The Most Ambitious Superhero Film

Rating: 10/10 (14 July 2016)

The Dark Knight is to the superhero film what The Godfather is to the gangster movie. Nolan's filmmaking always teaches us to question the truth--to question what we know to be true, and the Dark Knight is no exception to the Nolan rule. A blistering deconstruction of the superhero genre--the most popular genre of the decade--The Dark Knight questions how far a hero should go in pursuit of a villain. The film responds to the problems caused by GW Bush's war on terror by offering us one of the most compelling and terrifying characters in modern cinema: Heath Ledger's version of The Joker. Like Anthony Hopkins' Hannibal Lecter or Anthony Perkins' Norman Bates, Ledger's Joker is so frighteningly fascinating and magnetic that I faced a conundrum when first watched the film: I couldn't wait for him to come on screen again--and i was cringing with horror every time he did. The film is visceral, accomplished, and spectacular. Bale's Batman is a study in contradictions, and in that way, he reflects his historical moment--the moment of the war on terror--very effectively.