A Dark Night at the Academy Awards

It isn’t surprising that the Dark Knight has been snubbed out of the Academy Awards this time around.

Such a course of actions, in due part of Hollywood’s campaign to keep films mainstreamed, may have turned against the film’s more serious ambitions. Such as gaining credibility in the more casual audiences.

This film proves that you don’t need to be a comic book fan to enjoy something with a good story, a plot and some great acting on the side. Not to mention a decent action flick.

The only award the film is getting is the posthumous award for Heath Ledger for his role as the mysterious arch-villain the Joker. It was basically a sympathy vote cast aside for him.

For all the other accomplishments, from story to acting, the film has gotten no recognition. One almost forgets that this summer blockbuster is the only second film to hit the 500 million dollars range. Not bad for something that’s just a comic book film.

This is the same place where movies like “Braveheart” would get all the credit and due for its cinematic skills. Not only that, there is also the Star Wars films (1977), for better or worse in the science fiction genre, that made a nearly clean sweep at the Oscars. Personally it's for the worse. Considering the Star Wars film’s awfulness in dialogue, the Dark Knight shouldn’t have any problems getting noticed.

But it did.

It’s the same for many other types of awards. If there’s an interesting artist or writer won something out, it’s almost entirely by accident. And the fact that Ledger is the only one to get any serious consideration because he died is a total crock.

Here is the typical attitude of the general audiences and critics who feel that dramatic content has no place in a film such as the Dark Knight. But, like none other film, it deals with heavyweight issues of corruption, greed, political power and the notion of terrorism represented by the Joker. His idea of terrorism is best exemplified by today’s terrorism that exist in modern society. The Joker’s grim realization that chaos is a needed element in today’s world is a horrifying one.

I still stand by my original review of the film as being slightly too dark compared to many of the other entries. (My favorite summer flicks were first Iron Man and second Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of Skulls). I loved the Batman Begins film for its steady incline towards the darker edge. But I felt the Dark Knight has been too violent for its type.

However, I still feel the film’s excellent story deserves some praise at the awards. It’s not going to get any. That will probably get the director Christopher Nolan very leery of going for a third turn in the film franchise. His film getting shut out like that may force him to turn to other projects. Nolan is an excellent director who made the wonderfully delirious Memento that tells about an unreliable narrator who has short term memory.

Nolan may seek out other cinematic challenges if the Dark Knight gets shut out like this. Does that mean we’ll get a third film, which is going to wrap things up, that may be slightly disappointing. That we’ll get something that will echo the downward tide of the third entries of both X-Men and Spiderman. Neither one of them gained a satisfactory conclusion to their franchise.

The Dark Knight offers a tragedy of a story involving the fall of a hero in the form of district attorney Harvey Dent. And also the fall of another hero: the Batman. His war on crime may have taken to further level which has caused widespread panic. And it becomes ultimately self-destructive. This single-minded stubbornness in maintaining his fixture on cleaning up his beloved city. Only to find that it is still a corrupted cancer. As his friend and colleague Alfred said, “You spat into the faces of criminals. And they’re turning to the only thing that doesn’t make sense. The Joker.” Beautifully acted by established Michael Caine.

Everything in the story connects with each other. And it makes picture perfect sense how the film operates and maintains itself as a solid action thriller. But it’s more than that. It deconstructions the myths of heroes and villains, turning them inside out. And the film explores the more series moral dilemmas between these characters.

It’s become something better than mere summer hype. This is a film with a message. And we are treated to dynamic performances by all the actors around in the film that tries to bring the dramatic punch to the story. They’re fantastic to watch. Christian Bale offers a masterful job as both parts of the Batman and Bruce Wayne personas. The only actor who is able to create the duo role flawlessly. And this is the best role that is underplayed by Gary Oldman who gives another great performance as Commissioner Gordon. Here we find out exactly why he got the job in the first place. Young, energetic, he isn't the fat buffoon often portrayed in TV and films.

But the typical attitude still prevails. Which is unfortunate. Because this film has become a very good study in plot, characters and story going forward in a single motion. It’s a near perfect execution in filmmaking. But there’s another kind of darkness that is brewing in the night. The kind that seems to linger over a brightening light. That darkness is called the Academy or the Oscar Awards.

Creativity is a difficult thing to praise these days. But the Dark Knight has certainly tapped into the small darkness that is in each of our hearts. And there lies the truth behind the film’s success. We have something to fear, all of us. And the Joker makes that the best representation of this fear in the film.

Here’s to hoping for a third reunion of the film’s director, writer and actor. But I’m not holding my breath.