A Modern Masterpiece

Rating: 10/10 (23 July 2013)

Christopher Nolan's sequel to 2005's "Batman Begins" is one of those rare films that transcends the boundaries and preconceptions of its genre and becomes something much, much more. From the very opening shot, you know you're in for something different - something special.
Batman is not alone in his fight to rid Gotham of organized crime and poverty-driven violence, teaming up with a hotshot district attorney and his ever faithful friend in the police department, Jim Gordon. But none of them see what's really coming - a dark, malevolent force of nature called Joker. This isn't your father's goofy, wise-cracking clown...this Joker (played iconically by the late Heath Ledger), is a maniacal, anarchic, nihilistic beast hell-bent on the dismantling of civilization; a man who cannot be bought, bullied, or reasoned with.
This is a dark, gritty film that will have you on the edge of your seat, filled with shocking twists, raw emotion, and ideas about sociology and character archetypes far beyond what anyone could imagine a comic-book movie could grapple with; able to function as both a fan-serving superhero epic and a gripping crime thriller.
The stakes are ever higher, the themes never more resonant, and Nolan's masterful stroke in orchestrating this now labeled "Godfather" of comic-book movies has set the bar so high that all in-genre movies that follow it will inevitably be compared and come up short.
"The Dark Knight" is a modern masterpiece.