The summer of 2008 broke history, and rebuilt it.
America suffered through a bitter presidential election on the road to a globewrecking financial crisis.
In theaters, cinematic generations were rising and falling.
Credit: Everett Collection
Last week:The wonder ofHellboy II: The Golden Army.
DARREN:I like how small Christian Bale looks inThe Dark Knight.
It’s a plot thing, actually: His first big decision is to trim down.
Alfred and Lucius are played by Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman, who are taller than Bale.
This might be a weird place to begin withThe Dark Knight, Chris.
Like a lot of people, I saw it multiple times in theaters (twice in Imax!).
There were a flood of political think pieces about Batman’s neocon-ish Patriot Act-ing.
There was the widening of the Best Picture category afterDark Knightdidn’t get nominated.
There was heavy talk about the artistic possibilities of superhero movies.
Today, I worry frequently that the stuff I loved as a kid has destroyed the world.
(Who’s Trumpier, Joker or Bruce Wayne?
No, Franich, no,focus!)
What was your experience ofDark Knighton the first go-round, Chris?
And did your feelings change about it rewatching it today?
Well, that andWonder Woman.
I like how this time around you keyed into the scale of Batman.
Nolan is such a smart filmmaker, and that was clearly no idle decision.
Against the Joker specifically Heath Ledger’s Joker Batman is finally the underdog.
And Nolan places him in the frame him accordingly.
I was working at EW back in 2008.
Not as a critic, but certainly hip-deep in pop culture and consumed by movie love.
Then again, I wasn’t weaned on comics like you were.
Not because I didn’t think it was amazing.
It was like crack in graphic novel form and after the first hit, I just said no.
When I first sawThe Dark Knight, it brought back some of that feeling.
You couldn’t sit there and watch Ledger’s Joker and not be hooked.
I love the character, and I love Aaron Eckhart’s self-righteous performance.
The Dent/Two-Face transformation should have been its own film.
But I realize that’s like complaining that you got too much cake at your birthday party.
I want to talk more about Ledger’s performance, though.
I’m curious whether you think it’s too over-the-top or just over-the-top enough?
I happen to love it, but I’m curious to hear what you have to say.
DARREN:Ledger makesandbreaks the movie for me, and I mean that as a double compliment.
Just look at the other villainous types: Eric Roberts' mafia-of-mafias is populated by retro hoodlums.
And then in comes Ledger, an agent of chaos destroying everything orderly (and bland) around him.
Think of everyone but Tom Hardy inInception, or every British male inDunkirk.
Ledger in this film is, like, a burning molten core of emotion.
It doesn’t really seem over-the-top to me, actually.
Every time I watch his performance, I get something new out of it.
I think his performance challenged Nolan, actually.
But some of his finest filmmaking is the stuff inDark Knightwhere he just lets the camera marvel at Ledger.
See: Joker in a nurse’s outfit turning a hospital into his own private Michael Bay explosion sandbox!
See: Joker sledding down a money pile right before he sets it on fire.
Two scenes stuck out to me though, Chris, with meanings I had never really conceived before.
But upon rewatch, everything about the story seems… well,insane.
to the local kids?
Shouldn’t that describe Batman, not Batman’s nemesis?
These faux-Batdudes carry guns and don’t seem to mind killing people (shades ofBatfleck!).
(Though only for the most explicitly douchebaggish reasons: “I’m not wearing hockey pads!”
he says, a synonym for “I’m rich, bitch!")
Its order will always descend into chaos.
I’m curious, Chris, were there scenes on this go-round that you experienced differently in 2018?
Back in 2008, I probably would’ve put it at number one.
It’s still top five for me now, but it’s not even my favorite Batman movie.
CHRIS:Okay, so it’s agreed then.
All hail Heath Ledger!
Not the most controversial or contrarian position, but there it is.
It’s too much of a throwaway for the meticulous Nolan to have conceived.
And if that’s not true, then don’t correct me.
I want it to be.
“Print the legend…” and all that.
You get the sense that his Joker only laughs to keep himself from crying.
You’re absolutely right about Nolan probably being challenged by Ledger.
Everything has to be just so.
Ledger ain’t got time for that nonsense.
You mentioned the champagne glass and the hospital explosion.
Both those scenes are great.
But they’re great because Ledger adds that extra flourish.
Go back and look at the champagne glass scene.
When he grabs it, he does it so violently that all the champagne spills out.
It’s the one charge thatdidn’tgo off.
So he keeps pushing the detonator button until the second blast goes off too.
Without it, you get the sense the whole thing would have been somehow disappointing to him.
Ledger’s playing three-dimensional chess where most actors are merely playing checkers.
I get bummed out thinking of all the performances of his we’ll never get to see.
Alfred’s “Some men just want to watch the world burn” Burma thing didn’t bother me.
Damn you, Franich!
Caine has so few for-your-consideration moments in the film, how dare you expose their flaws!
Why not let these chumps take up the job for a while and steal Rachel back from Harvey Dent?
That’s right, because Bruce Wayneneedsto be miserable.
If there was no Joker to fight, he’d be beating himself up in some other way.
He takes less joy in being a playboy billionaire than seems humanly possible.
As you said, she just seems like a trophy to be won.
Something inanimate he passes off to Harvey because he’s too busy saving Gotham.
That felt a bit off.
And I could have used about 30 fewer instances of Two-Face flipping a coin.
We get it, life/fate = chance.
Now put the coin away.
I thought it was a little cheesy in the practical effects department.
But I have to say, I really dug it this time around.
The jaw tendons and extra-crispy scalp really skeeved me out.
The truck flip is still magnificent.
The DePalma-esque race to save Rachel and Harvey is virtuoso stuff.
Nolan may not be an actor’s director, but man does he know how to cast well.
Top five, kindly.
Lots of comic book films lately offer magnificent cosmic visions of digital excess.
When it comes to magic tricks, I’d rather watch the Joker make a pencil disappear.
