The Dark Knight

The Dark Knight (2008), sequel to Batman Begins (2005), can be considered a post-noir film. While this movie shares its similarities with noir films, it also brings new elements to the table. The most apparent comparison would be the dim lighting technique, made famous by the noir films. Agreeing with its title, the Dark Knight uses the dim lighting technique as a primary foundation while filming the actors in the appropriate setting.

Digging below surface level similarities, one will begin to find several uses of brutality, criminal acts, and sexuality. These subjects which were once considered taboo, were beginning to become more exposed within the realm of noir films. However, as time furthers on, what was previously thought to be radical in the noir films would be minimal compared to what is shown in the Dark Knight. While sexuality in the Dark Knight may consist of merely innuendos, the excessive violence and crimes make what is shown in noir films mere child's play. While having to respect the noir films for their influential ideology in the role of film making, its predecessor, Dark Knight, takes it to a whole new level with its villain, the Joker played by Heath Ledger.

Unlike the static, undeveloped antagonists in the past, the director made sure that the Joker set a new bar in character development. In the Dark Knight, the Joker's rotten nature is revealed in refreshingly new ways, such as in his clever plot to let his accomplices' greed get themselves killed while robbing the bank as well as playing off a police officer's emotions in jail to escape. This uniquely constructed character is so overwhelming that is it thought to be linked to Heath Ledger's death.