1. Heath Legder ain't all that
He's been gone a while now, I can say it! With such classics under his belt as 'A Knight's Tale' and '10 Things I Hate About You', Ledger hadn't exactly established himself as a top quality thespian. After his death, everyone seemed move to praise him far more than he deserved. The truth is, Ledger's Joker is the epitome of cliche. His villain goes from joking around to sudden acts of malevolent violence, mumbling and muttering like a crazy person. Its a cookie cutter portrayal of a crazy villain. The only real acting Ledger did was putting on a silly voice for his performance, which has now been parodied ad infinatuim.
2. I saw that coming a mile away
Remember The Big Lebowski? A ringer for a ringer? Now that was a great twist. Those in the Dark Knight..not so much. We watch as main character Gordon allegedly dies, but not once do you the viewer actually believe its true - its the oldest cliche in the book. It doesn't feel shocking when the truth is revealed, it all feels a bit cheap and silly. The same is true when Batman runs to save his gal, only to find Dent tricked him! Everyone but Batman saw it coming. In fact even when the Joker gets captured, its a wonder that not one of Gotham's finest works out its all part of his master plan. And the scene in the building being patrolled by joker-costumed guards standing by the windows. If you've ever seen an action film in your life, you'll know they're the hostages. THEY'RE ALWAYS THE HOSTAGES! Did we learn nothing from Eddie Murphy's Metro? Cliche by itself is forgivable, even enjoyable if done the right way, but The Dark Knight seems to genuinely believe these rehashed ideas are intelligent
3. Horror-cliche silliness
With current trends in horror movies leaning towards overly graphic torture porn, or 'gorenography', its no wonder that some of the silliness of films like the Saw series rubbed off on the Dark Knight.Whilst the torture and gore side is missing, the pointless psychological tests are still present. People having to make impossible choices, with life and death on the line! Oh how exciting. The choice between Rachel and Dent is one, the two ships and two bombs is another. These ideas have led to similar films being considered lowbrow and devoid of ideas, and I don't see why we should treat the Dark Knight any differently
4. Characterisation (or Lack of)
Characters drive films, and there are just too many holes with the Dark Knight. The Joker's past is alluded to but never explored properly, which leaves him short of a real person, and more of an unrealistic panto villain. The comics explored well the connection between Batman and the Joker as two sides of the same psyche, but this never feels properly addressed in the film.
All the back story created with Rachel Dawes in Batman Begins seems to have been forgotten about in The Dark Knight. The connection between her and Bruce never seems real or strong enough, which makes her death seem less tragic, and more boring and meaningless.
The Dent, Dawes, Wayne Love triangle isn't given nearly enough time in the film to develop, its machinations only relating to furthering the plot. This leads to everything feeling very robotic and workmanlike. When Dent eventually becomes Two-Face, the origins plot doesn't feel sufficient enough to explain his transformation
5. Too Much plot spoils the Broth
Creativity is something to be admired, and I do enjoy films which have multiple ideas, themes, plot threads and character quirks going on at the same time. The real trick though is knowing when adding more ideas harms the film, rather than helping it. The Dark Knight proves to be one such cautionary tale. The film's ample running time is crammed full of plot line, and it ends up working against it. It seems the film is unsure of itself when its just the characters talking subtly, and there is no sense of control with the pace because everything is just go go go. Even so, it barely manages to cram in all the plot contrivances, and the truth is, much of the plot serves only to propel the film to its conclusion, rather than expanding on the themes of the film: the lonely hero, the public perception of the superhero, the duality between hero and villain etc etc There are simply too many threads jostling for space, such that none are given the full time to expand and be explored.
If I sound hateful, I'm not (not that much anyway). It's a decent film, its just not as amazing as everyone makes out. The truth is that a cliched, cheesy, copycat film isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it works because it follows a formula, which the audience is subconsciously aware of. There is a satisfaction to that formula playing out, and even fun to be had in revelling in the cliche. The Dark Knight is far too serious and stoic to pull this off, and it wants to copy ideas and use cliches whilst still attempting to maintain originality, which just doesn't work.
