Nolan's peak - as astonishing as people say.

Rating: 7/10 (17 December 2008)

I've just re-watched 'The Dark Knight' on Blu-Ray at home, and before pressing play I was curious if whether I would find it as brilliant as back in the cinemas. Chris Nolan's masterpiece didn't need 10 seconds before I remembered all the stuff I loved about it. The opening Batman-logo sets the atmosphere to a dark, twisted and ghoulish film that's got more character-complexity and emotional depth than any other superhero-movie before it - then again, 'The Dark Knight' isn't really a superhero-movie, it doesn't deserve being compared to the likes of Fantastic Four, Iron Man or that "incredible" hulk. This is a crime-epic that shows both sides of right and wrong, it's an action-paced story featuring plot-twists that gives that twirled experience of Nolan's earlier movies, like Memento or the Prestige - always capable of doing the unexpected.
The performances is an ensemble of great actors, and off course, I have to give Heath Ledger all the glory he deserves for turning the Joker character into something so frightening, compelling and dark that it's instantly one of the all-time-high villains in cinema history.
'The Dark Knight' is simply a great, great crime-movie that showcases Nolan as truly one of the most brilliant directors around; this is his masterpiece as Soderbergh's 'Traffic', or P.T. Anderson's 'There Will Be Blood'. Hopefully, the Academy Awards will see just how great a movie this is - it's not just a knock-out punch in cinema entertainment, but it's as muscular and arty as any action movie made to date.