Christopher Nolan’s Reach Exceeded His Grasp With Dark Knight

When Christopher Nolan took charge of the floundering Batman film franchise, his initial results were overwhelmingly positive. I love George Clooney as much as the next movie buff but his Batman film was poor.

With his sequel, The Dark Knight, Christopher Nolan was supposed to give us the best film of the 2008 summer season. Having seen it last night, I predict that Iron Man will retain the crown.

There’s much to love about this 2½-hour film and Heath Ledger deserves a posthumous Oscar. However, after the main story arc is established, The Dark Knight runs like a derailed train with a caboose straining to stay on the track.

The problem? It was simple from where I sat. Christopher Nolan co-wrote, directed and produced this celluloid monstrosity. Hence, when it came to to edit the results of his months of principal photography, he couldn’t bring himself to part with enough of the fluff.

Instead, we are left with a film with 5 acts which should have had 3. With a separate producer acting as a sounding board for Mr. Nolan, he could have been brought to see that he was trending toward an overwrought mess rather than a taught thriller. What a shame!

In the end, nothing can detract from Heath Ledger’s final, glorious performance and die-hard fans of DC Comics will be smiling like the Joker for weeks because of the density of the story. This movie buff, however, longed for Christopher Nolan’s first Batman film. That remains the standard bearer.