“In those days Israel had no king: every one did as they saw fit” ~Judges 17.6~

Chaos. There’s a view of creation that says that in the beginning there wasnt necessarily nothing—there was chaos. And what God did was come along and order the chaos into something good, by knowing what was good and what wasnt. Everything God created was good. But that left something else out there. That which God didnt use for God’s good creation. That which wasnt good. Evil. Pure, unnecessary evil with no point or purpose. Not necessarily part of God’s plan for the world, but there all the same—embedded in the fabric of existence.

This is the principle on which The Dark Night works. The point is that there is no point to the evil that exists in the world. The Joker wants the world to be in chaos. He has no ulterior motive other than that. He targets the best of Gotham and tries to corrupt them. His acts of violence seem random but have a point. They seem confused but have a reason. Chaos.

The only performance I can think of to compare Heath Ledger’s performance as the Joker is Anthony Hopkins in Silence of the Lambs. When Ledger is on the screen you cannot take your eyes off of him. His white eyes sunk in the dark mascara made to look like the deep sockets of a skull always flickering as if processing and ordering the chaos in his own mind. Ledger could have gone the grandiose route, camping it up, but instead he went for the subtle, as did Chrisotpher Nolan, choosing to frame in on Ledger’s performance for the awes rather than some big brilliant special effect like Alfred Molina’s villain in Spiderman Two.

Yes, Heath Ledger is the main reason to go, but everyone else is great too, especially the substitution of Maggie Gyllenhall for Rachel and the introduction of Aaron Eckhart (great in Thanks for Smoking) as Harvey Dent.

And the great thing is that the performances are the real thrill. Nolan doesnt sell out for big special effects, instead he goes for car chases, fist fights, and acting, of all things, to craft his vision of a man battling the good and evil within himself while battling the bad guys in Gotham, another so corrupted by evil that he sees no potential for good in the world, and an entire city that proves him wrong.

The thing about chaos and the existence of evil is that it is a mystery. Why God would let such evil exist and continue to wreck its havoc on the world is a great mystery. However, the assurance is that by the grace of God good will prevail.