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4/26/2015

The Dark Knight (2008) - Nolan's best Batman


+ Best Action Movie of the Year + Best Superhero Movie of the Year + Best Villain of the Year: The Joker (Heath Ledger) + Most Profitable Movie of the Year: 217 mil. $ range

The dark, exciting poster for Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight


QUICK REVIEW:

Gotham City is terrorized by the Joker, and the new district attorney Harvey Dent looks like the metropolis' only hope. But when Dent SPOILER loses his wife and burns off half of his face in an accident, he becomes the bitter, resentful Two-Face. - And Batman will have to take the trash out!

Christian Bale (Rescue Dawn (2006)) had by British master filmmaker Christopher Nolan's (Interstellar (2014)) second Batman movie grown into a cult character as excess yuppie Bruce Wayne. Aaron Eckhart (Thank You for Smoking (2005)) is also good here as the torn man Dent.
Quality-wise, Dark Knight is nearly a schematic reflection of Nolan's first Batman movie, Batman Begins (2005), with one major exception; the Joker. Cillian Murphy's Scarecrow was neat as the villain of the first film, but Heath Ledger's (Brokeback Mountain (2005)) anarchistic heavy is larger-than-life. A truly great performance, and Ledger's only Oscar-win. Unfortunately, he died tragically of an overdose six months prior to the release of the film and therefore never received the statue in person.
Ledger's premature demise has most certainly contributed to the undue celebration of The Dark Knight that has since ensued: The film still rests at #4 on IMDb's Top 250! Knight is great entertainment for sure, but held up against the greatest Batman movie to date, Tim Burton's Batman Returns (1992), I still far prefer Burton's colorful, Gothic fantasy adventure over Nolan's stark realism and seriousness.
Knight is co-written by Nolan and his brother Jonathan Nolan (Interstellar), with David S. Goyer (Blade (1998)) contributing story.

Related reviews:

Batman:  Batman Returns (1992) - Burton gives us the ultimate, Gothic spin on Gotham City and its sinister characters
Batman (1989) - A huge, glitzy, empty joker
Batman the Movie (1966) or, Batman and Robin: Kapow!!! 
Christopher Nolan: 2014 in films - according to Film Excess
Interstellar (2014) - Nolan heads to space in oppulent, exciting epic
The Dark Knight Rises (2012) or, Batman and the Storm, Darkness, Anarchy, Evil, Depression

2008 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III] 

2008 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II] 
2008 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2008 in films - according to Film Excess
Batman Begins (2005) or, Modern, Dark, Smooth Batman









Watch the great trailer for the film here

Cost: 185 mil. $
Box office: 1,005 bil. $
=  Big hit
[The Dark Knight broke records galore: With 8 Oscar nominations, it is the most Oscar-nominated film based on a comic or graphic novel to date, beating Dick Tracy's (1990) 7 nominations. Dark Knight was 2008's highest-grossing film and remains the 4th highest-grossing superhero movie, (almost certain to be bested soon by Avengers: Age of Ultron.) It made 534.9 mil. $ (53 %) of its total gross in the US, where it had an earth-shattering opening weekend of 158.4 mil. $. The film was re-released traditionally and in IMAX in early 2009, which made it break through the 1 bil. $ mark.]

What do you think of The Dark Knight?
And Nolan's other films?

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