“The Dark Knight” Talk
Author: Daniel Brooks October 7th, 2008So, now that summer is over and The Dark Knight hypetrain has reached its last stop, I’m curious: Does anyone here think it’s actually deserving of any nominations come Oscar time? Best Supporting Actor for Heath? Best Original Screenplay? Best Picture, maybe?
What say you?
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Comics, Movie/TV
October 7th, 2008 at 7:55 am
As fun as the movie is, it’s not the amazing piece of cinema the hype would have had me believe. Ledger’s performance was pretty great, but due to inadequacies in the script, I have to stop short of thinking it’s Oscar worthy.
October 7th, 2008 at 8:03 am
I think it will be nominated for just about all the biggies. Whether it deserves it or whether it will win, I’m not sure. This has been such a dud of a year for movies that something big and solidly good like “Dark Knight” really stands out, and I doubt that anything between now and the end of the year will challenge it too heavily.
RDJ legitimately deserves a statue for “Tropic Thunder” is all I know.
October 7th, 2008 at 8:38 am
Haha good call on RDJ. I wish Ben Stiller would direct more movies…
Among the films I’ve seen this year, especially Hollywood movies, it’s the best. (Though Wall-e was also excellent, and I think it deserves some recognition beyond the Best Animated Film category, which it’s a lock to win.) I don’t think the film is without problems, however, but overall it was very solid.
Heath’s performance lived up to the hype for me — he was really fantastic — and I’d like to see him nominated.
October 7th, 2008 at 6:10 pm
I think it depends on how much worth you grant the Oscars. It’s nowhere near a great piece of cinema, but the Oscars haven’t concerned themselves with great pieces of cinema for quite a while. It was better than The Lord of the Rings and smarter than Crash, so in that sense, it’s definitely Oscar-worthy.
October 8th, 2008 at 1:43 am
Heath totally deserves the Oscar, if nothing else. Separated from all the hype, it’s on e of the best on screen performances I have EVER seen.
October 8th, 2008 at 10:03 am
Since I’ve pretty much only watched superhero movies this summer, I’d definitely put Ledger’s performance at the top.
Of course, I thought Lord of the Rings: Return of the King was the weakest of the three and it won best picture so what do I know?
October 8th, 2008 at 2:07 pm
NO!
I think this film is terribly, terribly overrated. (I like how pretty much before this movie even came out, everyone decided that Heath Ledger was going to be nominated.) Yes, he did a good job, but certainly not to the level of being nominated or win worthy.
(By the way, Empire released their list of the 500 greatest movies of all time, TDK ranking in at 15! Crazy crazy crazy…i truly do not understand…
October 8th, 2008 at 2:10 pm
Dom, what didn’t you like about it? And here is, I suppose the real question when it comes to whether or not X actor should get a nomination: did you see 5 better performances in a supporting role this year?
October 9th, 2008 at 9:25 am
Here’s some gas for the fire: I thought Aaron Eckhart did just as good a job as Ledger. Discuss.
October 9th, 2008 at 12:54 pm
It’s funny you say that, John. I don’t agree that he was “as good” as Ledger, but I do think that he gave the next-best performance. I really, really felt that the Dark Knight worked as a tragedy because of Eckhart’s performance. In some regards, I thought the movie should have ended with him escaping the hospital, but I suppose the end showdown was necessary to show how far he’d fallen and why. But his performance was fantastic, yeah.
October 10th, 2008 at 5:48 am
Ok, maybe it wasn’t AS good. It was certainly a very different role and didn’t require the same amount of manic energy that Ledger brought to the Joker. I guess what really impressed me about Eckhart’s character was how enthusiastic he was as a good guy and how quickly he turned and I bought it. It was a bit of a stretch but I was willing to make that leap. Ledger’s character was crazy from the get-go but Eckhart had to play it straight for most of the film and then go crazy.