How important is The Dark Knight when it comes to the history of cinema? Is it an important film? Sure. It transcends comic books and appeals to mainstream audiences. Is it a great film? Yes. It has one of the greatest movie villains of all time in Heath Ledger’s Joker. Will it live on to stand the test of time? Maybe.
It’s been ten years since Christopher Nolan’s greatest achievement was released. I was 14 years old when it came out on July 18, 2008. I saw it once with Vinnie the first afternoon it was released, then went back to the theater again that night to see it a second time. The next day my brother was having his high school graduation party and we ended the night by seeing it yet again, my third time in two days. I loved that film.
For the most part The Dark Knight has aged very well. Heath Ledger still gives me chills every time I see him on screen. He is the best adaptation of the Joker...ever. The shot of him hanging out the back window of the cop car as the sound fades out is still one of my favorite shots in all of movies. It’s simply sensational.
Christian Bale is a great Bruce Wayne and an average Batman. I still don’t know why his voice sounds like that. In the first film, Batman Begins, he uses a sorta aggressive whisper. It works pretty well. In The Dark Knight he uses some raspy, distracting, mess of a voice that is hard to take seriously at times. See: “THERE WON’T BE ANY FIREWORKS.”
Aaron Eckhart as Harvey Dent is probably the second strongest performance in the movie. I still think he should have lived at the end and been part of the third movie. Whatever.
It’s not a perfect movie. It certainly has flaws. How can the Joker accomplish so much in so little time? The dialogue can be clunky, “NO MORE DEAD COPS.” The ending was a bit rushed. Harvey becomes Two Face and then is dead 30 minutes later.
It is a great movie though. It’s a comic book movie that can be classified as a crime drama. It’s mature and realistic. It doesn’t have any over the top fight sequences like you would see in a current DC film. Nolan uses various practical effects to increase the realism of every scene. He even flipped an 18 wheeler in the middle of downtown Chicago.
I’ll always have a special place in my heart for The Dark Knight. I don’t know if it will be remembered the same in fifty years, but for now we can call it a classic of the 2000s.
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