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Rating: 9/10 (30 January 2015)

Christopher Nolan's followup on Batman Begins delivers.
This time around, Nolan raises the stakes and provides more energy more tension and a lot more flare. Aside from The Avengers, The Dark Knight is a film that I had eagerly anticipated and also had unfairly high expectations, all thanks to the easter egg scene at the end of Batman Begins.
Christian Bale returns as Bruce Wayne and he does a commendable job. He again masks his real persona to the public and he longs to be with Rachel Dawes and sees Harvey Dent as a suitable replacement when Gotham no longer needs a hero who wears a mask. This time around Bruce Wayne is under more pressure and he faces his toughest challenge yet as Batman as he is put into impossible situations by his foes.
The supporting cast brings the best of their abilities. Maggie Gyllenhaal delivers her lines a little more effectively than Katie Holmes did. It's a shame for Holmes, a bad career move to not star in this, as I didn't completely dislike her in the first film. Michael Cain also provides an excellent supporting role as Alfred, again supporting Bruce in his crusade on crime. Morgan Freeman again provides the film's humor and brings in some levity to this dark film. Gary Oldman again is sharp as Commissioner Gordon, helping Batman on his war against crime. Eric Roberts also has a meaty role as mob boss Sal Maroni.
Things always get worse before they get better in Gotham. So with that in mind, lets talk about the villains. I mentioned before that Liam Neeson's Ra's al Ghul is overlooked, I think Aaron Eckhart's Harvey Dent is the second most overlooked villain. Eckhart's arc in the film is beautifully handled and Nolan does a nice job showcasing his corruption and downfall. Harvey Dent is Gotham's "White Knight," their savior. Working with the Batman and Gordon, they cleaned up the streets quite well, but to see all that mean nothing as soon as he becomes Two-Face is just depressing, and when he is Two-Face, he is truly menacing. A tragedy indeed.
Speaking of tragedy, it's a shame that Ledger died before the film's release. This is Heath's movie. His Academy Award win for Best Supporting Actor is rightfully given. His win is also not just a pity win out of his death, but because he really outshine all the other nominees that year.
Right off the bat Ledger steals the film in the opening scene. I did not see Heath Ledger in this film, but only the Joker. He completely disappears in the role and it's just a thrill to watch on screen. Nolan and Ledger's take on Batman's arch-nemisis is full of complex layers. The Joker's stance on chaos, anarchy, order, and mortality of an ordinary human being makes it psychologically interesting. He has no order, he is all about chaos, he doesn't care about money, as a matter of fact he has no typical criminal motive, all he wants is to watch the world burn. Ultimately, in this film the Joker has a point and that is scary, something uncommon from a villain in most comic-book films.
Nolan does a great job of balancing Joker and Two-Face very well. One would think Two-Face would not get enough lime light, but he does, so credit to him and his team of writers. This time around Nolan and his cinematographer Wally Pfister do a better job showcasing the fight choreography. Now one can finally see Batman show off his martial arts expertise. Nolan again shows that Batman is more than a fighter, but also a detective and he's got more arsenal in his hands. The action sequences are a lot more action-packed and paced extremely well. Each action set piece will have you tensed up. I remember I was literally gripping onto my seat as I watched it the first time in theaters.
I only had two gripes about the film. One of them is Bale's Batman voice, which is common among many. To be honest, I really liked his Batman voice in Batman Begins. It was intimidating and I would imagine that it'd actually scare someone. But here, I mean, did Bale not watch his own performance in Batman Begins? I've gotten used to it now, but I recall it bothered me the first couple times. Speaking of Batman, even though Ledger's performance is brilliant, this film is essentially very Joker focused. I feel as though Batman gets the short end of the stick. Even the Harvey Dent/Two-Face subplot feels more coherent and apparent than Bruce Wayne's arc. I think I was definitely spoiled by Batman Begins, for my taste I think the film could use a little more Batman in the film.
Nevertheless The Dark Knight is an extraordinary piece of filmmaking. It's very Empire Strikes Back and Godfather Pt. II like. This movie is seemed like an impossible task, but a group of extremely talented people managed to make this film work. The pacing is brisk and it doesn't even feel like two and a half hours. There are tons of suspense as Nolan keeps you on the edge, just when you think the story will end up in one particular way, it does a 360 and completely throws you off on multiple occasions. You'll wonder how it'll all play out by the end of the film.
The Dark Knight is a landmark achievement. It is a film where it showed many general movie going audience that the superhero genre is capable of being much more. Deep, complex, exciting and a rich viewing experience, The Dark Knight is definitely a film that deserves it's merits and rightfully deserves to be in the top five discussions of the best comic-book adapted superhero epic.
9.5/10