Movie No. 13: The Dark Knight

One of the things that has seemed remarkably consistent about the recent spate of comic-book superhero films is the placement of the hero front and center.

For better ("Spider-Man 2") or worse ("Spiderman 3"), the three Spidey films were all, at their heart, Peter Parker's story. This year's "Iron Man" succeeds in large part because it keeps its focus squarely on its hero, with Robert Downey Jr.'s performance managing to, if not obscure, then at least outweigh the film's storytelling shortcomings.

Perhaps, therefore, Christopher Nolan's most audacious move in the creation of his second Batman film, "The Dark Knight," wasn't casting Heath Ledger as the joker (obviously a good choice) or jettisoning Katie Holmes (Maggie Gyllenhaal is infinitely better here) but rather in crafting a Batman movie in which Batman is mostly a supporting character.

This film picks up where "Batman Begins" left off. Batman (Christian Bale) might have gotten Carmine Falcone (played by Tom Wilkinson in "Begins") out of the picture, but organized crime is far from dead in Gotham. Others have risen to take his place, including Eric Roberts' Salvatore Maroni, while Detective Gordon (Gary Oldman) and Batman continue to work together to take them down, finding a new ally in crusading district attorney Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart).

Not all crime in Gotham these days is of the organized variety, however. Enter Heath Ledger's anarchic Joker, a man perhaps more dangerous than all of the mobsters put together. Their motive is money, and therefore they are somewhat predictable. The Joker has no such cares. His motive is instilling fear, pure and simple, the sort of fear that can bring out humanity's darker inclinations.

Much of the hype for the film has centered on Ledger because of his untimely death. Something tells me, however, Ledger would have been the center of attention even if he had lived. His performance is simply that good, that scary and, at times, even that comedic (he is, after all, the Joker). I had assumed the "best villain of all time" talk was hyperbole, but after seeing it, he at least has to be in the discussion.

The use of fear as a theme is nothing new for Nolan. It ran throughout "Batman Begins" as well. Here, however, he broadens the scope. This isn't one man's fears. It's a city's. And Nolan wants probe what fear brings, both the good and the bad. And it's not scared of complexity. At one point the hero uses a technique to track the Joker that makes warrantless wiretapping seem more benign than knocking on a suspect's door. On the other hand, it also hints that believing that such a power should exist makes one completely unfit to wield it.

As much as Ledger commands the screen when he's on it, however, more than anything else "The Dark Night" is Harvey Dent's story. Eckhart imbues the prosecutor with a moral clarity that makes the scenes where that certainty is lost all the more tragic. Through him, the movie examines the need for symbols in times of crisis. While both are putting their lives at risk trying to take on Gotham's criminal element, one is more important because of what he can symbolize to people, the hope he can give. It is this realization that gives the movie's ending power.

You almost feel bad for Eckhart. He gives a wonderful performance here, giving Dent passion, swagger and determination, but too often in discussions of the film he goes almost unmentioned. It's too bad. This is the movie's central performance, and it's a darned good one.

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