Review of The Dark Knight (2008) by Googolendtimes — 28 Mar 2015

First of all, there is no doubt that the reputation of this film, and Heath Ledger's performance, were bolstered by his untimely death. That makes no difference. This is an accomplished and subversive work, and the most fully realised of Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy - its predecessor did little more than establish the foundations of this film, whilst its successor lacked focus or a satisfying conclusion.

"The Dark Knight", on the other hand, is an expansive, complex and soulful masterpiece of film, which spearheaded the re-evaluation and acknowledgement of the superhero genre as an art form capable of producing stories as daring, layered and emotive as standard art house fare, or modernist literature and being good for more than just action and special effects. This film is masterfully designed, scored, edited, acted, and shot, reminiscent both stylistically and in terms of storytelling as the classic thrillers of the 1970s. Much like New York City in "Taxi Driver", Nolan's Gotham breathes, and so do the characters, who are understood as real people and compelled to act as such, rather than just vehicles transporting the viewer from one action set piece to the next. Both Gary Oldman and Aaron Eckhart are fantastic, offering nuanced and desperate portraits of virtuous men broken by their own goodness. They deserved Oscar nominations as much as Heath Ledger. As for Heath Ledger, it is an astonishing piece of acting whether he lived to see it on-screen or not. He is explosive, twisted, visceral, and utterly terrifying - and damn near impossible to take your eyes off of.

Is this is a perfect film? There's one too many leaps of logic involved, so it falls short, but only by a minuscule margin. This is certainly one of the best films I've seen - a grand and operatic morality play, breathtakingly colossal, searingly intimate, and unbearably sad. Detractors may try to use Heath Ledger's death to discredit its success as circumstantial. I remind you: nobody from "The Avengers" died.