Dark Knight - A different kind of review

I went to see Dark Knight… and I loved it… like I’m sure the vast majority of the rest of the world did. It may not the best example of a movie that a Christian should see, but it was a good movie. OK... it was really good - but have you ever wondered...

Why is it that we all love Batman? Don’t get me wrong. As a kid, I used to love to pretend I was Batman. Next to the Man of Steel, he was my favorite superhero… but why? Is it because he gets to beat up on bad guys? Is it because secretly, we all want to pummel those who don’t play by the rules? When my youngest son was only one month old and my oldest son was less than four weeks from turning three, my family was mugged at gunpoint while trying to have a nice family dinner at a local Pizza Hutt. For most of his childhood, you would have thought that he WAS Batman… swinging from the bunkbeds in his Batman Underoos and Halloween cape… For a time afterwards, I myself carried a firearm... strange what being a victim of crime will do to you.

Is it because he gets to play with all those awesome toys? Remember the “original” 1989 Batman movie? Jack Nicholson’s portrayal of the Joker was epic and my favorite line was “Where does he get those wonderful toys?” A bit materialistic of us, isn’t it? Maybe it is because Batman gets to lead two lives – with one of them lived secretly behind a mask of anonymity. Let us all be honest with ourselves. From time to time, we all feel trapped in our current situation. Wouldn’t you just love the opportunity to put on a mask and be able to do just about anything you wanted for a while?

Well how about an interesting twist on Batman and a movie review of Dark Knight that’s not quite the norm? As a Christian, I wonder – in a twisted, don’t-get-me-wrong-and-misunderstand-my-intentions kind of way - if perhaps the Joker is a better example of how we should live our lives than Batman? OK, catch your breath and let me explain. Think about the Batman. Pick your favorite movie, cartoon, comic book, or even Adam West portrayal of Batman (well, come to think of it, maybe the Adam West portrayal won’t work here, but you’ll get my point in a sec…) What drives Batman? Is it justice? Is it revenge? I submit to you that Batman is so completely enslaved by the horrors and evils of his past that he has no choice but to be whom he is. He is tortured. He is bound up by his pain. He is imprisoned by the need to undo something that he has absolutely no control over. To make matters worse, he proclaims to be an agent of good, but he breaks every rule in the book. Batman doesn’t submit to the authorities- he doesn’t really even work with the authorities. In Dark Knight, he even finds himself in the position where he must be opposed to the authorities and become a fugitive himself in order to stop the Joker.

Now think about the Joker. First of all, may I say that Heath Ledger did an outstanding job as the Joker? Personally, I think Jack Nicholson’s character is probably closer to my understanding of the original comic book Joker – especially with all his cliché lines - but Heath Ledger was utterly convincing as a demented, homicidal maniac. How equally sad that he could not distinguish reality from fantasy such that it cost him his life. Nevertheless, think about the Joker. He is so completely committed to his cause that all other concerns are meaningless in comparison. He is totally sold out to the cause of chaos and anarchy. In the 1989 film, he wants everyone to be like him. In Dark Knight, he wants to prove that everyone IS like him. Either way, nothing is going to stop him from promoting his ideals. That commitment essentially sets him free from the bonds of constraint and inhibition. In the Dark Knight, this freedom is best characterized in this quote:

The only sensible way to live in this world is without rules!

Jack Nicholson’s character put it like this in an exchange with “Boss Grissom”:

Joker: I've been dead once already. It's very liberating. You should think of it as, uh... therapy.
Grissom: Jack, listen. Maybe we can cut a deal.
Joker: Jack? Jack is dead, my friend. You can call me... Joker. And as you can see, I'm a lot happier.

Regardless of which Joker you liked better, you must agree that the Joker did not care what anyone thought about himself. The only thing that mattered was the cause.

As Christians, can we say that we are totally committed to the cause of Christ? I’m not suggesting we should go out and break the laws or get involved in acts of civil disruption or anything like that, but are we willing to do whatever it takes to follow Christ? Have we laid aside our inhibitions so that we can do the work of our Savior? I wonder if instead we, like the Batman, have trapped ourselves in the inhibitions of our past, our failures, even other people’s opinions. We don’t want anyone to call us a freak. Heath Ledger’s Joker calls Batman a “freak just like me.” I must admit that when I see Hollywood’s portrayals of Christianity, I feel the same inhibitions. Christians are always viewed as non-conforming, anti-societal freaks – not terribly unlike the Joker in that respect. Satan has conditioned us to believe that we shouldn't want to be viewed that way. Jesus, however, said that if we follow him, the world will not understand and they will hate us for it. They cannot understand him because they do not know him.

If we think about it that way, shouldn’t we instead want to be freaks – Jesus Freaks? One of my all-time favorite Christian Rock bands is the now-disbanded DC Talk. My favorite album of theirs is Jesus Freak. It speaks of complete, sold-out Christianity. They also wrote a book by the same title that was essentially a re-write of Foxe’s Book of Martyrs. Why are we so enslaved by our inhibitions when all over the world there are Christians who are giving their lives for the name of Jesus? In John 8, Jesus said

“If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."

With that freedom will come true happiness - not the Joker's psycotic ecstasy, but the real joy of knowing Jesus. So will you experience the freedom of being sold out for the cause of Christ… or continue to be enslaved and tortured by your own inner demons?