Follow the Dark Knight

I don’t even like action movies. Or at least, not any of the recent ones. I walked out of Casino Royale. I hated Ironman. I don’t even want to see the trailer for Saw II. Too many blood, bros, and bimbos and it all starts feeling like the same rehashed plot. Given my recent history with action movies, I was prepared to be seriously let down by Dark Knight.

I was fully enthralled. Dark Knight is life boiled down to a damn operatic game of chess. Scene by scene its one calculated action after another as Batman and Joker fight to check the other’s king.

Dark Knight just remade the superhero genre. It will transform superhero films like the Matrix transformed action films. Dark Knight is the ultimate superhero film because it managed to sum up all the superhero film that came before it. In a sense, its the superhero film to end all superhero films. Therefore, if the next superhero film wants to be original it will have to square itself with the message of Dark Knight and then take that message farther.

As The Joker says, its not about the money, its about the message.

The message: Follow the Dark Knight.