Brilliant Film-making!

Rating: 10/10 (5 October 2008)

There comes a movie once in many years that shakes up a genre with such intensity that it ends up becoming an icon. The Lord of the Rings trilogy did it for Fantasy/epics, and now The Dark Knight has done it for superhero movies. Yes its the best one ever! C. Nolan is one of my favorite directors, and he truly comes of age with this effort. Forget the fact that its a great superhero movie, its a fantastic crime drama. The direction is superb, and Nolan has churned out a fantastic screenplay along with his brother. I am glad he also pulled up his socks on the action department (which was lacking in Batman Begins). The chase sequences and the Hong Kong venture were terrific. Nolan remains true to the dark nature of Batmans character & surroundings (aided perfectly by the fantastic score). However his two Batman films have reached such a level of excellence that I would never want to re-visit any old Batman film. I cant imagine any cast replacing Nolans. One person that certainly deserves mention is the cinematographer. Considering how dark the film is (literally) its remarkably vivid (reminiscent of the under-rated Collateral).
Christian Bale is the ultimate Batman. He once again smoothly plays his tormented character & his Interrogation scene with Ledger will go down as a classic. Speaking of Ledger, he truly overshadows everyone in this film, and his screen time is satisfying. The Joker commands attention in every scene he is in, and delivers lines that will go down in cinema folklore. Heath has made joker my favorite villain along with Hopkins Hannibal. Ledger literally made Jack Nicholsons version look like a joke (that is no small feat). His voice, walk, & expressions are just perfect. The most interesting & crazy thing about him was that he had no real agenda. He wanted nothing other than chaos. Hollywood truly lost a star in the making (and is a serious blow to the potential third installment); this was going to be his launching pad to greater things. His loss will hurt the Batman franchise since the jokers story is never concluded. I will not get carried away & say that they should hand the supporting Oscar to Ledger (we have not seen the contenders). However Heath certainly deserves a nomination.
Despite the dominance of the Joker, the Dark Knight is really about a white knight, Harvey Dent, played smoothly by Eckhart; could be a career-changer. His is a sad story, going from a man who prefers conventional ways to deal with crime, to becoming the maniacal Two-Face. Though his evil side gets little screen-time his character got enough time for me to empathize with his transformation (it was not as bad as how Venom was handled in Spiderman 3). Moreover, I thought the look of Two-Face was a realistic departure from the comic realm (and also nothing like Tommy Lee Jones silly version).
Overall, this is a masterpiece of a movie (the best of 2008 thus far). I do not see how even Batman 3 can improve on it. I hope TDK gets some healthy Oscar nominations (at least); Ledger for best supporting actor, best director, best screenplay, best score, and best cinematography. A must-watch & must buy for all movie fans!