The Dark Knight (2008)

9

of 10

This movie is completely absurd structurally when considered in a vacuum; and yet, the artistry in the movie magic is so strong that the audience likely never even notices, because they’re along for the ride. A tour de force of form.

N.B.: If I had to pick one favorite movie of all time, it would probably be this movie. It’s not really a justifiable choice based on the score, but perhaps that’s a beautiful aspect of personal taste.

Concept

5.3

Execution

7.5

Character

3.0

Score

7.5

Meaning

7.5

5

Con: It’s a f*cking Batman movie. Completely tired and boring idea. Pro: It’s a cinematic treatment of Batman with a degree of artistry that is truly extraordinary.

4

Absolutely ridiculous plot-wise. Shot through with plot holes; self-contradictory; often nonsensical. At the same time, a wonderful arc of exposition, and a beautiful form, which goes on to shape so much of what superhero movies become.

7

This is a superhero movie. But it is a superhero movie with aspirations to be in the canon. It seeks to use the archetypal images of superheroes to say something profound and universal at its center—something beyond the lore.

7

Incredible directing, and truly wonderful pacing—conspicuous for the fact that even in a nearly three-hour film, we have a sense that things are constantly moving. But damn, no one edited this!

6.5

Sublime in places, but also absolutely mundane in others.

7

Mediocre/OK, except of course for Heath Ledger’s absolutely incredible “Joker”. (And of course Michael Caine doing superb as “Michael Caine in every Cristopher Nolan film”.)

9

Incredible. Genre-defining. To the point of abandoning logic and common sense for the sake of pure cinematic beauty.

8

Conspicuously good in many moments.

7.5

Truly Nolan-esque, austere sets. Excellent choice on Heath Ledger’s self-applied makeup. Exceptionally bland color palette.

2

Nobody except the Joker has any discernible character depth. Women exist only as objects.

4

The Joker is defined by his chaotic nature. Dent’s transition to murder betrays some interesting psychology. Otherwise, completely predictable from what the audience knows of folks’ motivations.

3

Relationships are on the whole completely transparent, although the Joker-Batman relationship does have a lot of interesting complexity.

3

People pretty much just say who they are, though the Joker develops quite a bit through action.

3

A couple cues that had some real meat (like the rooftop flyover to the construction site), but largely quite banal.

N.B.: I have beef with Hans Zimmer. Fight me.

8.5

Strong use of the leitmotif; one of them only has two notes! Amazingly memorable.

9

Excellent from the get-go, with tight sync between the score and visuals—such a beautiful rarity.

8

An iconic use of “storm drum”, which has become an absolute trope in the genre and for action movies more broadly. Some really great integration of synths, which age shockingly well.

9

It’s a Zimmer score. The man knows how to make your skin crawl.

6

While the movie makes really interesting statements about several topics, I feel like a lot of them are languageable. (Many are enduring memes from lines in the movie!)

7

Looking back to the cultural context of 2008, I’m not sure how to draw the film’s specific timeliness/relevance apart from its larger statements; but, I retrospectively err on the side of significance.

9

This movie’s statements about chaos agents—and, more poignantly to me, the response and adaptation of evil as good attempts to push “progress” forward—are increasingly relevant and largely unheeded, even (perhaps especially) today.

8

This movie has strong archetypal energy. It is not just a movie about superheroes and their lore; it is a story about the psyche, and about society at large. The Dark Knight has a lot to say about a lot more than Batman.