Mini-Review: The Dark Knight Redux

While I'm on the topic of Batman, I should mention that I caught The Dark Knight for a second time last night. I stand by most of my previous review. The film is brilliantly put together; there was no point where I found myself thinking "Boy, I could really go for some popcorn." Heath Ledger's performance is just as dynamite on second viewing. The explosions are still huge and billowing, the chases are still adrenaline-pumping, and the mood is still one of gloomy grandeur.

The only complaint I had was one of plot rather than production. Over and over again, the Joker says he's a force for anarchy. "Do I look like a guy with a plan to you?" he asks; the fact that he's wearing a nurse's uniform when he says this pretty much provides the answer. Everyone says the Joker is a force of chaos. Harvey Dent says it, Bruce Wayne says it, and Alfred tells a rambling war story proving it. And the Joker is plenty chaotic, shooting his own thugs, flipping 18-wheelers like micro machines, etc., etc.

Why, then, is anarchy personified such a meticulous plotter? The Joker's planning borders on the comically precise. He pulls off a heist with such brilliant timing that he knows the exact second the getaway car (or, in this case, getaway schoolbus) will show up. He orchestrates two murders with a convoluted plot involving DNA swabs, poison drinks, faux policemen, and a car bomb. He even manages to turn two ferries into floating bombs by filling them with barrels of oil--and he does all this while he's supposedly on the run from the cops!

Is the Joker a trickster god or a Bond villain in makeup? It's something I couldn't get over and it lingered like an itch in the back of my head throughout most of the movie. So: great movie, but I'm not so sure about the Joker's modus operandi.