The Joker : An Oscarworthy Performance, nothing less and a truly great Batman franchise unfolding.

Rating: 10/10 (18 July 2008)

Boy, this only gets better and better! First of all, let's NOT compare 'The Dark Knight' to the excellent 'Batman Begins'. 'Begins' was just the Beginning, a prequel and never was something different than 'Knight' in a way so as to draw comparisons. It is a continuous process.
This, the second of the 'Batman' franchise comes from the acclaimed director Christopher Nolan unleashing now with it the actual foresight and vision the director must have had in 2005 as to how a batman should be when his 'Begins' hit the theaters. The director took and used his time resourcefully in 'Begins' to build a crescendo right from the base, to explore what The Batman in fact was.
In this movie, as a supporting actor Gyllenhaal provided the emotional factor to the plot effectively. Morgan Freeman, a seasoned veteran, exactly knows what he has to deliver in a Batman movie in a very short time. As in 'Begins', here too, he has delivered a crispy witty performance. The other Oscar winner, Caine, was heart-warming as the butler Alfred to provide moral support/guidance to Bat/Bruce, of course, with his own one-liners. Eckhart was brilliant in his acting as an honest, crime fighting District Attorney but the transformation from a DA to a Two Face was amazingly performed. Compared to him, the Tommy Lee Jones' Two Face was a joke. Oscar winner Jones too was capable of doing a much better job than he actually did but they never allowed him to. Tragedy is what Two-Face should depict and Eckhart did that successfully. Gary Oldman has done really well to play a character hanging delicately between his allies and enemies.
The cinematography was outstanding. The camera angles made me feel like I was flying with the Batman. The background scores by Hans Zimmer (Gladiator, The Lion King, Batman Begins, The Da Vinci Code) and Newton Howard (The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, Signs) were simply haunting right from the beginning till the end never losing the pace... just like the storyline. The editing was crisp. The action was terrific. The dialogs were simply superb. Bale's was a well-balanced performance. What we are looking for is a well trained, well educated, scientific-minded, have-seen-it-all-type, Ninja in a Batman movie with emotions under control. So all is well with Bale, The Perfect Batman, the perfect Playboy.
And now, to the real 'Jewel' of the movie: Heath Ledger. With all due respect to Jack Nicholson, the three time Oscar Winner, he has finally been outclassed by Ledger in playing the role of this particular deadly, psychopathic, psychotic, ego maniacal, sinister, unconscionable, egregious character of one of the biggest adversaries of Batman known to Batman fans: The Chaos-spreading Joker which Nicholson never was, if the aforementioned qualities are compared. This is the Mind-Chilling-Man-Killing-Lip-Smacking-Smiling Joker we, as Batman fans, have known, read about and imagined. Nicholson has lost the race here to Heath Ledger. The previous franchise really was a comic book franchise ...literally. If they really wanted to make a serious real life metaphor of a comic book, they would have, but they didn't. Otherwise Nicholson could have also been chilling too. But this franchise is injecting Batman and his adversaries into Real Life and vice versa. Just like what The Joker in this movie says: "This town deserves a better class of criminal... and I'm going to give it to them." And truly Ledger has given it to us. Ledger has simply put astonishing life and sadistic energy in The Joker. The Joker here in this movie is like a nightmare come true. I always used to say: nothing gets more chilling or colder than Barry Foster in 'Frenzy (1972)', Anthony Hopkins in 'Silence of the Lambs 1991)', Kevin Spacey in 'SE7EN (1995)', Ralph Fiennes in 'Schindler's List (1993)'. But here we can add one more chilling role to the league of the best 'cold-hearted' roles executed ever. Ledger has NOW truly put The Joker in the pantheon of the greatest movie villains ever. Watching this performance alone we can easily judge that Ledger, who died so young could easily have become Oscar material if he had lived. He can still win it as the Best Actor for this role posthumously though because his performance here is demanding one.
This also is one of the Best Sequels Ever along with: Godfather II (1974), Terminator 2: Judgement Day (1991), Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997), Jurassic Park 3(1999), Lord Of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002), Lord Of the Rings: The Return Of The King (2003), Matrix Reloaded (2003), Mission Impossible 3 (NOT 2), The Jason Bourne Series, The Da Vinci Code (2006) - DVC is a sequel to Ron Howard's forthcoming Angels and Demons (2009).
Not only is this the Best Batman movie, this is The Best Superhero movie and one of the best masterpieces ever made. Truly deserves many Oscars with at least the Best Actor's. If crime based 'The Departed' can be the Best Picture (because Raging Bull, Taxi Driver were better) than this definitely can also be.
The previous franchise was literally comic, made for children. This franchise is dark and deep, made for teenagers / adults. And that is what a realistic Bat-Series meant to be. Based in the REAL world. By that, it does not mean Batman is for real. But he is in a world where rules of Physics hold true and are not distorted. Two more Batman movies from this franchise and this one will wipe out the ill-effects of the previous franchise ... completely.
Just like The Joker says to Batman: "You've changed things forever. There's no going back." This franchise has changed things forever. There's no going back.
And yes, Long Live Ledger (in our hearts). By the way, I was amazed at The Joker's Pencil Disappearing (sick) Trick. Don't Ever Try That At Home. This movie gets a perfect 10 on 10.