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Originally Posted by GordonBlue
So using your premise that "The Dark Knight is the last time a studio blockbuster captured the world’s imagination on the strength of its artistic merit."
what makes that movie so special other than the effects were "real"?
I saw it once and don't recall it being an all time masterpiece. Just a good bit of filmmaking like we see every year.
maybe you could say it was the beginning of the end of practical special effects over CGI or something, but it's no signpost for a generation or era of filmmaking.
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The Dark Knight is special because, first and foremost, it is a piece of art. Warner Brothers gave their most high-value property to an auteur filmmaker with the freedom to tell his story his way. It also happens to be an extremely profitable Hollywood blockbuster, but it’s art first.
It’s special because it reaches a level of quality few films ever do. From the direction, to the action set pieces, to the acting (not just Ledger - Christian Vale, Aaron Eckhart, Gary Oldman, Morgan Freeman, the dude who plays Lau, Maggie Gyllenhal, Michael Caine - everyone brings their A-game), the music, the pacing, the writing… it is
The conflicts in this movie are all the result of opposing ideas and world views. They are not contrived - they’re thermodynamic. The mob ruins Gotham. Batman hits the mob hard. Mob turns to Joker to kill Batman. Joker tries, realizes Batman won’t kill him even when he has the chance, and then makes it his mission to break the Batman.
Joker realizes Harvey Dent’s success at cleaning up the streets of Gotham would be Batman’s greatest victory, so he destroys Dent. He knows Batman loves Rachel (“the way you threw yourself after her…”) so he destroys Rachel - by deliberately giving Batman Harvey’s location instead of hers. He twists the knife every chance he gets.
That’s a far cry from “X wants revenge” or “bad guy has the same power set as the hero.” Or even “purple man wants to kill half the universe because balance.” I liked Infinity War/Endgame, but that’s a stupid motivation that any reasonable person (and most unreasonable ones) would oppose on general principle.
The Joker is a dazzling character and performance, no doubt. But the finale of the film is a direct rebuke of everything he’s said and done.
“Their morals, their code? It’s a bad joke. Dropped at the first sign of trouble. They’re only as good as the world allows them to be. I’ll show you - when the chips are down, these so-called civilized people? They’ll eat each other.”
So the man who wants to watch the world burn gives two boatloads of people the means and justification to blow each other to kingdom come.
Except, the longer things go on, the more each boat realizes “they haven’t killed us yet either” and when push comes to shove, everyone would rather let the Joker kill them than be the reason a boatload of other people who didn’t do them any harm (even if one boat is full of criminals) gets incinerated.
They literally beat the Joker by allowing each other the space to be good, and Batman has almost no direct affect on the outcome (other than preventing the Joker from using his detonator).
Unless you count all the work he’s done to establish himself as a symbol to stand up against injustice, and inspire the people of Gotham to remember that good a) exists and b) can win. Without Batman’s (and Dent’s) very public examples of defiance in the face of evil, things probably turn out differently.
The Joker’s story concludes with him not falling to his death, but with Batman saving him - the message being “you can take everything from me, but you won’t break me, you won’t change me, you won’t make me do the wrong thing.”
It’s a middle finger to nihilism.
And even though Batman does end up causing Harvey’s death, Dent made the equation “Harvey or a child” and Batman still chooses right and saves the kid.
Then, he takes the blame for Harvey’s crimes to allow Gotham the chance to save itself through the courts and due process rather than vigilantism. Because it’s not about Batman being a hero. It’s about Gotham being a just and safe place to live for its everyday citizens.
“Sometimes, truth isn’t good enough.
Sometimes people deserve more. (Said while Alfred burns the letter Rachel left for Bruce)
Sometimes people deserve to have their faith rewarded (said while Fox is walking away from the destroyed Batvision computer).”
There are bigger ideas at play in this film than a simple Batman v the Joker story, and those ideas resonate with tens of millions of people around the world, from all different walks of life. All wrapped up in the guise of a top-tier blockbuster on the level of Empire Strikes Back.
That’s why the Dark Knight is special.