Caine plays the butler and surrogate father in The Dark Knight, a role that exists to say the things the protagonist will not. He delivers exposition and moral argument in the same breath, and the performance works because he plays affection rather than service, which gives the film its only uncomplicated relationship.
He came from a working class London background and broke through in the nineteen sixties in a period when British cinema was actively looking for performers who did not sound like the establishment. He has worked continuously since, across espionage, comedy, drama and genre, and he has been candid about taking work for practical reasons and finding the good in it anyway.
Recurring subjects: class, men who observe more than they say, and warmth delivered without sentiment. His delivery is conversational and unhurried, and he is famously precise about screen technique, including how little to do when the camera is close. He has taught that technique publicly for decades.
He has won two Academy Awards for supporting performances and has appeared in an extraordinary number of significant films across six decades. His nineteen sixties leads shaped the image of British cinema abroad, and his later collaborations with a single director gave him a run of substantial late career roles.
For viewers who want to see how much a supporting actor can carry. Suited to anyone revisiting the superhero trilogy, and to those who should work backwards through his nineteen sixties leads.
