Film: The Dark Knight

Look I'm just gonna ask it: is The Dark Knight and its main villain getting all the praise they are just because Heath Ledger decided to off himself? It's a difficult question to answer since there's no way of telling - even the most objective person will have heard of the news surrounding the making of this film. But everyone on the street was raving about this film too, surely a sign that it's good in its own right too?

To be honest I didn't see what all the fuss was about during the first 30 minutes or so. I found the story shallow (apart from a few bits), the acting hammy (until Heath Ledger raised the game for everyone else) and the editing and sound pretty poor. It's also (perhaps unfortunately) difficult to take a comic adaptation that seriously.

I'm not sure when it happened but it all changed at some point during the first half of the film, after which the whole thing was so perfectly weighted, such a joy to watch and so incredibly engaging that it can't be anything else but one of the best films ever to be made.

There are two main drivers behind this conclusion. The first is the brilliant screenplay, perfectly paced to both keep us breathlessly on our toes at all times but also accessible enough for no one to literally lose the plot at any time. I can't remember the last time I was so tested and rewarded by such a rich story; in fact in many ways The Dark Knight was two films in one and many other studios and producers would have found it very easy to have split and money spin it. Thankfully for us, it hadn't been.

The second gem of the movie was indeed Heath Ledger. His performance was so good that I would have been worried about his psyche in real life if it was still appropriate to do so. I won't bore you with words but it really must be seen to be appreciated. In a time when performances are seen because of the person acting them out, it's refreshing to see one where the character takes preference; this wasn't about Ledger or even the film itself but about The Joker - of course the make-up helped loads with this suspension of disbelief, as did the relative low profile of Ledger at the time itself, but otherwise it was pure casting genius.

For balance I have to mention some of the flaws too. These included some pretty shoddy editing, a soundtrack that I often failed to hear properly and some plot details that were quite unnecessary. But these are just minor points and to be honest you should just ignore this paragraph altogether.

And at 152 minutes The Dark Knight really is the film that just keeps on giving. I didn't even check the time once during its run time; and as much as the natural cynic within me tried to be contrary to popular opinion hate it, I'm totally glad to say that it was easily put to bed but the awesomeness that was The Dark Night.

EDIT: The morning after and the more I talk and think about it, the more wonderful I think the film was. This is as opposed to having your opinion reduced over time, and a good indication of just how magical this film is.