The Dark Knight (Rifftrax)

Film Year:  2008
Genre:  Superhero, Action, Crime, Drama
Director:  Christopher Nolan
Starring:  Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Michael Caine, Gary Oldman, Aaron Eckhart, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Morgan Freeman
Rifftrax Year:  2008
Riffers:  Michael J. Nelson, Kevin Murphy, Bill Corbett

The Movie

*I HAVE SURVIVED WATCHING THIS MOVIE UNRIFFED*

I was alive back in 1989.  I lived through the hype of Batman, and felt just how crazy people went for that movie, though I was five at the time so I didn't really care.  Like every child born in the 80's, I grew up with the movie and while I always thought the movie was cool I never really liked it all that much.  When I grew up I finally figured out why.  There was just such a disconnect between it and...well, anything human.  I'm not emotionally engaged by anything happening, the characters act like drones that only go from point A to point B because the script tells them to, and for the most part I don't really understand a lot of their motivation behind what they're doing at all.  The movie was certainly visually stimulating though.  I'll be honest, at the time I was more invested in Adam West reruns on TV.

If that opinion angers you, don't get me started on Batman Returns.  That rant will get me hate mail for the rest of my life.  I honest to god would rather watch Batman & Robin.  At least that has Freeze puns.

Given that the closest I've ever considered to a genuinely great Batman film at the time was Batman:  Mask of the Phantasm (which is fucking magnificent, if you haven't seen it), it was little wonder that I latched onto 2005's Batman Begins when it came out.  The film was more based in character and got into Batman's head, giving us an idea of why a man would dress as a bat and fight crime at night.  It didn't follow the basic previous Bat-film plot of "villains do random shit, Batman walks around town and punches people" that dominated the prior films.

Then The Dark Knight came out, and the universe exploded.  For a lot of us it was the Batman film we've been waiting for and perhaps the best superhero movie ever made.  I wouldn't go that far.  I'd say a Batman film I'd like to see lies somewhere in between Christopher Nolan's character driven films and Tim Burton's otherworldly fairy tale (maybe Ben Affleck and Matt Reeves' future Batman film might find that medium, at least I have that hope).  I'd also say my personal favorite superhero movie is Spider-Man 2, which probably maintains that sort of balance the best out of any superhero movie I've ever seen.  The Dark Knight is certainly the best Batman movie that has yet come out though.  It may even be argued that it's the best movie based on a DC comic, though I tend to prefer Wonder Woman.

The mob war aspect of the film works in its favor, along with a memorable turn by Heath Ledger as Batman's most notorious villain, The Joker (for which he won a posthumous Oscar for).  It's a memorable movie with many memorable sequences, and I distinctly remember being in that theater in 2008 and exclaiming "Holy shit!" during many instances (many of which during the dark humor moments of Ledger).  Not many movies of this type make me remember strong reactions that I felt while watching it, which leads to believe that The Dark Knight is something special.  Even if it wasn't exactly the Batman film I had been waiting for, it was a ride that I wasn't expecting nor did I know I wanted.

But even the most well received movie of all time isn't universally loved.  There are people in the world who would just rather not sit through three hours of The Godfather or even the much less demanding hour-and-a-half of Casablanca.  Some people don't like The Dark Knight, more often than not preferring Burton's films, and that's perfectly fine.  We all like different things, and we're all entitled to diverse forms of entertainment.  Some people take diversity in taste a little too personally, as critics who disliked the film had been sent death threats and the like.  See, this is wrong.  Your opinion may be that someone who dislikes something you love should die, but let's just say I disagree.  Please just enjoy your movie and let the people who don't just not watch it.

The Trax

Mike, Kevin, and Bill waste no time in mocking the rabid fanboys of this particular film, which at the time was notorious for people sending reviewers who dared to say anything lukewarm or negative about it hate mail and death threats.  The film still managed to be quite well-received despite a handful of people not liking it, but then again no film ever made is universally loved by EVERYONE with the exception of the masterpiece known as G.I. Joe:  Rise of Cobra.  But not liking this particular film is unfortunately an offensive taboo of some kind.

Even though I think this film is quite excellent, I never had any problem with Rifftrax taking the film on.  I would have been more interested in a riff of the godawful Batman Returns, sure, but the thing about any Christopher Nolan movie, and not just his Batman movies, is that they're all so very stone-faced.  They can have humor, but those moments are few and far between in the middle of long sequnces of thoughtful pondering and aggressive drama.  I've always felt riffing works best when the movie is a straight man, and when the movie has less humor in it the humor the riffers throw at it will stand out as more refreshing.  Compare this to another superhero movie that received a Rifftrax in 2008, Iron Man, which approaches self-depreciation in the way it presents itself.  I see way more potential in riffing The Dark Knight because it actually gives them a solid foundation of earnestness to work with.

For about twenty minutes or so, The Dark Knight is hilarious.  The opening bank heist with the Joker is quite possibly among the funniest sequences I've ever seen in a Rifftrax, as Mike, Kevin, and Bill latch onto the clown concept and work it even further into the scene.  One of the best lines of the entire riff comes early on when Bill notes "Grim, humorless, a little frightening...yeah, this lines up with every experience I've ever had with clowns."  From there on we go straight into Batman's first action scene where he takes down the Scarecrow, and the humor maintains itself as quite strong.  Mike's patented Nick Nolte impression is even more than welcome here, with another great observation from Bill being made:  "...Nolte sounds like Batman..."

Ah yes, folks.  Get used to the gravely voice mocking, because the Rifftrax gang is going to drive that into the ground this riff.  Like any running gag, sometimes it can be funny while often it just seems to be called back to because they have nothing funnier to do.  There is an above average patch, slow spot, running gag, repeat method going on here.  And with a movie that's two and a half hours long, it makes me feel there is a flaw in the plan.

Maybe the Joker is right about plans after all.

The Dark Knight however maintains itself as a really good riff that's worth a listen.  If you like the movie just be forewarned that during slow patches you might find the riff fading into the background and just wind up watching the movie instead, then snapping back to attention when you realize you were supposed to be listening to the comedy track instead.  If you don't like the movie, then you might like this riff more than most because you're seeing a hype train you didn't jump on being mocked, and it's a good Trax so it's worth sitting through the movie again for.  But for those who worship the movie entirely and wish ill on those who think differently...may I recommend skipping this riff and maybe going for a long walk to rethink your life instead?

Good