One of Heath Ledger's final cinematic performances proves not only to be the definitive interpretation of the The Joker, but an improvement on The Batman's archenemy in the comic book movie adaptation, "The Dark Knight."
Ledger's take on the character applies his theory that the only sensible way to live in this world is to introduce chaos to the established order, allowing his opponents and competitors to destroy one another as they fight for control of Gotham City in this intricate and terrifying crime thriller that would be a tragedy if not for a few small victories by the protagonists.
Gotham citizens are divided about The Batman (Christian Bale) taking law enforcement into his own hands. Copycats support him, even try to help out, but everyone else wants him arrested.
Though he is a vigilante, The Batman's ability to operate outside of the law is employed by Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart), the city's new district attorney, who asks him to bring a businessman who fled the country in to the custody of the Gotham City police.
The businessman, Lau (Chin Han), keeps the money of the city's mobsters in his own bank account in Hong Kong and outside of U.S. jurisdiction.
Harvey's plan to take down the mob is to threaten Lau with charges for laundering their money, which would cause him to hand it all over.
His theory is based on the assumption that Lau will not want his business compromised by the appearance of impropriety.
Batman's forces extradition of Lau convinces Gotham's mobsters that he is a substantial threat to their criminal empires that will supersede the law to bring them to justice.
They accept an offer made by The Joker to kill the vigilante in exchange for half their money.
Jonathan Nolan, who wrote the screenplay, improved on this aspect of the story of the comic book on which "The Dark Knight" is based.
In "Batman: The Long Halloween," which was published by DC Comics in the late '90s, The Batman, Harvey and Lt. James Gordon (Gary Oldman) combat the mob by locating their money in a dock warehouse and burning it to ashes, but this aspect of the story compromised Dent's moral scruples. Their strategy in the movie allows The Batman to take all the moral risk and Harvey to remain the virtuous white knight that the citizens of Gotham, including Rachel Dawes (Maggie Gyllenhaal), believe in as a symbol of hope who can lock up the criminals that plague the city.
Rachel not only believes in Harvey, she is romantically involved with the new district attorney.
Though their relationship makes Bruce Wayne jealous, he comes to hopes that Harvey will one day make Gotham a city that does not need The Batman so he can be with Rachel.
Everything is thrown into disarray when The Joker shows up on TV, kills someone and says he will dispose of another person every day until The Batman turns himself into the authorities, utilizing the public's distrust of the vigilante to flush him out. The Joker is never shown killing his victim on TV, but the likely horror of the murder comes off convincingly with the unsettling sound of sadistic laughter after the broadcast goes black.
Every moment throughout the course of trying to stop him is a surprising rush that results in The Joker coming out one step ahead of the best efforts of his opponents. True to the comics, he kills someone very close to the man underneath the mask of The Batman.
Somewhere amid all the delightful chaos is Bruce's struggle to define how far he can go as a crime fighter to stop this seemingly inexorable foe without killing him. He employs some impressive gadgets toward this end, one of which was not noticeably present in "Batman Begins," but it is there.
His dealings with The Joker show Bruce that though The Batman fights for justice, he must be a renegade that surpasses certain moral and legal limitations to serve the greater good.
And a letter from Rachel alludes to an interesting aspect of Bruce's connection to The Batman that may be explored in more detail in a likely sequel.
Bale does his usual best to represent this personal struggle in a two-hour-and-30-minute movie in which he is mostly underneath a mask.
Gyllenhall did the best she could with a limited role meant to illustrate how the almost repressed personality that is Bruce Wayne has feelings that conflict with his decision to dedicate his life to combating crime as The Batman.
Ledger's Joker is the hallmark of "The Dark Knight," particularly in a scene in the Gotham City Police Department in which The Batman roughs him up for information.
The Joker endures the physical abuse, but will not give in because, as he explains, he is an uncompromising menace with no personal ambition other than helping people abandon their personal ethics. His belief is that people are only as good as the arbitrary nature of the world allows them to be.
Suffice it to say that for this reason he also believes in Harvey.
Unlike in the comics, Ledger's Joker not only maintains he is not crazy, he comes off as though he is more enlightened than people because of a lack of moral constraints.
He explains in one scene how he knows his victims better than close friends because of how they choose to struggle for their lives moments before their deaths.
"Would you like to know which of them were cowards?" he says to antagonize a policeman.
How Ledger's Joker stands out from past interpretations is that he is not a completely over-the-top villain spouting out clown cliches and killing hoards of random people.
When this The Joker is about to kill someone, he is hysterically giddy, but he is nonchalant when everyone around him go nuts as a result of disastrous events that he sets into motion. Not a minute goes by when his actions or their aftermath let moviegoers sit easy.
Though this Joker denies planning things out, none of his murders are pointless. His victims are either a means to an end or in his way. In either event, he has no remorse in surgically implanting a bomb into the stomach of a deranged man or using the head of a mob henchman to make a pencil disappear in a sadistically amusing way.
Like in the comics, The Joker provides conflicting, probably false accounts about his past, particularly about his father, wife and how he attained the scars that form the macabre smile on his face. These stories serve as a convenient segue from when he spots his victims to the unsettling moments before he uses his knife to cut into their bodies.
As for Harvey, Eckhart portrays the character as an all-American no-nonsense maverick who is willing to do whatever he has to within the limits of the law, including disarming and knocking out an assailant in court, to serve justice.
He is the college jock everyone likes because he is willing to expose himself to physical harm from his opponents, which in this case are criminals and corrupt cops he imprisons, in the course of getting the job done.
Harvey's strong desire for justice is what ultimately drives him over the edge after a lot of personal misfortune, including the mutilation of his face.
What detracts from this great movie is a prolonged conversation between The Batman and Gordon during the last few minutes, which was likely included to make sense of all the tragic events that happened, but it lingers on so long that it only serves as a lackluster ending.
Popcorn rating:(5 out of 5 pieces)
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