A non-stop action film!

Rating: 10/10 (11 December 2014)

The Dark Knight (2008) Directed by: Christopher Nolan Written by: Christopher Nolan, Jonathan Nolan Christian Bale as Batman/Bruce Wayne, Heath Ledger as the Joker, Maggie Gyllenhaal as Rachel, Aaron Eckhart as Harvey Dent, Michael Caine as Alfred, Gary Oldman as Gordon, Morgan Freeman as Lucius Fox. Spoiler Warning
The Dark Knight (2008) is Christopher Nolan's excellent sequel to Batman Begins (2005) and exceeds the first movie in every way. The theme for Nolan's masterpiece is the importance of choices one makes. Every character is defined by his or her choices in the film and the consequences of those choices. Batman/Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) is defined and driven by his choice to save Gotham City from the filth and scum that are infecting it by becoming a masked vigilante who is trying to live up to a silent promise made to his dead parents. The Joker (Heath Ledger) is the ultimate agent of chaos and not only is faced with choices of his own in the film, but also cause other characters to make difficult choice with his actions.
Batman and the Joker are two sides of the same coin both having experienced tragedy as young children, Batman with the loss of his parents and the abusive father who raised the Joker. The difference between the two characters is the choices they made after that point, Batman chooses to do good with his life and fights to save Gotham, while the Joker creates chaos by killing, stealing and other evil actions.
The Dark Knight continues Batman's never-ending battle against organized crime in Gotham City. He is helped by Detective Jim Gordon and his special crime-fighting unit, and later by District Attorney Harvey Dent. The mafia decides to stop the Batman and unleashes the Joker on the unsuspecting city, which leads to panic in the streets and scores of dead cops and civilians, which turns the public against Batman. Within all of this chaos Harvey Dent begins putting massive criminals in prison and becomes the city's White Knight. He also becomes someone Batman feels can take his mantle of the city's protector and finally give him a normal life as Bruce Wayne. The Joker begins to push Batman and with every confrontation pushes Batman to the edge of his moral fiber and then pushes more to see if he can make Batman kill him, thus breaking Batman's only rule. A tragedy in Harvey Dent's life scars him forever and turns the White Knight into Two-Face an unbalanced scarred individual hell-bent on revenge against those people he feels are responsible for his plight. Batman must confront the Joker and Two-Face while also fighting for city and his moral well-being. A famous quote from Harvey Dent in the film holds true for all of the characters in this film, but is especially true for Batman, "you either die the hero, or you live long enough to become the villain".
To me, the actor who really shined in this film was Heath Ledger. His portrayal of the Joker was masterful, and showed that the actor was very in sync with Nolan's vision of the Joker and how he would fit into Gotham City. Ledger created nervous twitches with his mouth and really dove into the tortured and tormented side of the Joker. We never really find out what happened to him that made him choose this life, because every time he tells his story on how he received the scars on his face, the story has changed. The only constant was the "why so serious?" ending that became his motto. The Joker was obviously an unbalanced character who needs so much help, but saw the world from a very unique, but eerily truthful viewpoint. He believed that people were ultimately evil and would "eat" themselves if given the opportunity and he felt this was all due to the rules people follow. He thought of Batman and himself as above all of the rules and wanted to teach Batman that lesson. Later in the movie he arranges an experiment to prove to Batman that he was right by filling two ferries with explosives and putting the detonator to one ship in the hands of the other ship. The scheme is stopped by Batman and soon the Joker is taken into custody. It is a shame that Ledger passed away and will never get to reprise his role as the Joker.
I really enjoyed The Dark Knight and felt the combination of acting, editing and sound each worked together to raise this film to another level. I feel that it can be considered not only one of the finest examples of a comic book inspired film, but also as one of the all-time great films in cinema history. It is well worth a viewing whether you are a casual film viewer or a Batman fanatic.