There were few films coming out this year that were as highly anticipated as The Dark Knight, and for good reason. Batman Begins re-energized the Batman franchise and delivered us the very best Batman movie to date. Christopher Nolan is one of the very best up and coming directors (can you call him up and coming anymore?) in the business, Christian Bale became the best on screen Batman in film history and the film just worked on just about every level. Why wouldn’t people be pumped about the sequel… ESPECIALLY with the most famous of all the Batman villains (The Joker) being the main antagonist.
Yes, The Dark Knight was highly anticipated… and it didn’t fail to deliver. The movie was deep (as far as comic book movies go at any rate), exciting with improved action and dramatic tension over the first film… and they exchanged Katie Holmes for an upgrade in Maggie Gyllenhaal (so please, no more discussion about how you can’t exchange supporting actors in a franchise).
Now me personally, I thought the film was great… but also over-rated by many other people who gushed out the ears for the film and poured generous amounts of hyperbole all over it like gravy on thanksgiving potatoes. Outrageous statements like “One of the greatest crime dramas ever made” nonsense. The reality is that The Dark Knight did have its weaknesses and although I loved it, I wouldn’t talk about it in terms of a possible Best Picture nomination at the Oscars. Well… at least I wouldn’t have before.
I’ve been talking to many of my film critic friends who have been seeing the early screenings (like my friend Kris Tapley over at In Contention) and it seems many of the higher profile “Best Picture” potential buzz movies that a few months ago many thought would be shoe ins for nominations are starting to fall by the wayside.
“The Soloist” has been pushed back to next year.
“The Changeling” is getting mixed reviews
“Milk” is getting mixed feedback
“Quantum of Solace” is generally thought to be good, but not as good as Royale
“Defiance” didn’t have the pop many hoped it would
Let me put it this way… if this was last year, The Dark Knight would have no business being mentioned in the “Best Picture” category. But this year may be different. With a number of these unseen early oscar favorites starting to get mixed responses it’s starting to look like a “very good” movie like The Dark Knight may just be good enough to be considered for Best Picture.
Here we are in October and it still really could be possible. If I personally had to pick the best picture nominees right now (not including films that haven’t been released yet), my nominees would be:
1) Wall-E (Best picture of the year so far bar none)
2) In Bruges (tragically underrated)
3) The Dark Knight
4) Son Of Rambow
5) Burn After Reading
So what do you think. With the early favorites starting to fade a bit, do you think it’s possible for The Dark Knight to be nominated for best picture this year?
