December 11, 2008
Why The Dark Knight Doesn't Work *Repost*
With all of the hype, marketing and fanboy glee going around, one would think that The Dark Knight is the greatest film of all time. As it turns out, the fanboys honored the film with that exact title over at IMdB.com. Going against this, I've given the film a relatively bad review. Its not a horrible movie, but it is a missed opportunity and a disappointment. It is long winded and has a drifting plot that stumbles to a close.
I thought that I would crack this film open and explain why it doesn't work.
In order to be focused, a story should contain exactly one hero and one villain. This singular hero should have an identifiable and solitary goal which directly conflicts with the goal of our lone villain. Two forces (read two ways of thought), on a collision course - that is the root of a story.
When you have two heroes and/or two villains, or in the case of this film 1½ heroes and 1½ villains, you take what should be the only thread that runs through a story and slice it into at least two branches. This means the story has to go into two different places, meaning it is exactly like trying to drive to two places at once. Since this isn't possible, the storyteller is forced to rush back and forth from the paths to both locations and doesn't get anywhere.
This is the core problem with The Dark Knight - it wants to go too many places.
To clarify, it is possible to have subplots with secondary heroic characters, Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl is a great example of this. The problem of a split narrative comes when a secondary character is promoted into the hero or villain role while the other character is still active. In this film, the hero should be Batman. He's the titular character and he is the guy wearing the black rubber suit. The villain of the film is The Joker. The film should be clear, Batman (representing civilization and order) and The Joker (representing anarchy and disruption) duke it out over Gotham. Where writer/director Christopher Nolan botches the works is the promotion of Harry Dent, Gotham's stalwart district attorney. Dent is dating Rachel, Batman's love interest. He is also rounding up all of the criminals in Gotham. In the film Batman himself sees him as the hero, his replacement. In the narrative he performs this role as well. Nolan focuses a great deal of energy propping up Dent as an heroic figure to the exclusion of Batman. As Dent's fortunes rise Batman is essentially ushered into the background. To alleviate this, Nolan needs to have Batman do something - anything, to appear useful. Otherwise Batman has completely evaporated in his own movie. Nolan fabricates completely unneeded side projects for Batman such as his trip to Hong Kong to kidnap a villainous accountant. This sequence is there simply to show Batman doing his stuff. It doesn't push the story forward, it doesn't add anything to the film's themes. The whole sequence could have occurred at the airport in Gotham and had the same effect in half the time. There is a similar scene at the opening where Batman dispatches Scarecrow and some Russian mob bosses. Again, the scene is completely unnecessary other than showing Batman can kick some butt. In other words, almost every frame showing Batman in the first act is of him doing something that doesn't really impact the plot in a meaningful way. There's the introduction of some key facts, but these could have been made in simpler fashion.
As the story progresses Nolan uses Dent and Lt. James Gordon to fill in the heroic gaps in the story. Since neither the capturing of The Joker, the arrest of the mob bosses, nor the attaining of Rachel's love really falls to Batman to resolve (they're all Dent's problems) Batman is a secondary player. The story needs a hero but Dent isn't big enough to fill this role. Gordon is brought on to co-hero. Between the two, they battle the mob and plot against The Joker and attempt to win public support in the face of terrorism. Batman is left scurrying in the background doing little to help progress any of these plots. When time is spent with either Bruce Wayne or Batman, the scenes are focused on the theme of terrorism and the question if a hero can fight a villain without rules and not become evil in the process. This theme is interesting and works in light of The Joker but The Joker's deeds haven't been dramatic enough to warrant this special attention. Since Nolan spends all his time with Dent, Rachel and Gordon, he's forced to divorce himself from the Batman versus The Joker plot that should be the driving force behind the film.
The proof that Nolan's film is spliced is the duel resolution in the film. The Joker has to confront both heroes separately. He goes to the injured Dent in the hospital. There The Joker mocks Dent's burned face, and explains the chaotic nature of the world. This supposedly lures Dent to evil. Dent then takes revenge on people directly involved in the circumstances that ruined his life, and transforms into the cruel Harvey Two-Face. This makes Dent a tragic hero who loses the fight. The Joker then moves on to Hero #2, Batman. Since there hasn't been a set plot running through the film up to this climax, Nolan is cornered and has to set up an scenario where two boats filled with people are at risk. The theme being played at this point, anarchy versus civilization, hasn't been the direct focus of the film. There have been competing questions such as "what does it take to be a hero", "will the boy get the girl", "can a hero act villainous and remain heroic". Since Nolan has played too many themes and asked too many questions, the main thread running through his climax is suffocated. The anarchy versus civilization theme is shoehorned in and without the support of the rest of the film, this robs Nolan of a tense dramatic arc. When Batman dispatches The Joker there's nothing proven, nothing learned.
This lack of a moral means that The Joker's not really the villain - what? No, its true. The final conflict between the hero and the villain results in a moral being learned. In the case of this film, the lesson being taught comes when Batman overcomes Harvey Two-Face. When Two-Face is killed, Gordon and Batman come to the realization that society needs its heroes even if those heroes are fake. This structural work means that Harry Dent is both the replacement hero and the real villain of the film. Batman and The Joker are mere players in Harvey Dent's tale.
The film would have succeed in its goals if it followed the same path seen in Tim Burton's Batman. That film kept the distractions to a minimum and showcased the conflict between the hero and his nemesis. The Joker is the real star of the show, as the ultimate trickster character, the audience wants to enjoy his deviousness, his clever cruelty. As a trickster, The Joker is the perfect representation of chaos. Against this stands the lawful protector Batman, and as The Joker states in The Dark Knight, this makes them the unstoppable force and the immovable object. They should have kept the story honed in on this conflict. They could have gotten to the same place with far less extra narrative weight. Remember, one hero - one villain - one central question with a single moral to the story. These are they keys to good stories, stories worth telling and worth watching.
I thought that I would crack this film open and explain why it doesn't work.
***Spoiler Warning - you've been warned***
To open, I have a simple message for all of you in Hollywood:
STOP SPLITTING YOUR NARRATIVES.
In order to be focused, a story should contain exactly one hero and one villain. This singular hero should have an identifiable and solitary goal which directly conflicts with the goal of our lone villain. Two forces (read two ways of thought), on a collision course - that is the root of a story.
When you have two heroes and/or two villains, or in the case of this film 1½ heroes and 1½ villains, you take what should be the only thread that runs through a story and slice it into at least two branches. This means the story has to go into two different places, meaning it is exactly like trying to drive to two places at once. Since this isn't possible, the storyteller is forced to rush back and forth from the paths to both locations and doesn't get anywhere.
This is the core problem with The Dark Knight - it wants to go too many places.
To clarify, it is possible to have subplots with secondary heroic characters, Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl is a great example of this. The problem of a split narrative comes when a secondary character is promoted into the hero or villain role while the other character is still active. In this film, the hero should be Batman. He's the titular character and he is the guy wearing the black rubber suit. The villain of the film is The Joker. The film should be clear, Batman (representing civilization and order) and The Joker (representing anarchy and disruption) duke it out over Gotham. Where writer/director Christopher Nolan botches the works is the promotion of Harry Dent, Gotham's stalwart district attorney. Dent is dating Rachel, Batman's love interest. He is also rounding up all of the criminals in Gotham. In the film Batman himself sees him as the hero, his replacement. In the narrative he performs this role as well. Nolan focuses a great deal of energy propping up Dent as an heroic figure to the exclusion of Batman. As Dent's fortunes rise Batman is essentially ushered into the background. To alleviate this, Nolan needs to have Batman do something - anything, to appear useful. Otherwise Batman has completely evaporated in his own movie. Nolan fabricates completely unneeded side projects for Batman such as his trip to Hong Kong to kidnap a villainous accountant. This sequence is there simply to show Batman doing his stuff. It doesn't push the story forward, it doesn't add anything to the film's themes. The whole sequence could have occurred at the airport in Gotham and had the same effect in half the time. There is a similar scene at the opening where Batman dispatches Scarecrow and some Russian mob bosses. Again, the scene is completely unnecessary other than showing Batman can kick some butt. In other words, almost every frame showing Batman in the first act is of him doing something that doesn't really impact the plot in a meaningful way. There's the introduction of some key facts, but these could have been made in simpler fashion.As the story progresses Nolan uses Dent and Lt. James Gordon to fill in the heroic gaps in the story. Since neither the capturing of The Joker, the arrest of the mob bosses, nor the attaining of Rachel's love really falls to Batman to resolve (they're all Dent's problems) Batman is a secondary player. The story needs a hero but Dent isn't big enough to fill this role. Gordon is brought on to co-hero. Between the two, they battle the mob and plot against The Joker and attempt to win public support in the face of terrorism. Batman is left scurrying in the background doing little to help progress any of these plots. When time is spent with either Bruce Wayne or Batman, the scenes are focused on the theme of terrorism and the question if a hero can fight a villain without rules and not become evil in the process. This theme is interesting and works in light of The Joker but The Joker's deeds haven't been dramatic enough to warrant this special attention. Since Nolan spends all his time with Dent, Rachel and Gordon, he's forced to divorce himself from the Batman versus The Joker plot that should be the driving force behind the film.
The proof that Nolan's film is spliced is the duel resolution in the film. The Joker has to confront both heroes separately. He goes to the injured Dent in the hospital. There The Joker mocks Dent's burned face, and explains the chaotic nature of the world. This supposedly lures Dent to evil. Dent then takes revenge on people directly involved in the circumstances that ruined his life, and transforms into the cruel Harvey Two-Face. This makes Dent a tragic hero who loses the fight. The Joker then moves on to Hero #2, Batman. Since there hasn't been a set plot running through the film up to this climax, Nolan is cornered and has to set up an scenario where two boats filled with people are at risk. The theme being played at this point, anarchy versus civilization, hasn't been the direct focus of the film. There have been competing questions such as "what does it take to be a hero", "will the boy get the girl", "can a hero act villainous and remain heroic". Since Nolan has played too many themes and asked too many questions, the main thread running through his climax is suffocated. The anarchy versus civilization theme is shoehorned in and without the support of the rest of the film, this robs Nolan of a tense dramatic arc. When Batman dispatches The Joker there's nothing proven, nothing learned.
This lack of a moral means that The Joker's not really the villain - what? No, its true. The final conflict between the hero and the villain results in a moral being learned. In the case of this film, the lesson being taught comes when Batman overcomes Harvey Two-Face. When Two-Face is killed, Gordon and Batman come to the realization that society needs its heroes even if those heroes are fake. This structural work means that Harry Dent is both the replacement hero and the real villain of the film. Batman and The Joker are mere players in Harvey Dent's tale.The film would have succeed in its goals if it followed the same path seen in Tim Burton's Batman. That film kept the distractions to a minimum and showcased the conflict between the hero and his nemesis. The Joker is the real star of the show, as the ultimate trickster character, the audience wants to enjoy his deviousness, his clever cruelty. As a trickster, The Joker is the perfect representation of chaos. Against this stands the lawful protector Batman, and as The Joker states in The Dark Knight, this makes them the unstoppable force and the immovable object. They should have kept the story honed in on this conflict. They could have gotten to the same place with far less extra narrative weight. Remember, one hero - one villain - one central question with a single moral to the story. These are they keys to good stories, stories worth telling and worth watching.
Labels: Batman, miscellaneous, movie watching tip
posted by Michelle Obama's Left Nut at 12:00 PM
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1 Comments:
Great article. I agree with most of your points. Heath Ledger is so good in this movie, but it's not enough to make the entire movie good. It was just too all over the place.
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