New standard for comic book movies

Rating: 10/10 (4 August 2008)

A daring bank heist kicks open the second Batman film directed by Christopher Nolan. Continuing on the path provided in the Batman Begins, The Dark Knight balances itself between reality and comic book fantasy. The action certainly is from the comics in the way of realism, but the style is nothing but gritty realism, but even that it seems to do in steroids, which is not a bad thing.
As some other reviewers have stated, this movie is not about the Batman (Christian Bale), but the Joker (Heath Ledger), who is not given a similar birth story like he was in Tim Burton's Batman film, but who just enters the room, so to speak, and is utterly insane and fascinating in his own deadly way. In fact I was mesmerized how little Ledger resembled anything I'd seen him before this. I wasn't looking at an actor, I was looking at the Joker, ripped from the pages of the comic books and thrown on the screen in his full insanity intact.
The second criminal in the tale is Twoface, aka Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart), who's a district attorney of Gotham city, who has a transformation of his own in the tale, all thanks to Joker's twisted little games.
The Dark Knight is a masterpiece in every sense of the word. The story twists and turns in every way, but it manages to keep in tact better than some films with simpler lines. Well chosen actors mixed with good score, well woven plot, stunning cinematography and breath taking action makes The Dark Knight one of the best films to come out in ages.