The Dark Knight (2008)

Christopher Nolan reprises his role as director. This sequel presents another villain from the comics, The Joker, who already made his appearance in Tim Burton's version but chooses to adhere to his scary personality from the comics. In addition, we are given the real Two-Face who has been in need of a desperate reboot after an embarrassing screen-time on Batman Forever.

 

So what what does the Joker have in mind? He wants control of the mob of Gotham, and he wants to run crime his way. But one thing which he has been elaborately scheming all the while, is to bring down Harvey Dent. District-Attorney Harvey Dent has been scoring points rounding up mobsters, sending them to prison, and making his field day in court. The Batman thinks Dent can pull it off without a mask or cape and cowl, and wishes to retire and let Dent do the real crime-fighting. Besides, Dent is the inspiration Gotham deserves, and Batman does not accept the emergence of copycat vigilantes donning mock Bat costumes.

 

The Joker may be called a freak, but he devises his most brilliant plan. This writing sounds familiar, as though derived from the previous movies Batman Returns and Batman Forever:  the villains break the hero by turning him into the thing he hates most, and then manipulating the very thing he loves most. The Batman notes that should this scheme come to pass, "all the criminals he [Dent] put away will be released, and Lieutenant Gordon's death will be for nothing."

The brilliant writing from previous movies to adapt the story in this movie has been well implemented to reboot these villains into the ones from the comics. One other characteristic of Two-Face most radically restored, is his "game of chance". He flips his coin and accepts its outcome, as opposed to the Schumacher movie where he flips it continually until he gets the result he desires. Though unlike Burton's movie, this movie does not explicitly explain The Joker's origin: instead of falling into a vat of chemicals, The Joker is just a criminal who scarred his face due to a bad father and his impact on his adulthood. I presume that the Joker's back-story has already been adequately explained in Tim Burton's movie, and so would not be necessary for this movie. 

 

It is also tragic to hear that Bruce Wayne's one and only love interest Rachel has revealed her love for Dent, and has shocked Alfred before Wayne himself. It was a thoughtful idea to never tell Wayne yet as this could have crippled his spirit as well. Well done, Alfred, for burning that letter.

This movie also goes the length to demonstrating the Joker's near-death: similar to the climax in Batman (1989), the Joker is hung upside-down with a zip wire but does not plummet to his death. The funny thing about the Joker is that killing the Batman would be futile as he sees it as "fun". On the other hand, Batman proves himself to be the type who does not believe in vigilante justice by letting the Joker hang on for dear life, rather than letting him drop to his death.

 

So Nolan scores another distinction for redefining Harvey Dent/Two-Face and The Joker. Let's not forget the professional writing, plot, action scenes, atmosphere, solid and well-executed acting, and consistent recasting of actors from the previous movie, despite running time exceeding two and a half hours. This movie has had several memorable quotes noted and posted on various media, notably the Joker's tagline "Why So Serious?", which has been printed on his facial image on Facebook.