A Reel 10: THE DARK KNIGHT

“You changed things. Forever.”

This month marks the 10^th anniversary of Christopher Nolan’s THE DARK KNIGHT.

THE DARK KNIGHT was the direct sequel to Nolan’s own BATMAN BEGINS from 2005, which re-introduced the iconic superhero Batman to the big screen. BEGINS was the first film featuring the caped crusader in a decade, and the approach was a far cry from the cartoonish versions we had in the late 1980’s and early 90’s. Gone were the dancing clowns, ridiculous vehicles and costumes, and action sequences that looked like they belonged in a Looney Tunes romp. Instead, we were treated to a grounded Bat; one that would and could function in today’s real world, while taking time to strip down the characters we thought we knew so well and build them piece by piece. BATMAN BEGINS was a success, and its final minutes hinted at something bigger on the way.

THE DARK KNIGHT’s journey to the big screen began even before BATMAN BEGINS arrived. Screenwriter David S. Goyer originally wrote a treatment for two sequels which focused on Batman’s most celebrated villain, The Joker, and Harvey Dent, the doomed district attorney who would tragically become Two-Face. Goyer and Christopher Nolan, along with his brother Jonathan Nolan, reached back into Batman’s rich lore and used Joker’s first appearance way back in 1940 as inspiration, along with elements from famous Bat-comics The Long Halloween and The Killing Joke. The concept behind the film would be escalation; how the criminal world reacts to a foe who operates outside of the law.

Where BATMAN BEGINS built a world, THE DARK KNIGHT tore it down and examined it. The Joker would represent the complete opposite of Batman, and the film would serve as a psychological test for both characters. The film would center on Joker, and the all-important role would go to Heath Ledger, who had impressed audiences with his Oscar-nominated performance in BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN in 2005. Ledger would take the clown out of the Joker, and combine the character’s brand of humor with a mass murderer with zero empathy. It was a role that Ledger literally gave his life to. 

Reprising their roles from BATMAN BEGINS would be Christian Bale (Batman/Bruce Wayne), Michael Caine (Alfred), Morgan Freeman (Lucius Fox), and Gary Oldman (Jim Gordon). Aaron Eckhart would take on the role of Harvey Dent, and Maggie Gyllenhaal replaced Katie Holmes as Rachel Dawes; the love-interest of both Dent and Wayne.

With minimal CGI and a commitment to the art of practical effects and stunts, filming would take place in Chicago, which stood-in as the troubled-yet-beautiful Gotham City. The world-wide production would also film in London and Hong Kong. Nolan, ever the one to push the boundaries of filmmaking, shot THE DARK KNIGHT in 70mm; the first Batman film to do so. Nolan took direct inspiration from Michael Mann's classic crime thriller HEAT (1995), and fashioned a crime drama of his own. Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard returned to provide the score.

After a successful viral marketing campaign, which included an online fictional political campaign for Harvey Dent, THE DARK KNIGHT was a critical and financial success. It would be the highest-grossing film of 2008, and the first of its kind to cross $1 billion worldwide. It would be nominated for eight Oscars, winning two…with Heath Ledger winning Best Supporting Actor. It would be a bittersweet win, for the actor had passed away in January of 2008. To this day, Ledger stands as the only actor to win an Oscar for a superhero film. His win, and Nolan’s commitment to make a mature and realistic Batman film, elevated the superhero genre to where it could be taken seriously in even the most stuffy of film criticism; it showed that a cape and mask could be true cinema.

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It is rare for this Blogger to write up an anniversary piece to a film that is “only” a decade old, but THE DARK KNIGHT is a clear exception. It set the bar high for superhero films, and changed the way studios looked at a caped property to this day. When this film arrived in theatres, the world was less than a decade removed from 9/11, and everyone was asking who are the bad guys and who could we trust. These are issues that are addressed in THE DARK KNIGHT, (the first of its kind to do so), and even though it doesn’t answer them, it explores them in a way that makes this Batman a true thinking-man’s film. It dove into the psyche of Gotham City, leaving no stone unturned as it flipped over heroes, villains, cops, robbers, and the average citizen (all of us). When this Blogger saw the film for the first time, a midnight show on a warm summer night in 2008 with a packed and energetic crowd, we all felt something special. Where BATMAN BEGINS gave us an ending that guaranteed our return, THE DARK KNIGHT sent us staggering out of the theatre. On that night, and in the decade since, superhero films found a way to rise.

“You either die a hero, or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain.”