Dark Knight is truly an exceptional film, it will go down as one of the top grossing films of our lifetime, and yet, it is a comic book story, a blockbuster destined to challenge the Academy’s standards and practices. If Heath Ledger doesn’t get an Oscar for this performance, would it really surprise the everyday moviegoer? Of course not; this is not an Oscar movie, it is designed to make money and sell merchandise, kind of like a certain space movie in 1977 that is arguably the most satirized and alluded to film in history. Yet, where will this comic book story wind up in years to come?
What makes this telling of Batman’s struggle so special, if not for the fact that Heath Ledger’s performance has a certain ghostly quality to it? Really, when the dust and the pomp and circumstance settles, what will make this film stand out other than the fact that one of the villains is played by a dead actor? Not much, sadly.
There are some decent twists and turns as we follow Batman (Christian Bale) in his attempt to rid Gotham city of crime, a noble, albeit foolish, task. He is joined by the new District Attorney, Harvey Dent, played superbly by Aaron Eckhart and his girlfriend, or friend who is a girl or something, Rachel Dawes (Maggie Gyllenhaal). The movie is filled with more melodrama than real drama, and it has a kind of childish soap opera feeling. I didn’t really find myself wrapped up in the characters’ angst. Still, it was definitely one of the better Batman movies, and Heath Ledger will probably be forever identified as the true Joker.
