The Dark Knight

AroView: Christopher Nolan’s follow-up to BATMAN BEGINS pitches Christian Bale’s Batman against Heath Ledger’s lunatic Joker, propelling this blockbuster into less familiar territory: psychological drama.

Basing itself in a more realistic Gotham, with many scenes set during the daytime and a lack of revelry in its (epic and money-soaked) violence, the anarchy on display here mirrors our most pessimistic fears for our future; only the sight of the Batmobile roaring down the freeway reminds us we’re watching a superhero movie. Indeed, less can be said of the action and more of Nolan’s delicate handling of character complexities; even the po-faced Bale manages to evoke sympathy with his struggle to be a ‘hero’.

Ledger’s freewheeling maniac sticks most in the memory, but it’s Aaron Eckhart as Two-Face who truly sums up the film’s themes of confliction, his fallen politician underscoring that even in a world where men run around in tights, nothing is ever black and white.