Brilliantly Dark

The Spectator’s own Wiki Man, Rory Sutherland, and I spent yesterday evening at the BFI Imax near Waterloo watching a preview of The Dark Knight. Very rarely is it genuinely true to say that a movie is astonishing. But no other word will do justice to this film.

To describe The Dark Knight as the latest in the (famously uneven) Batman franchise simply does not explain what this film aspires to be and to do. If the splendid Iron Man was a pitch perfect blend of high camp and high tech – the superhero flick at its best – this is something altogether different. Christopher Nolan uses every technique available to him in the modern cinematic palette to make this a relentless assault on the senses – and one that is overwhelming in the Imax format. Christian Bale as Batman, Michael Caine as Alfred and Gary Oldman as Commissioner Gordon are all excellently cast.

But it is not the CGI or the top-of-the-range cast that makes this film what it is. Spookily, disconcertingly, and quite magnificently, this is Heath Ledger’s film. His performance as The Joker so totally dwarves Jack Nicholson’s in the first Batman film (1989) that the comparison seems absurd almost instantly. One is quickly aware that one is watching one of the great screen portrayals of psychosis ever: up there with Norman Bates, Hannibal Lecter and Nosferatu. The emotional colours in which Ledger paints are uncompromisingly grim and his brushstrokes are both flawless and vicious. It is a performance of almost unbearable power and perfection. It makes horribly symmetrical sense that it was Ledger’s last pas de deux with his art before his death.

Bale is a good foil but this film is not a dialogue. It is a dazzling exploration of madness and badness in which form and content are fused beautifully: it confirms Nolan’s status as the most exciting director of his generation.

It is a rare moment indeed that the Wiki Man and I are lost for words but last night, we most definitely were. Go see – if you dare.