The Dark Knight has cracked the $400 million domestic box-office mark in 18 days, shattering the previous record of 43 days set by Shrek 2 in 2004. So does this mean it will take down Titanic as the all-time North American box-office champ? It's still $200 million behind. However, the rest of the summer is thin in new big releases, so the competition will not be stiff. And there's such enthusiasm for this film that you can see people going back one last time. I may see it again myself (and I never go to movies more than once).
What is it about this film that has so captivated people? Is it just Heath Ledger and all the undercurrents created by his death? The film's timely themes of civilization threatened by the forces of chaos? The lack of CGI wanking? The magic of Morgan Freeman? I think it's just a hell of a movie. A beautiful job of setting superheroics and super villainy within a realistically-rendered world. A tricky thing to pull off...placing such bizarre, over-the-top characters within a human-scaled world. It could've really struck a false note. But it doesn't. It took a leap of faith for Chris Nolan et al to think they could make this work and I'm glad they took it. This film ups the ante for all comic book movies to come. It says, "You don't have to go for hyper-stylization a la Sin City or silly manic fluff a la Spider Man. You can play it for real and make it work." The film throbs and shivers, and the big chase with Dent in the armored car and Joker in the truck with the RPG and Batman on the motorcycle provides the biggest, most satisfying crescendo in the history of action films. When Joker stands in the middle of the street saying, "Hit me!" The film takes off into the stratosphere.
