MESSAGE IN THE MOVIES

The Dark Knight Rated PG-13

Directed by Christopher Nolan .  Starring Christian Bale, Heath Ledger.

Photo © Warner Bros.Pictures
Movie Review by Rev. Bruce Batchelor Glader

Does anyone remember the days when you could open up a comic book or read the newspaper funny pages and actually find something amusing or funny?  To quote the Joker, “Why So Serious?” It is now almost seven years since the falling of the Twin Towers, but I feel as if our filmmakers are still reeling from the aftershocks of senseless violence.  Whether my theory holds up or not (after all, writer-director Nolan is British, and they have had to face terrorism for decades), here is “No Country for Old Men” for the comic book crowd, with a demented villain who kills people without remorse.  Heath Ledger’s Joker is a terrifying figure and damaged goods to be sure, but we never really get to know the story behind his evil.  He tells one tale about how his mouth was sliced open as a child, but then changes the story every time he tells it.  Batman has his hands full in this sequel to 2005’s Batman Begins.  Gotham City is still one of the most depraved metropolitan areas in America, with corruption and double-dealing on every corner.  Vigilantes are copying Batman’s costume, but not showing the restraint that the real hero tries to practice.  And then, there’s the Joker, dedicated to create wholesale anarchy.  Batman’s relationship with Rachel (played this time by Maggie Gyllenhaal) is up in the air, and handsome D.A. Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart) is also a crusader who is capturing her attention.  Everything is this film is dark, dismal and disturbing and inappropriate for children as well as adults who are expecting a jolly escape to the picture show.  There are some moments of moral redemption, although they come from other characters than Batman (who is kind of a stiff in this film).  The movie doesn’t leave us with total despair, but no one’s leaving the theater wanting to be Batman, either. 

Pitchfork Rating: Three halos. (There is some moral depth to this dark vision, but it comes rather late to the party.) Five pitchforks. (Relentless, meaningless cruelty and death are dealt out unsparingly, pushing the limits of a PG-13 film to the max.)

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