The Dark Knight (2008)

Director: Christopher Nolan
Writer: Christopher Nolan and Jonathan Nolan and David S. Goyer.

Sometimes, a film comes along and it leaves us speechless. For me, there's been a few. There Will Be Blood, Drive and The Social Network to name some. The Dark Knight will always be on this list for me. I was lucky enough to catch it in 35mm in cinemas recently for its 10th anniversary. This was only the second time I'd ever seen a film and not taken a breath during (the other is Dunkirk, another Nolan masterpiece). From the opening bank robbery to the final confrontation, my heart beat rose and rose and rose. With the ending came a sort of euphoria. I could breathe. My heart could relax. I was free from this film. But like anything truly good, I wanted more. I needed more. This film is like a drug, or perhaps great sex. During the "high", I felt like I was on another planet. It was an out-of-body experience. Some people get their kicks by doing drugs, but not me. I'll take a good film instead. This films is the perfect drug.

The film opens with a bank robbery and the introduction to The Joker (Heath Ledger, we'll come to him), definitely the greatest cinematic villain of the 21st century and maybe of all cinema. From there we switch between Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale, excellent) and Alfred (Michael Caine, brilliant), Harvey Dent and Rachel Dawes (Aaron Eckhart and Maggie Gyllenhaal respectively, both stunning), Jim Gordon (Gary Oldman, far too under-rated) and The Joker. Nolan and his story writer Goyer create, above all else, a humanist superhero story with viable threats and realistic outcomes. The Joker is a terrorist, an anarchist, someone who wishes solely to bring chaos to the world. Batman, our "hero", tries to stop him while also remaining within his moral code (thou shalt not kill). This creates a moral dilemma for Batman, and what occurs is a journey for him, mostly introspective, where he tries to figure out who is a villain and who is a circumstantial hero (the answer = everyone's a villain, except Rachel maybe). The plot grounds itself in reality, and by doing so, it elevates this film above the usual explosion porn seen in superhero films (see any other DC film).

Everything Christopher Nolan touches seemingly turns to gold. A psychological thriller (Memento)? Check. A thriller about magicians (The Prestige)? Check. Sci-fi (Interstellar)? Check. War (Dunkirk)? Check. Whatever the hell Inception is? Check. Include in that a superhero trilogy. However, to downgrade it simply to a superhero trilogy is to diminish its best quality. Its questions about humanity, morality and vigilantism are poignant, thought-provoking and strikingly relevant. It shows us the triumph of humanity over a supposedly unconquerable evil, the ferry scene showing that there is some good in us after all. Nolan makes a film with a lot of death, but we see very little of it. That creates a brooding atmosphere, one that shows death is around the corner, but it shall strike before we turn. Everything in this film oozes auteur. They don't come around very often. But Nolan is a gem who should be mined for every quality he possesses before we're left thinking what might have been.

The music is something I had never appreciated in this film. I've seen it upwards of 10 times at this stage. Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard build tension with striking percussion and heavy brass interludes. It pushes us further to the edge of our seats, which is what strong music should do in a film like this. The script is sensational. Every line of dialogue out of Alfred's mouth is the perfect line. The same goes for The Joker. Kudos to the writers for achieving that.The cinematography, the editing, the VFX, the sound work. Everything in this film is exceptional. This is the kind of film we get where everyone involved is working at the top of their game.

His maniacal stare grips us from first minute to last

Now for Heath Ledger. His performance is usually listed on "best ever" lists, often alongside Marlon Brando for The Godfather and Daniel Day-Lewis for There Will Be Blood. Look. More has been said about his performance that's far better than anything I could write. It's been analysed down to his lip-licking and grunting and all of it. Yes, Nolan wrote an exceptional, meaty character for him to develop, but by God he took The Joker off the page and made him into the single most memorable villain of recent history in all art, literature included. His malevolent eyes, moist lips, sinister costume and creepy laugh has stuck with me ever since I was a 10 year old cowering behind a cushion when he came on the news programme in this film. Art is about transporting us to another level, letting the common person see something they would not normally see, letting us feel something we would not normally feel. By this definition, Ledger is a true artist, transcending the traditional villain who has a motive. His character creates chaos because he wants to. He doesn't want Batman to die because, as he says, Batman completes him. Without Batman, The Joker has no game to play and no one to play with. All he wants is to wreak havoc, to have "a better class of criminal" in Gotham. The perfect antidote to Batman. And Ledger is the perfect possessor of this ampoule of the antidote.

There is no thing that is truly perfect. Perfection and universality don't exist. Someone out there was underwhelmed by The Mona Lisa. Someone detested Citizen Kane. Someone couldn't stand Ulysses. Someone turned Eine Kleine Nachtmusik off after 30 seconds. We will never find a film, or work of art for that matter, that is perfect, that is universal, that transcends us and whoever will come after us. But put a gun to my head and I say The Dark Knight is a worthy nominee for this accolade. 10/10 doesn't do this film justice. Nothing does.

By Cathal McGuinness.