The Dark Knight

Starring  Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Michael Caine, Gary Oldman, Aaron Eckhart, Morgan Freeman

Directed by Christopher Nolan

When recollecting the highs and lows of the 2008 summer film season, one title warrants deeper appreciation than any other. Yes, the film that now ranks as the second highest-grossing film of all time, just behind Titanic. The film that drew comparisons to everything from The Godfather Part II to Hamlet. I’m referring, of course, to Christopher Nolan’s masterful The Dark Knight, which opened in July amid massive expectations and extreme anticipation. The movie was better than anyone expected, more along the lines of Michael Mann’s Heat than any superhero movie. The performances were extraordinary from top to bottom, from Gary Oldman’s underplayed and effective Commissioner Gordon to Aaron Eckhart’s dangerously charming Harvey Dent (and eventual Two-Face).

Heath Ledger will receive the Best Supporting Actor Oscar come February at the Academy Awards, not from sympathy votes for the late actor, but rather from colleagues who recognize Ledger’s deranged, Clockwork Orange-esque portrayal of The Joker as the most effective depiction of madness since Javier Bardem’s performance as Anton Chigurh in last year’s Best Picture winner No Country for Old Men (Bardem also won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar).

Indeed, The Dark Knight attracted such an incredible amount of critical and commercial praise that detractors have formed in battalions, claiming Christian Bale’s raspy Batman voice is too over-the-top, among other complaints. Pay no mind – The Dark Knight deserves its status as one of the finest summer entertainments – and crime pictures – to come around in a long time.

But The Dark Knight wasn’t the only spectacular movie this summer. In May, Robert Downey Jr. exploded onscreen in Iron Man, Jon Favreau’s gloriously giddy comic-book adaptation that rode on the charisma and coolness of its leading man (and Jeff Bridges was pretty terrific, too). The casting choice of Downey Jr. as Tony Stark was ingenious; he is, quite simply, the best actor of his generation, and has excelled in recent years in diverse projects (Zodiac, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Wonder Boys). He is Iron Man.

On the topic of Downey Jr., I must mention Tropic Thunder, which I personally found much funnier than Pineapple Express, Step Brothers, or any of the other R-rated comedy hits this summer. Ben Stiller’s Hollywood satire features hilarious performances from Stiller, Jack Black, Tom Cruise, and even Matthew McConaughey, but Downey takes the cake as Kirk Lazarus, an Oscar-winning Method actor that goes too far when he has his skin dyed black to play the African-American sergeant in the faux Vietnam film being shot within Tropic Thunder. Downey Jr. is an actor who embodies his every role, no matter how ridiculous, with equal dramatic and comedic weight, and he is something to see in Tropic Thunder.

A slew of four outstanding independent productions, however, are my personal favorite films of the year so far. Man on Wire is an exhilarating documentary chronicling the efforts of Philippe Petit, a Frenchman who tightrope-walked between the World Trade Center twin towers in 1974 for over forty minutes. A fascinating documentary subject, Man on Wire is oddly inspiring and majestic, and one of the best documentaries in a documentary-rich summer season.

Tom McCarthy’s The Visitor, starring underrated character actor Richard Jenkins as a widowed professor who befriends two foreigners squatting in his New York apartment, is another art-house picture that stood out. Simultaneously a simple story of friendship and a bruising political commentary on immigration laws, The Visitor was less flashy than most of the summer box-office titans, but far more effective.

Woody Allen's Vicky Cristina Barcelona left me with a startling reexamination of what love means, representing the director's best work in years (as fresh and delightful as Annie Hall, even).

And in Elegy, an incredible adaptation of Philip Roth's novel The Dying Animal, actors Ben Kingsley, Peter Sarsgaard, Penelope Cruz and Dennis Hopper give performances that should be remembered come Oscar time.

Having recently viewed Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey in an incredible 70 MM print at the Paramount Theatre, I am reminded of another summer winner, WALL-E, Pixar Animation’s best work since Toy Story. WALL-E plays as a romantic version of Kubrick’s film, as well as providing a cautionary environmentalist message.

Not all of the superhero films were as extraordinary as The Dark Knight. In Hancock, starring Will Smith, director Peter Berg kills an interesting premise with an absurd third act and annoying camerawork. The ‘reworking’ of The Incredible Hulk is laughable – the acting, sans Edward Norton as Bruce Banner, is astoundingly bad, with William Hurt giving one of his most bizarre performances. I still prefer the more intelligent Hulk film directed by Ang Lee in 2003, but many people found that version too thoughtful. The Incredible Hulk makes up for that, I suppose, but at the expense of a cohesive storyline and any sort of character development.

I chose not to mess with the Adam Sandler comedy You Don’t Mess with the Zohan, nor did I come anywhere near The Love Guru, Speed Racer, Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, The Happening, The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, or Meet Dave. My sincere apologies go out to anyone who did encounter one of these rumored disasters – I would love to hear your survival stories.

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