No joke: “Dark Knight” is best of its kind

If you’re one of the few people left in America who hasn’t seen “The Dark Knight,” go ahead… If you’re one of the few people left in America who hasn’t seen “The Dark Knight,” go ahead and believe everything you’ve heard. Forget this summer’s popcorn-fueled slew of iron men and hulk smashes – this is one for the ages. Director Christopher Nolan and his superb cast so faithfully capture the essence of Batman’s increasingly dark mythology that the film transcends the connotations of its genre and secures its place as not only a superb comic book movie, but as one of the best films in recent memory.

At two and a half hours long, “The Dark Knight” is certainly a lot of a good thing, but never too much. Instead, its twisted story of the boundaries of morality has just enough room to breathe. Other movies with comic book origins – including “Batman Begins” – embrace the formula of their printed source material: short, tight narratives punctuated with pulse-raising fight scenes and a climactic knock-down-drag-out fight between good and evil. “The Dark Knight” works slowly and precisely and is, at times, unapologetically tense.

“Do you know why I use a knife?,” asks the Joker (Heath Ledger). “Guns are too quick. You can’t savor all the little emotion.” No kidding. This movie delights in twisting the knife, almost as nihilistic in its ambitions as Ledger’s clown prince of crime. The character has evolved from merry prankster to sadistic chaos junkie, reflecting the mythology’s own maturation out of technicolor shark repellent into a legitimate crime saga.

Life in Gotham City has certainly been better. The mobs are still running the show, even if District Attorney Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart) is wrestling away their grip on the city. Copycat Batmen are popping up everywhere, attempting to use lethal force on the criminal underworld. Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) is still sneaking around the city dressed like a bat, punching out criminals and stitching himself up in his basement.

Then the Joker appears – an anarchist with a face covered in clown makeup, cracking and peeling to reveal the deep scars and madness it so sloppily masks.

In “Batman Begins,” the bad guys wanted to watch Gotham City tear itself apart. The Joker wants the same thing, but not by pumping it full of fear toxin – he wants to destroy order all by himself and watch people embrace the anarchy he’s created. The way his plan unfolds is at once horrifying and a thrill.

Ledger’s Joker is a bomb without a timer – unpredictable, even terrifying to sit and watch, but you’ll never take your eyes off of him. Every time he’s off screen, the sense of dread that he might reappear is unshakeable. His character’s presence in the film is almost overwhelming – he captivates you so thoroughly that when he’s gone from the screen, you can’t wait for him to return.

Will Ledger win an Oscar for the role? Well, maybe. If he does, it won’t be for sentimentality over his too-short career, it will be for creating one of the most unsettling and compelling villains imaginable. Though some other fan favorites make appearances, the Joker steals the show.

Naturally, though, a movie that is so strongly dominated by the presence of a nihilist is a downer. This is long, gritty and intense. It goes to dark, emotionally wired places that the franchise has only tapped in stories like “The Killing Joke” and “Arkham Asylum.”

If there is one danger in believing everything you’ve heard about “The Dark Knight,” it’s in not understanding the scope of the production. Ledger’s performance is career defining, but the movie doesn’t fall on his shoulders alone. An emotionally rich script and a cast that manages to keep up with Ledger make this movie far better than any one performance in it – Bale and Eckhart leave comic book coyness behind, embracing not the potential for camp in their characters, but the troubled psyches that drive good men to do bad things.

This is a film that doesn’t please only fans of Batman or even of comic books – it is one that will thrill and captivate all audiences, though it might not delight them.

It’s lightning in a bottle – a film that stands alone so well that its predecessor is virtually irrelevant, and its likely successor might struggle to measure up.