By Jonathan Klotz
| Published
The debate over the best of anything can often be hard to settle, from the best hot dog to the best pizza, but when it comes to superhero blockbusters, there’s a correct answer. Spider-Man 2 and Avengers: Endgame have their defenders, and a case can be made for the original Superman, but nothing can compare to Christopher Nolan’s superhero magnum opus, The Dark Knight. Now on Netflix, the Emmy-winning film is not only the best superhero film ever made, but it’s one of the best crime movies of all time, and there’s no debate that it features one of the greatest performances in movie history, thanks to Heath Ledger’s performance as The Joker.
The Dark Knight Never Lets Up
I was a huge fan of Ledger going back to The Patriot and A Knight’s Tale, but I was one of many comic book fans who heard Nolan cast him as The Joker and were left shaking our heads, wondering how the Australian pretty boy could follow in Jack Nicholson’s footsteps. The opening scene of The Dark Knight made it clear that Ledger’s Clown Prince of Crime was going to be something very different that no one had ever seen on the big screen before. Joker was a force of nature, an instrument of pure chaos who, as Michael Caine’s Alfred famously tried to describe, “some men just want to watch the world burn.”
Superhero films, especially Marvel’s post-Endgame content, can be accused of being all set up, but The Dark Knight is a runaway train driven by Ledger with Christian Bale’s Batman barely hanging on, from the opening bank heist to the nighttime chase and finally, the prisoner’s dilemma onboard a pair of ferries. Christian Bale’s second time around as Batman could have easily found him playing second-fiddle in his own movie, but Bale rose to the occasion and matches Ledger beat for beat in all of their scenes together. If anything, the film moves too fast and doesn’t give the audience enough time to breathe, which is why, on your latest rewatch, you’ll appreciate Aaron Eckhart’s Harvey Dent scenes as a chance to relax a little bit.
Heath Ledger won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor thanks to his performance in The Dark Knight, only to be topped years later by Joaquin Phoenix winning the Oscar for Best Actor in Joker, a film that would have never been made if not for Ledger’s iconic performance. Ledger did such an amazing job that the comic version of the Joker was forever changed to reflect the unhinged, chaotic performance, an impressive feat considering the character had been an icon for over 60 years.
One Of The Best Crime Thrillers Of All Time
Removed from its comic book origins, The Dark Knight is still a spectacular experience with more in common with Heat than Batman 1989. The jailhouse discussion between Batman and Joker is the superhero equivalent of the famous diner scene, and it’s so good that almost every action thriller, comic book-based or not, has tried to recreate it. I roll my eyes whenever I see a movie try to explain that being caught was always part of the villain’s plan, because no one will ever do it as well as Nolan, Bale, and Ledger.
Spider-Man 2 is iconic, with Tobey Maguire and Alfred Molina, under the watchful eye of Sam Raimi, bringing layers of drama and pathos to what could have been a simple cash-in sequel. Yet it doesn’t transcend the entire genre the way that The Dark Knight does, a film that would have worked with generic characters, but by recontextualizing the Batman/Joker rivalry, it’s elevated to greatness. It also helps that it stands alone, with no teasers for a sequel and no cameos that lead nowhere.
The Dark Knight Defied Expectations
I have never been happier to be wrong than I was about Heath Ledger’s performance as The Joker. The Dark Knight was one of the greatest surprises in movie history, and today, when it’s widely praised for being a nearly-perfect film and better than anything Marvel has ever done, it’s been forgotten that legions of fans were expecting it to be a flop. Imagine everyone’s surprise when it set box office records on the way to earning over a billion dollars alongside dozens of award nominations.
If you’ve never seen it, it’s been a few years, or you re-watch it every year, The Dark Knight is always worth your time. That’s why now, 17 years after its release, the movie is in Netflix’s top ten. It’s timeless, it’s near-perfect, and there’s something it that appeals to everyone.
The Dark Knight is now streaming on Netflix.
