The Dark Knight Returns

Rating: 10/10 (7 August 2008)

Epic.
I went in with excited trepidation. I was positive about this film off the strength of Batman Begins, however I was careful about the reviews I had read due to what happened with Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.
However, this film has surpassed all my expectations. During certain scenes, my jaw dropped, and hit the floor. And stayed there. The reason? Heath Ledger as the Joker. There was only split-second occurrences when I saw Ledger the actor, because his portrayal of the Joker was something that I hoped would have happened  he played it exactly as I imagined. I would saw that the performance of the Joker was true to the Graphic Novels in the sense that the Joker gets a sick, masochistic fascination and finds humour in torture and destruction. That's the Joke, except only he finds it funny.
The action and special effects, though great, was not overcooked like you would find in any Die Hard or Stallone film, the narrative did not falter, and you felt for the characters. You could say that The Joker characterisation outshines Bale as Batman, but without the Joker as his foil, his equal, then Batman is just another 'unstoppable' anti-hero. This is depicted when the Joker says to quote "You just couldn't let me go could you? This is what happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object. You truly are incorruptible aren't you? You won't kill me out of some misplaced sense of self-righteousness, and I won't kill you, because you're just too much fun. I think you and I are destined to do this forever." I left the cinema with a pure emotive choked feeling. I never get this involved in a movie. Some movies make people cry, but then it is the scene, the acting and the music especially that all play a part. But this was something else. I got seriously involved. It perplexed me, it hooked me in, and I was captivated. I will not see this movie twice like some people have because I know that I will begin to anticipate what will come next, which in turn will deflate the feelings I had when I saw it.
I personally don't think that Heath Ledger should get a posthumous Oscar, because an Oscar does not a film or actor make. He should be recognised for the fact that as his last full performance, this will be treasured in the minds of everyone. Ledger would much rather know that his performance would have profoundly affected another human being and not based on some golden statuette.
This film deservedly garnered critical acclaim and for a 'comic-book movie' actually does stand up against some of the top films ever created such as 'The Godfather series' and 'Shawshank Redemption' (See IMDb's top 250 films list: http://www.imdb.com/chart/top?tt0468569) Christopher Nolan, Christian Bale, Gary Oldman and Michael Caine are all British. The cream of the crop. I am not suggesting that there are not excellent American actors and filmmakers, but we Brits know how to do real gritty drama, emotion, among others, that works well in an American environment. It is the outsider influence. The outcast.
The movie is based on the Graphic Novel entitled "Batman: The Long Halloween" which featured the Scarecrow and the Joker, and was written by Jeph Loeb, famous for writing the TV series "Smallville", "Lost" and "Heroes". In the same was that "Batman: Year One" by Frank Miller was the basis of Batman Begins, it is the Graphic Novel format that contained a far superior story arc than the usual continued monthly series. Frank Miller's work has influenced many, and he has rejuvenated many a comic book character and created many epic narratives such as Daredevil, 300 and Sin City  that also became excellent movies.
This is the best movie of 2008, if not of the decade, only because nothing has come this close to perfection.