'The Dark Knight' 10 Years Later!
10 years ago, Health Ledger gave us not only one of the best performances in a comic book movie, but one of the best performances I’ve ever seen from an actor.
I have to admit, when I first heard that Heath Ledger was going to be cast as The Joker, I was one of those people that thought it was one of the the worst casting decisions in Hollywood at the time and I couldn't have been more wrong. Ledger's performance locks you in from the moment he enters the frame and you can't take your eyes off of him every time he's on screen.
Ledger's Joker was also the perfect version to combat Bale's Batman. Christian Bale made you fear the dark knight and portrayed him as a true symbol of peace for Gotham, but Ledger's Joker showed no fear and proved that he was a worthy adversary for the dark knight as a symbol of pure anarchy.
Christian Bale was perfect casting for Nolan's version of Batman and although Bale is so magnetic as Batman, Ledger steals every scene away from him.
Christopher Nolan should be praised for being such a huge part of proving that comic book properties are filled with amazing stories that can and should be taken seriously. The script was written by David Goyer, and Christopher and Jonathan Nolan, and the way the film flows and unravels still holds up as one of the best comic book movies of all time. The Dark Knight had a production budget of $185M and grossed $534.8M domestically, $469.7M Internationally for a massive $1 billion dollar box office total worldwide.
The film was nominated for 8 Oscars and won 2 giving Heath Ledger an academy award for best supporting actor (posthumously)and the film also won the academy award for best sound editing. Hans Zimmer's score added even more to the effect of the films incredible sound design, adding an impactful edge to the films underlying tones.
Nolan and his team gave us a great film with stunning cinematography, incredible sound design and amazing performances from the entire cast. Michael Cain who has worked with Nolan on a number of his films has given us the best version of Alfred to date, and Gary Oldman's portrayal of Commissioner Gordon was spot on. Aaron Eckhart as Harvey Dent/Two Face gave us what I think was the best performance of his career and gave true depth to the character.
The Dark Knight is a masterpiece of the comic book genre and it's a film that I rewatch multiple times a year. Out of all of the comic book movies that have been released since then, it still remains as one of my top 5 favorite comic book movies of all time.
The film will be rereleased in IMAX for its 10 year anniversary, for one week only, starting on August 24th. If you are lucky enough to experience this film again (or for the first time), here are the cities and theaters it will be showing in (listed below), tickets go on sale July 20th.
AMC Universal Citywalk Imax, Universal City (Los Angeles)
AMC Lincoln Square Imax, New York
AMC Metreon Imax, San Francisco
Ontario Place Cinesphere Imax, Toronto