An unforgettable epic...The Godfather of comic book movies.

Rating: 10/10 (9 January 2009)

Seeing "The Dark Knight" for the first time took me back to my childhood. That magical time when you could get excited about something. Imagine this: 8:00 PM on July 18th 2008, a theater full of people, full to the point where some people sat on the floor. The curtain falls. The Batman logo appears on screen and the room goes silent for almost an entire two and a half hours, except for a few laughs and gasps. It ends with the loudest applause ever heard in a theater with a hundred people. That's the power an epic has. What is an epic? It's a movie that sets out to be the greatest of all time and comes close. "The Dark Knight" comes dangerously close.
At the end of "Batman Begins" Commissioner Gordon warns Batman about his impact on crime. The harder he fights crime the harder the criminals will fight him. "The Dark Knight" takes this idea to the next level. Enter the Joker, a run of the mill thug who steals millions from Gotham's top criminals, insults them, and then offers his services to exterminate Batman. The Joker manipulates the fears of Gotham city and publicly asks The Batman to reveal his identity to prevent the Joker from killing innocent people. This makes Bruce Wayne question if has the inner strength to face a villain as sadistic as the Joker. Alfred tells him that Batman because Batman is incorruptible he must make the choices no one else can. He has to be the one to stand up to the Joker. But Bruce Wayne is not as strong. Many times he contemplates giving up on his quest. This Bruce Wayne is the most layered and interesting of all the Bruce Wayne's.
Gotham has a new district attorney: Harvey Dent. He's a hero that the people need. A man working within the law. A man not hidden beneath a mask. He's the opposite, always out in the open no matter what criminal threatens him. Dent, Commissioner Gordon, and Batman team up to put crime away for good. The Joker challenges them and forces each of them to make hard choices that will have a devastating impact on their lives no matter what they choose to do.
That's what the Dark Knight is about. Heroism. What it truly means to be a hero and the consequences it brings. The hard choices that normal people can not make, and the results those choices bring. Dent, Gordon and Batman each face consequences for their courageous actions, some more severe then others. By the end of the film they're never the same.
Harvey Dent has the same convictions as Batman but he's not a strong. Through tragic circumstances the Joker twists his mind and turns him into a villain in the second half of the film. He becomes the key component in the Jokers master plan to create chaos. The people look up to Dent for protection and seeing him turn to the dark side would frighten the citizens to the point of madness. The Joker is truly the devil. He finds weakness and human error and morphs it into evil. There has rarely been a villain this frightening.
The cast is an ensemble. And with the talents of Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, and Gary Oldman why not? Everyone gets a chance to shine, including Maggie Gyllenhaal a beautiful and supremely gifted actress. Her portrayal of Rachel Dawes makes Katie Holmes's last credible role nearly obsolete. No actor in this movie ,or any movie, is better than Heath Ledger. Thanks to the cosmetic team he is unrecognizable, an Oscar nod could be coming for them. He speaks with an thick Chicago accent and never breaks it. He walks with a strange limp. He sucks on his cheeks because his face has been sliced open. His performance is a total performance: mind, body and soul. He was the Joker, and his portrayal will be the definitive version of the character, sorry Jack. If he doesn't win best supporting actor the Academy should stop giving the award. God bless the actor brave enough to fill his shoes an a sequel.
"The Dark Knight" is easily the greatest comic book/super hero movie ever made. This is all because of the fearless direction of Christopher Nolan. There is no boundary he wont cross, and no idea he isn't willing to explore. He takes Batman from the confined realm of comic books and brings him into reality. Gotham city exists and it exists within us. We are the people of Gotham, so frightened with threats, through fear so easily corruptible. Christopher Nolan lets us see our own human emotions at their very lowest, and fully explains why we need heroes, because heroes give us hope and take our fears away. Hope is the movies key plot device and its an emotion worth fighting for.
"The Dark Knight" comes close to being one of the greatest movies ever made. I can only hope the stiffs at the Academy recognize its brilliance. A comic book movie has never been this close to getting in the best picture race, and that's because none of them have been this good. The Joker tells Batman that they've changed Gotham City forever and they can never go back. The Dark Knight has changed comic book movies forever, and I can only hope we never go back to the way it wasin 1997.