“the dark night” is really dark – and hectic and relentless. after 2 ½ hours of psycho violence and head-spinning action, i was ready for some kind of conclusion, even if evil was going to win the day.
yes, the cinematography and action scenes are top notch and choreographed with impossible precision. yes, heath ledger is truly terrifying as the joker – a great talent whose loss we still mourn. yes, nolan elevates the batman franchise from two-dimensional, comic book caricature to michael mann-like, meticulously crafted thriller. and of course, christian bale, michael caine, gary oldman, morgan freeman and aaron eckhart aren’t too shabby a cast. but there was something missing in the film. it doesn’t have a heart, a center – not even an evil, dark one.
since chaos is what we’re exploring through the twisted mind of the joker, that’s what the film ends up becoming: an endless, torturous, masochistic descent into bedlam, replete with visual disorientation and brusque, jarring sound. i can appreciate the metaphor and its artistic realization but i can’t pretend i enjoyed it.