Do you know where you were on this day 18 years ago?
You probably don’t, but I remember it like it was yesterday. I was at a movie theater formerly known as Ridge Cinema in Davie, Florida, watching “The Dark Knight” on opening day with a group of my closest friends.
I can recall this partially because of how mind-blowing the movie was (more on that in a bit) but also because some guy had a heart attack in the front row and I had to run to the concession stand and tell some poor teenager working his summer job to call 9-1-1.
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He survived, but they had to end the movie prematurely and offer us vouchers to come watch it again at a later date for free.
I didn’t even see the climax and resolution until the DVD release, and I still thought “The Dark Knight” was the greatest superhero movie ever made. That’s how good it was.
18 years later, and I still hold that opinion.
Sure, movies like “Captain America: Civil War” and “Avengers: Infinity War” were bigger spectacles, but Christopher Nolan’s grounded and gritty take on the caped crusader is still a nearly flawless masterpiece that stands the test of time almost two decades after its cinematic release.
I thought with all of the controversy surrounding Nolan and his questionable decisions pertaining to his latest blockbuster, “The Odyssey,” it would be nice to look back on a film from the director/producer that is almost universally beloved.
The word “perfection” gets thrown around a lot, and while I don’t think “The Dark Knight” is perfect (nor do I think any movie is perfect, for that matter), it’s about as close as a blockbuster film can get.
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Let me preface a lot of what I’m about to say with this: I am no film junkie and I’m certainly not a classically trained critic, but I think that is what makes my opinion a good one.
In a way, I represent the masses, the lowest common denominator, if you will.
So when I tell you this movie is almost perfect, it isn’t coming from a place of pretentious snobbery, but as a casual fan.
One of the biggest knocks against modern superhero movies is that they are too bloated and stuffed full of unnecessary protagonists and antagonists.
Go watch “Avengers: End Game” without having sat through the requisite 24 other films you have to view before going into it, and your head will be spinning by the 10th-minute mark.
“Who is this blue chick and why the hell is she hanging with Iron Man?”
Even if you never saw “Batman Begins” and went into “The Dark Knight” fresh, Nolan does a fabulous job of introducing new characters and establishing old ones in the same breath.
You don’t need to know who Rachel Dawes is from the first movie, because in the first 15 minutes of “The Dark Knight,” it’s established that she’s a childhood friend of Bruce Wayne’s whom he has unrequited feelings for, while she’s in love with the new district attorney.
Bam. Got it? Good.
Speaking of protagonists and antagonists, “The Dark Knight” starts off with introducing the Joker and does a great job of building him up.
That way, by the time the movie kicks into full gear, it isn’t jarring when he shows up and inserts himself in the war between the mob and the forces of good in Gotham.
Speaking of the Joker, it’s almost become a cliche at this point, but Heath Ledger’s tragic turn as the Clown Prince of Crime is simply sublime.
He carries every scene he’s in, and his reveal at the start of the film still hits the same way it did 18 years earlier.
A lot of people heap praise on Ledger at the expense of the other cast members, but that really isn’t fair to the rest of the actors in this movie.
Everyone is at their best in “The Dark Knight,” particularly Christian Bale as Wayne/Batman, Gary Oldman as Jim Gordon, and Aaron Eckhart as Harvey Dent/Two-Face. Even supporting characters like Alfred Pennyworth (Michael Caine) and Lucius Fox (Morgan Freeman) are scene-stealers.
Everything about the movie is memorable, from the dialogue to the set pieces and even the plot.
Nolan’s take on post-9/11 America and the dangers of the Patriot Act were a little controversial in 2008 but have aged like fine wine and make the movie even more of an engaging watch in 2026.
The way he weaves society’s fear of a surveillance state into the third act of the movie so seamlessly – with Batman’s sonar technology turning every phone in Gotham into a tracker to catch the Joker – is incredibly “based,” especially when you consider why Nolan is in hot water these days.
“The Dark Knight” is even one of the most quotable movies of all time, too; a rarity for any superhero movie that eschews the Marvel “thousand-quips-a-minute” form of dialogue that has become so pervasive and cringey over the last decade.
Lines like “you either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain” and “why so serious” became so ubiquitous and “memeable” after “The Dark Knight’s” release that they still find their way into the cultural zeitgeist to this day.
Even the source material from which Nolan draws his inspiration for this movie is a love letter to hardcore Batman fans.
“The Dark Knight” has elements of classic Batman comics like “The Long Halloween” and “The Man Who Laughs,” showing that Nolan at least knows his stuff on a surface level about Gotham’s broody guardian.
I could go on and on about what makes this movie great, as we are nearly 1,000 words in and I haven’t even discussed the grounded realism of Batman and his rogues gallery or the clever story that seems to wind with twists at every turn, but it’s all been said before.
Suffice to say, “The Dark Knight” was such a groundbreaking film that every other superhero movie, even Nolan’s follow-up, “The Dark Knight Rises,” falls short in trying to live up to its legacy.
As DC continues to try and catch the lightning in a bottle that was the Nolanverse, the simple fact remains: all other superhero movies from now until the end of time are playing for second place.
Even calling “The Dark Knight” one of the best superhero movies of all time does it a disservice. It belongs in the pantheon of best movies.
Period.
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So while you are taking your (much deserved) jabs at Nolan for his follies with “The Odyssey,” just remember the gift that is his magnum opus.
There was once a time when Christopher Nolan couldn’t be touched, and “The Dark Knight” represents the man at the zenith of his powers.
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