A man's destiny comes between those he loves and those that will do the most good in a city he is fighting for.

Rating: 10/10 (25 July 2008)

Yesterday, I decided to go see the matinée showing of Batman. I had thought that Batman Begins was a 9.5 out of 10, so I expected The Dark Knight to be much better.
I had heard that it was an amazing movie. I had heard that the movie was overrated. I had heard that Heath Ledger should win a post-humus academy award. I had heard that Ledger's performance was overrated. I had heard Christian Bale tried to over perform. I had heard Bale's character was scripted poorly. And I heard that the movie could quite possibly be the best movie ever made. I was shocked at this last statement. Could this be true? The award seemed to be gaining audience approval and being called the greatest movie ever made, however, it did not achieve critical acclaim. An unnamed magazine even averaged a grade of a B+.
The whole time that I was in the movie theater I kept trying to concentrate on the movie. I really tried to get into the movie and tried to stop thinking about whether or not it was an award worthy performance from Ledger and whether or not it could be the best movie ever made. I had even made a comment to my girl that it was funny because I know she was just watching it as if it was just another movie, but I was trying to figure out if it could quite possibly be the best movie ever made.
I watched the movie with awe. I loved the story that the Nolan brothers were telling. I went through every twist and turn that they took my down and I watched with amazement as wonderful performances were given by the entire cast. The action and stunts were amazing, the one-liners were well placed, and the wisdom given by several of the characters came when they were needed.
Everything worked in the movie. Bale did an excellent job at reprising his role as the Dark Knight. Ledger's Joker took a complete turn from Nicholson's Joker from the first Batman movie. And you know what? It worked. I knew that it was Ledger, but all I could see was the Joker! The supporting cast of Gothemites took their roles to a new level as they tried to clean up the ugly streets of Gothem City.
In this Batman movie, no punches were pulled. Although I believe that movie was a wonderfully casted, scripted, directed, and produced movie...I do not believe that it is the best movie ever made. There's just something about The Godfather and The Shawshank Redemtion that cannot knock them off the two movies of all time. I can say though that Batman: The Dark Knight was so good that it can be hailed as one of the TOP TEN films ever made. Here's one of the reasons why: not only did it have an excellent script and cast, but it touched on just about every genre of film. It had action, adventure, science fiction, fantasy, drama, comedy, horror, and it will go down as one of the major cult classics.
I think what will make this movie better for viewers is that they should not listen to what others say about the movie. They should judge it by themselves. They should not expect the movie to be like any Batman story they know of. It's original and it takes that word to its grave. Expect everything and expect nothing, and if in the end, you are disappointed, ask questions, and watch it again...because this movie will not be forgotten. It will always hold a place in our pop culture history and that's where it should be.