Sledgehammer Body Shots.

Rating: Null/10 (10 August 2008)

Like a heavyweight prizefight with nothing but stellar body blows and pinpoint accurate jabs, "The Dark Knight" is an amazing achievement which transcends the previous "Batman" installments and all other products from the suspect superhero genre. With shades of Martin Scorsese and Michael Mann apparent from the outset, director/co-writer Christopher Nolan turns the concept into a cop and robbers epic with vivid characters in every direction, dizzying outcomes, and a truly intelligent and emotional story for the masses. The famed title character (Christian Bale) is continuing to take down high-level crime associates (led by Eric Roberts), double-crossing middle men, and low-rent would-be cutthroats. However, a new evil is about to pop up---a crazed mad man with war paint (the late Heath Ledger) who is robbing Gotham's criminal element of millions in crazed bank robberies. Now The Joker has a deviant plan to take down Batman by blackmailing the city's underworld power players in an all-out war for supremacy in a metropolitan area which is quickly becoming a war-zone with domestic terrorism taking center-stage. District Attorney Aaron Eckhart looks to take on the criminal elements head-on with the help of assistant Maggie Gyllenhaal (taking Katie Holmes' part from "Batman Begins") and police lieutenant Gary Oldman who still seems to be the only law enforcement officer who is definitely on the level. Bale's want and need for a regular life makes it appear Eckhart could truly be the city's "White Knight", but in this chaotic chess match there will be battles aplenty with unpredictable and demoralizing outcomes. Unforgettable masterpiece which is a film noir-styled triumph of style and substance. Ledger's part is amazing as he turns a literal comic book caricature into a cunning, complex, difficult, enigmatic, and mysterious mad man with brutal psychotic tendencies and strange viewpoints. He is the brightest flame in a film of constant fire and surprising fireworks. Every performer is on target, however---from Bale's tortured Bruce Wayne/Batman to role players Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, Anthony Michael Hall, and Cillian Murphy (in a very short cameo). Beautifully filmed (primarily on the streets of Chicago), expertly edited, and masterfully crafted, "The Dark Knight" lives up to its unbelievable hype and goes way beyond its would-be limitations with staggering cinematic elements which can only be found in landmark productions. 5 stars out of 5.