An adaptation of the Post-Gothic stylized comic, that is adapted and stylized through gritty modernization.

Rating: 9/10 (1 May 2012)

A sophomore sequel that truly takes advantage of being in the middle position of a trilogy. It has grown and established it's environment and atmosphere from it's experiments in the preceding first effort, and the overall vision Nolan intended to achieve is now a reality. Now that Batman Begins is out of the way, and we are in a firm and secured mid- point in the series, Nolan succeeds in besting himself by making his rendition of Batman's universe bigger in scope, and improving upon his desired ideas with a more well-rounded film in the areas of lighting, action, and character development, without introduction or closing needed to be taken into consideration. The audience can concentrate on characters as they've already been introduced, and welcome in the brilliant performance of the Joker that is wisely written in at the peek of the series. This is a mature and grimly realistic modernization of the comic, and darker realization of the source material's already dark portrayal of the idea of a super hero with no super powers, showing how timelessly human the core moral themes of the concept are, and on an epic scale of execution at that. Perfect composing.