'Knight' gives comic book films a bright future
Issue date: 7/22/08 Section: Arts & Leisure
|
Charley Reed
Contributor
Unless you've been living under a rock, I'm probably not telling you anything you don't know when I say that the hype around "The Dark Knight" is no fluke. It really is as good as everyone says; perhaps even better.
Even if I said it was the best film of 2008, which it is, that would still be selling the film short. Because, despite recent successes like "Iron Man" and "The Incredible Hulk," no film has come close to perfectly capturing a graphic novel or comic book's essence like "Knight."
Unlike the goofy and sometimes outlandish entries into the superhero film canon in recent years, Christopher Nolan's take on the Batman mythos goes the extra step and takes the world of comic book fantasy and puts it on par with the great crime-dramas of the last quarter century. "The Dark Knight" will, and should, be remembered in the same breath as "Se7en," "Goodfellas," "The Departed" and "The Usual Suspects."
This film is more about Gotham City than it is any one character. Throughout the film, from the opening bank heist to the roll of the credits, the Joker uses everything, and anyone, to fight to pull Gotham City into chaos. Batman, meanwhile, not only has to save the city but keep himself from being pulled down with it.
And while Nolan, and his script-writing brother Jonathan Nolan, deserves a lot of praise for achieving this benchmark in cinematic history, this film is nothing without its outstanding ensemble cast.
Everyone is great but Heath Ledger as the Joker and Aaron Eckhart as Harvey "Two Face" Dent are the standouts here. Both play their characters so well that they become absorbed. Ledger's performance as the Joker is nothing short of epic and Eckhart's is a career-defining role for the otherwise indie-scene actor. It just happens to be overshadowed by one of the greatest character performances in cinematic history.
Be the first to comment on this story