Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight is one of those before/after films; it changed how people viewed the superhero/comic-book movie sub-genre. While I'll be the first to admit I feel it perhaps gets put too high on a pedestal, I can't deny what an absorbing and affecting experience it was back in 2008 when it first premiered. It certainly connected to people apart from just featuring a popular character. It wasn't even the first Batman film ever made or the first Batman film of the modern era- it was the sequel to Nolan's previous Batman Begins (2005). But there was something about it, emotionally, thematically that made it one of the most successful films of the decade, both critically and financially. That it featured actor Heath Ledger's final completed performance played a part but I would argue it was also tthe film was something most summer blockbusters weren't and still aren't- it was an epic tragedy- the tragedy of Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart)- his transformation from idealistic lawyer to revenge-fuelled killer. While tragedy is inherent to many superheroes and even their nemeses, The Dark Knight isn't about the birth of a super-villain. Two-Face is not a beginning in Nolan's universe but an end. As a result of Batman (Christian Bale) saving Jim Gordon's (Gary Oldman) young son from Dent, Dent is pushed to his death. This Two-Face isn't going to be robbing banks or teaming up with the Riddler. He's dead and the survivors have to deal with what to do next.
Nolan made a smart choice in structuring the film around Dent's downfall. Another film would have j had Dent in a supporting role, setting him up to be Two-Face in the sequel, which I think people presumed was the route the filmmakers were going. But Nolan decided to make Dent the main focus of the film, with his transformation being a product of the Joker's machinations. Nolan's approach to the character was influenced by Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale's The Long Halloween, which served as a Two-Face origin story and- like The Dark Knight- is a crime epic.
Bruce Wayne/Batman and Dent are paralleled throughout the film, with Gordon referring to Dent as ''Gotham's White Knight'' in contrast to Batman being the titular ''Dark Knight.'' Bruce believes Dent is the future of Gotham and Batman's presence will soon be irrelevant. He cleaned up the city without wearing a mask or working outside the law. But Dent has a dark and violent side, which we see when he's interrogating Thomas Schiff (David Dastmalchian), who works with the Joker, putting a gun to his head. Batman says everything Dent has accomplished would be undone if people knew Dent was threatening a suspect. All his convictions would be thrown out. Batman can exist outside the law but Dent has to work within its boundaries. If Batman is Bruce channelling his inner rage for good, the Dent we see in this scene as Two-Face, is the manifestation of all Dent's worst attributes. Batman is a mask that Bruce can hide behind but Dent doesn't have that luxury.
Throughout his trilogy Nolan always attempted to contexualize Batman in a semi-realistic world and ask what his role would be in a modern urban society. Bruce feeling he can soon quit being Batman reflects how a real-wold Batman would view himself. The way comics are designed, Batman is always perpetually a man in his late thirties, with a seemingly endless crusade against crime. Comic characters never really end but in the context of this universe Batman is only a short-term solution. There's no Justice League or threat of alien invasions, there's no Mr. Freeze or Poison Ivy. Bruce won't be a young man forever. Even Dent says Batman can't fight crime the rest of his life. Bruce puts his faith in Dent and the idea of law and order without the presence of a masked vigilante. Bruce also wants a future with childhood friend with whom he fell in love, Rachel Dawes (Maggie Gyllenhaal, replacing Batman Begins' Katie Holmes.), who is now dating Dent.
This optimistic future is thrown in disarray due to the Joker's presence, who operates outside the rules of conventional criminality, someone who can't be taken down by conventional means. What I love about the film is how it connects the Joker and Dent in a way I don't think was ever done in the comics. The standard Two-Face origin has mobster Sal Maroni (played in this film by Eric Roberts) throw acid in Dent's face, disfiguring him. While the film makes a nods towards that origin, it made sense to alter the origin to make Dent's transformation the logical extension of Joker's philosophy, which is that everyone is corruptible. After the Joker is successfully captured, Dent and Rachel are kidnapped by the crooked cops on Gordon's squad, strapped to explosives in separate locations. They're allowed to talk to each other, a very cruel touch. Joker tells Batman where they're both located but tricks Batman in to going to Dent's location, thinking it's Rachel's. Batman saves Dent but the police are too late to save Rachel.
This altered origin functions as another parallel of Dent and Batman. Dent was helpless to save Rachel just as Bruce was helpless to save his parents from being murdered when he was a child. The difference is that Bruce created Batman as a means using tragedy and fear to do good. Dent, on the other hand, gives in to despair and rage, seeking revenge against those who wronged him. In Batman Begins, Bruce also started out wanting revenge against his parents' killer, Joe Chill. He even had a gun and was ready to kill him until Chill was killed because he testified against a mob boss. It was actually Rachel who made Bruce reconsider his motivations. Now it's her death that sends Dent on his path of vengeance
I'm reminded of Alan Moore's graphic novel The Killing Joke, in which the Joker says one bad day is enough to make anyone exactly like him. In that story the Joker shoots Barbara Gordon, paralizing her. He uses this horrific act to push her father Commissioner Gordon in to insanity. I'd put forward The Dark Knight is The Killing Joke on a larger scale, with the soul of Gotham at the verge of complete anarchy.
It makes sense in the context of this universe that Joker would be the creator of Two-Face. This isn't a universe where super-villains pop up separate from each other; Dent's fate had to be a result of the Joker. Joker and Dent only share one scene together in the hospital. It's where Joker converts Dent to his philosophy of chaos. It was revealed earlier Dent's coin was two-headed. Dent made his own luck. Rachel had it when she died, resulting in it becoming scarred. When Dent first wakes up in the hospital he sees the coin and believes briefly Rachel could still be alive. It's seeing the scarred side which makes Dent realize Rachel is truly gone. This is the true birth of Two-Face.
Dent understands he can't control things. Despite his good intentions, he lost everything. Chance and fate have more power over your life than a rigged coin. To Harvey the coin represents how he views the world now, driven by chance and chaos. But as Batman says, Rachel's death wasn't chance. It was a result of Batman, Dent and Gordon's actions together. But Dent asks why he lost everything, not understanding Batman is Bruce. Dent believes it's only fair one of the Gordons should die.
However, Dent is still the one pulling the trigger. He has the choice not too but doesn't take it, which leads to his death. But Batman doesn't lose his faith in what Harvey represented or he was. He turns Dent's scarred face over to the good side. He decides to take the fall for Dent's crimes. This to me is the logical extension of the real world Batman idea. If Batman was not to retire (which he does in The Dark Knight Rises) he would to be something more complicated and ambiguous than a hero, super or otherwise. A man like Dent's reputation would supersede Batman's. The film says Batman can never be Dent, despite his good intentions.
Dent lived to see himself to become the villain but what he represented is worth preserving. Dent became a crucial part of Nolan's Batman mythology and I'd argue a more significant than he is in the comics. Eckhart gives an underrated performance, working overtime to give Dent's downfall a Shakespearean grandeur while still grounding his performance in reality. The tragedy of Harvey Dent is why I believe- beyond just Ledger's performance- The Dark Knight is one of the- if not most admired superhero film of all time.
P.S. I still don't know how he got that burnt jacket but I can forgive it.
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