The gold standard for superhero movies.

Rating: 10/10 (10 January 2018)

When Batman and Robin came out in 1997, it was the nadir of the Batman franchise, and for superhero movies as a whole. This was the second superhero franchise WB screwed over (They ruined Superman a decade earlier with A Quest for Peace.) and Marvel wasn't making movies back then. There was no way people would take Batman seriously again.
Cut to 2005 and then up and coming director Christopher Nolan made Batman Begins, the dark and gritty reboot that we ALL needed. It focused on who Batman (Christian Bale) was both beneath and outside of the cape and cowl. Between the great writing, performances, directing and score, Batman Begins was an incredible superhero movie, and topping it would be hard.
And yet, The Dark Knight did exactly that. If Batman Begins was A New Hope, then TDK is Empire Strikes Back (The Dark Knight Rises was probably Return of the Jedi in terms of quality). This movie took its characters to morally dark and ambiguous areas, upped the stakes and most importantly, introduced Nolan's version of the Joker (portrayed masterfully by the late Heath Ledger, RIP) who is widely regarded as one of the best cinematic villains alongside Darth Vader and Anthony Hopkins' Hannibal Lecter. Of course, the Joker was already a legendary villain by virtue of the comics, cartoon and Jack Nicholson's awesomeness in the 1989 Batman movie, but Ledger made this character his own. He wasn't trying to imitate Nicholson or Mark Hamill from the cartoon. He perfectly understood the character, what he was all about, how he saw the world, and gave his own performance based on that. That Oscar was well deserved.
But even without the Joker, this movie is wonderful. The directing and pacing were on point (one does not simply get bored), the other performances were great as well (I dig the weird Batvoice, haha) the dialogue was smart (though hard to follow) and it looked and sounded good too (Hans Zimmer should have been nominated). A side note: Nolan is a champion of practical effects over CGI, and that's mostly what you see here. And they look fabulous. Seriously, this is my favorite movie of all time.
Because it's my favorite movie though, I'm gonna have to be a bit too harsh on it. I have three nitpicks with this movie that can largely be ignored. First off, the fight choreography is a bit weird at times (Who fights with their ELBOWS?) Second, I'm not a huge fan of Rachel Dawes. She was okay, but okay is not enough for a movie of this caliber. Third of all, again, the dialogue can be a bit hard to follow at times.
Overall, this is an absolutely incredible movie and is guaranteed to be a major influence on future filmmakers.