The Dark Knight: Overlooked or Overrated?
With the Oscar nominees being announced yesterday, we seem to have ushered in one of the most controversial Oscar seasons in recent history. The internet has been bombarded with “Are you *bleeping kidding me’s” and “Those guys are gonna pay’s” from well-meaning Batman fans who feel that their FAVORITE movie of the year should be considered by the Academy as the BEST movie of the year.
I absolutely loved The Dark Knight, and I am extremely impressed that it is now the second highest-grossing film of all time. However I still think that it is overrated. Keep in mind that something can be overrated and still be extremely good. But based on the incredible, ridiculous amount of hype that The Dark Knight garnered, I don’t think there is any way it could have possibly lived up. I can’t help but wonder how the film would have made out if Heath Ledger had not died.
Additionally, only one of this year’s nominated films has had a wide release prior to the Oscar deadline and that one (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button) has only been released for a month. I think if more people had a chance to see the other nominated films they wouldn’t be as quick to chastise the Academy for leaving out their favorite. There really are some great films out there this year (I personally would have loved to see Gran Torino and The Wrestler get more love) and The Dark Knight is certainly one of them - but certainly not the only one.
By the way: Slumdog Millionaire, The Reader, and Frost/Nixon all open nation-wide today.
History will be - as it always is - the judge of where The Dark Knight fits into the 2008 film hierarchy, and even more so, where it fits into the annals of film history. The good news is: the film will live on as an Oscar winner as Heath Ledger is a sure thing to win Best Supporting Actor - it won’t even be close!
August 16th, 2010 at 1:00 am
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