Six years ago today, one of the most critically acclaimed movies of all time hit theaters. The Dark Knight won over 100 awards when it was released, including academy awards for both sound editing and the late Heath Ledger’s performance. It has remained in the public consciousness since 2008 and is regularly hailed as one of the best superhero movies ever made.

Nate and I have very different histories with The Dark Knight. While he is a longtime fan, I found the film to be a competent but ultimately disappointing entry into Christopher Nolan‘s series. While I did come around on The Dark Knight Rises, I still have my problems with its predecessor: pacing, structure and plot issues, to name a few.

Earlier this week, I sat down with Nate and rewatched The Dark Knight with a critical eye. In our post-film discussion, we analyze the formal and narrative aspects of the film (starting at 20:26), talk about its cultural significance (44:21) and finally address its impact on subsequent superhero movies (56:40). Please be aware that this podcast includes spoilers for The Dark Knight.

You can listen to our conversation online, by subscribing via iTunes, or by downloading it here. Happy listening!  ~ Søren

In the podcast, we mention that one of the reasons The Dark Knight was so popular is that it tapped into the public consciousness. We then mentioned that many of the biggest films of 1999 similarly found success by addressing major contemporaneous societal issues. Our article about that phenomenon can be found here.

How do you feel about The Dark Knight in retrospect? How has your opinion of the film changed? Let us know in the comments below!

This podcast uses clips from the song Test Drive by Zapac / CC BY-NC 3.0.