Critical Reception Manifestations of the Success of The Dark Knight - Movie Review Example

Critical Reception Manifestations of the Success of “The Dark Knight” In “The Dark Knight” film, Batman shows his efforts to stop crime in Gotham city. He gains support from Harvey Dent, the District Attorney and Lieutenant Jim Gordon in his operations to dismantle the criminal organization that have terrorised the streets for a long time. The partnership works well, but Batman and his friends find themselves as prey to The Joker (Heath Ledger). The Joker is a rising criminal who terrifies Gotham citizens and fights against the police officers. Rampant crime in the city reveals the hopelessness of the citizens and the absurdity of the main characters as they fight throughout the film (Smith 2008, par. 6). With his new sophisticated cycle, Batman barrels down the city’s highway to attack the Joker. The Joker is aggressive and his actions are tragic and no longer comic. The Joker (Heath Ledger) died in January 2008, six months before “The Dark Knight” was released in July the same year. After the film was released in July 18, 2008, movie critics flourished with articles explaining their expectations, as well as, those of the audience. Most of them concentrated on the strengths and weaknesses in their film reviews and the turn out rate in film theatres after “The Dark Knight” was released. Based on my critical analysis of the critic film reviews, I would argue that the moment of reception generally considered the success of the film and not its failure. It, therefore, means that I support most arguments presented in the critics’ reviews that explored the aspect of quality of the film, expectations of audience and critics, as well as, the targeted audience. Comparison of the American film reviews would involve articles released in 2008 from the Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Chicago Sun-Times and The New York Post websites. The most conspicuous similarity about the film reviews is that Director Christopher Nolan was attempting whether the audience would turn out to his deep and darker film that is distinguished from the past comic-kind movies such as the “Batman Begins.” Manhola Dargis in The New York Times argues that the film was pitched at the split between entertainment and poetry because it goes deeper, darker and shows thrilling moments of the superhero known as Batman (Dargis 2008, par. 3). The Wall Street Journal article clearly indicates that the terrifying film experiments the social world and brings forth the dark Gotham city, which is dominated by pervasive corruption, extreme levels of crime and endless betrayals (Morgenstern 2008, par 4). Both articles reveal that the actions in the movie define the movie as “The Dark Knight.” Similarly, the Chicago Sun-Times, The New York Post and San Francisco Chronicle have coined the film as a “dark night” that goes beyond its origins and becomes a tragedy. The articles clearly indicate that “Batman” ceases to be a comic book when you watch “The Dark Knight.” The film is considered a success because it presents what was intended in the Batman, a comic book of the 1940’s (Ebert 2008, par. 5). It makes the audience forget the funny interpretations from the book as they move to the tragic and thrilling moments of the Gotham city. There is a distinguishing characteristic of the article posted on The New York Post from the other websites in that it considers the moviegoers turnout rate for the film. The article ascertains that the fact that Heath Ledger had died in Jan 2008 made the audience to discover the absurdity of the film’s actions, high level of production quality and why it was not suitable for children. Other articles have elaborated on the film’s architecture without taking into account the audiences desires and expectations about the movie. In other words, The New York Post article articulates the success of the film based on its architecture and the audience perceptions, unlike the other newspaper articles, which concentrates on how the movie was made and its structure only (Smith 2008, par. 8). Based on the critical discussion of the film reviews, I will argue that the moments of reception after the film was released clearly shows the success of them, unlike other people who would say that the film was a failure. I support the fact that most people turned out to watch the film because Heath Ledger had died six months earlier before the film was released. I feel that the Noran actually used deeper and darker explorations of the evils and criminal acts in Gotham City. I argue that the audience came to reveal the high quality of the film, direction and performance of the characters since they were following up The Joker’s supernatural actions. The critical reception has a lot of sense to my understanding on how people react after a film is released. I support the fact that the excellent technical production of the movie presents what the comic book known as the Batman intended to convey to the readers. As the critics argue, it is evident that Nolan’s work transformed a comic story into a tragedy making it terrible and horrible. The absurdity of The Joker’s actions and jokes justifies the fact that the movie was a darker one and more terrifying than the “The Batman Begins” (Ebert 2008, par. 7). In addition to the fact that The Joker had died and was acting in obscene behaviours, the film targeted an adult audience and not the children. Also, the science fiction employed in the film makes it successful because the written work is magnified to show the destructive nature of human beings. Most critics of the review claim that the movie actions are no longer comic and funny, but, have been transformed into tragic incidences. Additionally, some articles ascertain that Ledger’s death made people to watch the horrible film. Owing to the fact that the audience flourished in the theatres to witness Ledger’s performance, I will argue that the audience expectations were never fulfilled after the film was released in 2008. This is mainly because Heath Ledger acting as The Joker appears in horrific scenes, but, not in comic and funny scenes as the audience expected (Smith 2008, par. 9). Most of the audience were sympathizing with Ledger, but, his actions in the movie were more tragic than they had expected. As Director Nolan directs the characters through the movie scenes, it is evident that he intended to show the real message contained in the Batman. Additionally, he was very keen to use The Joker in presenting the destructive nature of human beings. As the critic reviews suggest, Nolan attempted to engage the audience in the movie actions in order to convey his message (Neumaier 2008, par. 4). The movie scenes seem to have involved most of the audience using science fiction and thus conveyed the intended message. In this case, I would argue that the involvement of the audience in the film was more that the science fiction and the special effects created by the scenes. Since most of the audience wanted to witness the amazing and comic performance of Ledger, then, they were following the movie scenes one after the other. In this way, they identified the excellent performance of the characters, unique quality of the film’s technical production and why the movie was not suitable for children. Thus, they followed the film action due its special effects, as well as, Ledger’s performance. In summary, the critic reviews of “The Dark Knight” film manifests its success and not its failure. The moments of reception that characterised the period after the film was released in July 2008, justifies the fact that the film was successful because it presented what the Batman, a comic book, was intended to convey in the 1940s. As the critic reviews identify the strengths and weaknesses of the film, the intended message of the film unfolds through the scenes. My arguments support most of the critic reviews because they provide valid conclusions on why “The Dark Knight” turned out to be successful. Reference List Dargis M 2008, The Dark Knight (2008). New York, The New York Times Company. Morgenstern J 2008, Ledger Dazzles in Suffocatingly Dark ‘Knight’ Boston, The Wall Street Journal. Ebert R 2008, The Dark Knight, Chicago: Ebert Digital LLC. Smith K 2008, Grinner Takes All, New York: The New York Post Company. Neumaier J 2008, Ledgers Dark Joker raises pic to a classic, New York, NYDailyNews.com. Read More