It has raised the bar for Comic book adaptions

Rating: 10/10 (17 September 2008)

It's a shame that even before this films release it was subject to such a huge amount of hype due to the tragic death of heath ledger. I have been a huge fan of the batman franchise and have been looking forward to the idea of this film even at the hint of it at the end of Batman Begins. I am more than happy to say that this film goes far beyond what the majority of people have expected from it. With the amount of press coverage this film was receiving already, even before its release it was going to be hard for it to actually perform, but as soon as it begins from the intelligent bank robbery and eventual joker introduction the film never fails to deliver. It is everything a comic book adaption should be, truly living up to the comics themselves. The entire cast play excellent parts, some new to the team but still are up to the challenge and really add to the films atmosphere, But I again hate to agree with the hype but Heath Ledgers performance was outstanding, the way he took on such a complex character and made it his own really made the Dark Knight what it was, with a perfect balance of humour and grimness this really was the perfect villain. His performance was not the only one that made the film what it was, Aaron Eckhart's performance as Harvey Dent and Two Face was astonishing. It really showed the dark part of the film showing the downfall of the 'good guy' turning to crime to get what he wanted. I hate to follow this crowd but this time it has to be said the crowd was 100% correct, this has raised the bar and set the standard for all comic book adaptions to come in the future. I can't agree that it's the best film ever made but as far as comic book adaptions go it's pretty much spot on.