Nothing shy of brilliant

Rating: 9/10 (16 November 2008)

I can finally say that I have seen a comic-based movie that lives up to the graphic novels. The darkness and depth of character explored in Dark Knight were of the best renditions I have seen. I have forever been a fan of Batman. I enjoy his lack of supernatural powers. I love that he is vengeful and bitter. I love his sense of eye-for-an-eye justice above justice found inside a courtroom. I love the fact that he has enough money to do with it what he wants, and all he wants is to destroy criminals. Between Jonathan Hensleigh's vision of how The Punisher should have been, Batman Begins, and Dark Knight, I believe that we the viewers are finally going to get the hero films that we deserve.
If we think back to 1989 and reflect upon Batman, we can realize that minuscule hopes given to us by Michael Keaton's spot on performance of the guardian of Gotham quickly diminished as Tim Burton cartooned comics. From there, hope for a great comic movie was lost until now. Dark Knight has given us a hero that reflects vigilante justice as it is intended. It also gives us a look into villainy. The point made that evil is absolute because it is without rules gives comic film directors of the future the ability to explore corruption and immoral behavior as the villains rather than the colorful, but simple characters that portray evil personified.
While a posthumous note for Heath Ledger might be cliché at this point, I have to state that no person has ever played a super villain as well as the sadistic demeanor and brilliance that he brought to the screen as the notorious Joker. He was a realm apart from the rest. He was villain in a way that Darth Vader was meant to be. I have enjoyed nearly every film involving Ledger, but his interpretation of the Joker put him at an unreachable height. I pity any man or woman that is called upon to play the next antagonist that stands against Batman. Whatever the villain might be, it will be played in an unbeatable shadow. Ledger put a dark cloud into the Dark Knight that will rain on any performance that will ever follow. With that, we find my source of fear for the future of the Dark Knight.
I am left to wonder how they might be able to top this film. I submit that it is not likely a venture that will be met with as much success as would be hoped. I fear that a Matrix-esquire turn is coming about for the series. I would expect to see an overuse of CG, a drag in the story line, an invalidated approach at philosophical view over cinematic pleasure, and a droll attempt to be clever rather than good. We saw it in Batman Returns, Batman and Robin, X-Men II and III, the Fantastic 4, Hulk, and Superman Returns; and I fear that we will see it again if the dark spirit of the Dark Knight is not preserved.
To the flip side, I think that there could be potential for brilliance in a do-over for Jim Carey. Having seen 23, I realize that Carey has the ability for darkness. Having seen Eternal Sunshine, I realize that he has the ability for confused and chaotic genius. I submit that he could reapply that evil rapped in chaos as the Riddler. He could formulate hate by chewing on evil and spitting out the cartoon-like character he was forced to play in Batman Returns. I would love to see Carey match Ledger's brilliance as the bad guy of the next Batman film; more so, I know that he is of few that are capable of such a feat.
We can only hope that future Batman films keep words like vengeful, angry, chaotic, morose, deviant, devilish, and sinister in mind as the cameras roll. That and we can hope that Christian Bale learns how to be tough without growling.