9. Darker, More Serious Blockbusters - The Dark Knight (2008)
Annoying Examples:Snow White & The Huntsman, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, Man Of Steel, Battleship, Transformers: Dark of the Moon It would be a tad hyperbolic to suggest that
The Dark Knight is wholly responsible for the added "dark" factor associated with pretty much every movie franchise going right now, though Christopher Nolan's movie certainly gave audiences a taste of something they liked with its
Heat-like take on the Batman franchise. Nolan noticeably toned down the comic book elements that were much more abundant throughout
Batman Begins, after all, and what we got was a far more seriously-inclined and procedural take on the popular comic hero.
The Dark Knight proved, after all, that movie-goers were willing to accept and embrace a comic book character in a real world setting - by throwing out the pulpier aspects, Nolan gave us a Batman who could have easily existed in our own universe. And given the failure and embarrassment factor associated with other comic book adaptations of the time -
Daredevil and
Elektra spring to mind - it's clearly what we all needed. If "dark blockbusters" have become stale and dull in this modern era, it's because they're compromising on the fun.