2. Comic Book Films Will Never Be The Same Again
This is perhaps the most obvious reason on this list. While Batman Begins planted the seeds of what Christopher Nolan was trying to accomplish with his Batman films, no one saw The Dark Knight coming. Equal parts comic book film and crime saga, TDK shattered the glass box comic book films were confined to and transcended the genre. There were comic book films before TDK, and there will be comic book films after TDK. Wally Pfister's beautiful, haunting cinematography, combined with Hans Zimmer's (and James Newton Howard) moody score and the late Heath Ledger's balls-to-the-walls performance, the comic book film genre was turned on its head. TDK was dark, gritty, and tackled some very complex moral issues, the blurred line between right and wrong, the thin line separating good and evil, the heavy themes of paranoia and fear in the post-911 world we are all living in; all of these are components that lead to the watershed moment (or film, whichever you prefer) that was TDK. I will even go as far as to say that there were action films before TDK and after TDK. Without getting into too much detail to avoid spoilers, world-class director Sam Mendes cited TDK as a huge inspiration while shooting the James Bond pic Skyfall, and it shows. From the score to the cinematography, to even some replicated shots and Javier Bardem's villain, the influence is apparent. Action films will get darker and grittier and attempt to follow in the giant footsteps of TDK and burst through the door it busted open.
