Wired Cola

Michael Wood turns in this review of The Dark Knight, and to my mind it is interesting and right in many ways. It's understanding of The Joker is one I wish I'd written. Also, virtually every paragraph beyond this one (plus also, Wood's review) is rife with spoilers, so you have been warned.

However, notwithstanding some nuance of this iteration of Batman that I might have missed by not seeing Batman Begins, the thing that interested me about Batman's moral commitment to not killing is how wrong-headed it was.

In the crucial scene for me, The Joker is standing in the middle of the street, shooting innocent bystanders in cars. Batman, aboard his armed-with-machine-guns motorcycle, is a block or so away. He starts riding towards The Joker at full speed, as Mr. Joker continues his killing spree.

In the words of Scott Evil, "I have a gun. In my room." There isn't a moral code on the planet aside from lunatic pacifism that says you can't shoot a murderer in the middle of a murder-spree. Most moral codes would pin a medal on your chest and send you home in time for dinner. Well, minus the paperwork. There's always paperwork with this sort of thing.

Aside from that, I was fascinated by the idea of The Joker in this film, which posits him as some sort of super-powerful god of chaos, a malevolent Loki come to life, a psychotic experimentalist fascinated by the limits of human behavior.

It's a delectable role, and yeah, I guess Heath Ledger did it well.

Unfortunately, the writers ruin the fun to some extent by making him too powerful. Not without reason do I describe him as having god-like powers. Gregg Easterbrook, in his 2008 NFC team preview, deftly demolishes the more absurd plot holes that The Joker manufactures. There's really no acceptable explanation other than god-like powers.

So The Joker is interesting, but impossible. The Batman is barely possible, but ridiculous. Michael Caine plays Michael Caine playing Alfred the Butler. And everyone else was either minor or forgettable.

Watch it once because Heath Ledger's Joker is so horribly watchable. Don't bother watching it twice.