The Dark Knight trilogy was something that I always wanted to avoid acknowledging, because I had a very specific image of Batman burned into my subconscious as I grew up – not the edgy, grimdark character but the weird camp chap seen in the live-action TV series and the excellent animated cartoons. And I knew that I was at fault and that the Dark Knight trilogy would do nothing for me, right? I mean, how can you go from a daytime kids’ cartoon where nothing gruesome can be shown and no foul language can warp the minds of the young to… well, these films? For so long, I held this preconception that the films would have zero sense of fun because they’re to be taken seriously by dedicated followers of the comic books – sorry, graphic novels. That said, I decided to put my predujices aside and take out online rentals of each of the three films over the past few weeks (I watched Begins on February 24th, TDK on February 28th, and Rises on March 6th.)
The grit of the Dark Knight trilogy
And, to be honest, a lot of the stuff in the films is quite gritty and violent. The bad guys truly seem unstoppable at times, and even outside of the headline villains there are people who seem unspeakably corrupt – people who will lower themselves to all manner of misdeeds. However, the films all share one common theme that stops them from being too edgy – they revel in absurdity. You see, the Dark Knight trilogy indulges in darkness and corruption and violence and death, but the scale and spectacle of what goes on creates some distance – away from a disturbing portrayal of intimate violence, and closer towards an excessive fireworks display of explosions, with crowds of people running riot. The excess isn’t limited to chaos either; every time Batman descends into the Bat-Cave you’re hoping for a display of the brand new toys that he might get to play with later on in the film – shiny gadgets that nobody questions because, well, they’re watching a Batman film. Meanwhile the villainy on display is closer to something like Robocop, where crime is carried out in such extreme ways that you can’t help but raise an eyebrow.
Edgy but silly
In embracing the fantastical characters and extreme corruption, the Dark Knight trilogy treads the line between morose bleakness and silly escapism, and I expected it to stray much more towards the former throughout the three films. Then again, how can you be completely bleak and straight-faced when you see things like the Batmobile soaring from a parking garage to land on a rooftop? I spent some time offline talking to a colleague about my recent ongoing journey through the Dark Knight trilogy and I mentioned that I expected it to be more edgy and grim – she told me not to worry, and that I would get more grimness (is that a word?) in the latter films. However, I think she missed my point: I expected a sullen and dull atmosphere but got something a lot better. I’d probably still prefer to watch the live-action TV show or the animated series because they take the silliness to a whole new level, but the three films seem to get the balance between silly and edgy just about right.
The Dark Knight Trilogy: moody fun
Would I watch them again? Probably – now that I know that they don’t take themselves too seriously I’m kind of relieved. (Then again, that would involve multiple permanent purchases after I already made multiple rental purchases, so… ouch.) The point is, I expected the trilogy to offer at least one moody detective thriller that was too concerned about being grounded in an authentic criminal underworld to have any fun. This never ended up happening, and I’m glad it didn’t. If you have any recommendations for movies outside of this trilogy that I can look into, let me know in the comments below.
If you want to read more of our Batman-related ramblings, click here. All of my viewings were made possible through Prime Video rentals.