The Dark Knight

As far as superheroes go, Batman is totally nuts. While I am pretty sure this view became the common and popular one in the 80s, I also think that everyone since Bob Kane has thought this about the guy. After all, what kind of guy spends all of his free time either training for or actually fighting criminals in a bat suit? He has no super powers (beyond the incredible), but is just a kind of smart guy who knows how to fight.

In fact, he isn't even a hero in the way that someone like Superman is simply because he is not seen as some sort of angle that is here to protect ourselves. He is a vigilante. He only does what the cops can't do. He can break in and tie people up as gifts for the police. Because of this he can't be totally trusted and with good reason.

That said it wasn't until Frank Miller that this stuff was really seen as important to the Batmythos. But now it is everywhere. Bats is mad at the world. He sees crime and sin and desires something like justice. He desires order and safety. And for this sort of thing ordinary criminals are not enough.

This is where the Joker steps into the modern story. While just about ever other villian in Gotham has a very clear motive for evil, the Joker is only out to be Batman's mirror image. The Joker's past called him to see the world as not something that needs to be fixed, but something that needs to burn. That people fight all the time to just be decent. The Joker thinks the world would be better without that.

The problem comes in when the Joker and Batman begin to become too symbolic for good storytelling. It is always clear why the Joker doesn't just kill Batman; he is not in for the killing but the fun of torture. Yet, why can't Batman kill the Joker. This is a man who is powerful enough to have a bomb put inside another human being, a man who takes joy in watching people die, a man who thinks all of life is one big killing joke.

In Mr. Nolan's newest bat-flick we see this come up near the end of the movie. (None of this is really spoiler-y if you have seen anything about the movie that just came out.) And this keeps the movie's ending from being truly great.

The problem is that Batman is never allowed to truly become dark. There is talk about being a hero or being "something that is needed" in the movie. Yet, he never quite makes it to the point of being what is needed. Maybe this is suppose to be what keeps him from becoming something like the Joker, but it also keeps him from achieving his goals.

Overall, the movie is pretty awesome. The action is not over the top. The acting is good enough. The Joker is scary as all get out. The pieces were all set for Bats to become what I have always though he should be and he missed it by that much.