous superhero film. It straddles the line between art and commerce as well as any studio executive or casual moviegoer could hope. It is a bit too long and somewhat preachy at times but it's extremely engaging and very inventive. It strikes chords of hope amidst the dissonant sounds of cynicism, cruelty and chaos. From a film making stand point it's a success on it's own. And then there is Heath Ledger.
Ledger's performance is a revelation. Ledger has created the single best arch villain performance in recent memory. He does it by endowing his character with a sense of immediacy of thought and action that is utterly believable while fitting securely into a two dimensional world of metaphor and superhero convention. Every line Ledger delivers feels credibile. Whether he is lying through his teeth about how he got his hideous facial scars or explaining his criminal "raison d'etre" to a sorrow filled and bed ridden district attorney, we hang on every word he says and we go there with him. This is not played for camp. This is played straight and with a sense of pain that is not self-indulgent. This bleakness gives way to the best camp of all. The kind that comes out of darkness. We follow Ledger when he is torturing innocents or swigging champagne. We laugh at his jokes when we should not. We like him even though he is vile.
We respect and like The Batman too but The Batman is a means to an end (the movie says this outright). He is a tool through which society can correct itsself but he is not viable in the long term. He is temporary and somehow non-human. The Joker, however, is alive and in the moment. He's like the shark in Jaws. He acts from beyond traditonal financial and ego driven motivations. He kills, and terrifies, and makes us snicker at the idea of sentimentality. He simply is. It makes no sense but that is what great villians do. They leave the hero broken and they test our loyalty and our sense of self-righteousness. This is what he does to The Batman as well.
Why do we fall? In order to learn to pick ourselves back up, as Alfred (Michael Caine) says. In THE DARK KNIGHT this is precisely what happens. A great villain causes a hero to fall. We do not see him pick himself back up. We only know that he must continue to fight. And this is compelling though disturbing. It makes for good drama. We know he will continue until he can no longer do so. And this two dimensional characterization of the struggle between good and evil (told through the use of comic book characters) shows us that evil can be compelling and simultaneously that there are no true heroes that can survive indefinitely. And yet, we are told to continue the fight. It is a lesson we will forget. But Ledger's performance will be remembered. Even with all the fanfare, the performance is still underrated. It is doubtful Ledger will get the credit he deserves. And that's a shame because he could have been a real contender. In time, he could have developed into one of the great ones.