Best Superhero Movie Ever

Rating: 10/10 (17 July 2008)

Most superhero movies are made to give you a feeling of escapism. THat webbing through rooftops or having claws for hands would be great and wishing that you yourself had that power.
Not this one. The Dark Knight begins where the last one left off, with the theme of escalation.Batman ( Christian Bale ) and Liutenant Gordon( Gary Oldman ) with the help of the new District Attorney Harvey Dent ( Aaron Eckhart ) have smashed crime to the point where they are beginning to run scared. Batman himself is beginning to think that soon he may be able to hang up the cape and the cowl for good and reunite with Rachel Dawes ( Maggie Gyllenhaal ).
However, the mob has one last resort up it's sleeve, and it's a proposal by a rising criminal known only to the citizens of Gotham as the Joker ( Heath Ledger ). The Joker, however, has an agenda entirely of his own and soon begins to cause terror on a massed scale which has even Batman lost for ideas. The Dark Knight is a really amazing film, which utillises real live stunts to great effect, making seem so much more gritty and dark than it's neon-lit competitors. Be warned that it is not a film for kids, as the violence, in particular perpetrated by the Joker is confronting and at times very twisted. Christian Bale, while still not quite of the level of Michael Keaton's Batman, still does a very good job while Michael Caine is once again great as his stoic butler. Morgan Freeman is good and Aaron Eckhart brings a great element of tragedy to the role of Harvey Dent. But it is Gary Oldman and Heath Ledger who truly excel. Oldman's Gordon is a conflicted character who is put through the wringer throughout the movie by both his allies and his enemies while being nothing more than an honest cop- one of the last ones.
But everyone here is playing second fiddle to the Joker. Heath Ledger brings him a menace and an edge which is so tangible that at times it is truly terrifying. His laugh is bone-chilling and his sense of humour is both funny and incredibly twisted as his 'philosophy'. He deserves every amount of praise, as it is a truly awful foe for Batman to face.
The Dark KNight is a superhero film full of twists and turns that never lets up. Instead it graps you by your lapels and drags you into its dark majestic splendour.