The GREATEST Movie Of All Time!

Rating: 10/10 (3 May 2019)

Where to begin... This is not only the greatest comic book movie ever, but also the greatest MOVIE ever! It is the only movie that I can legitimately give a 10 star rating to and use as a point of reference to rate all other movies by. I was skeptical when Heath Ledger was cast as the Joker because Nicholson was so great, but Ledger took it to the next level and his portrayal of the character made this movie what it is. Right from the start we see that Ledger's Joker is a 'psychopath with an agenda' (a far departure from Nicholson's more clownish portrayal). I have never seen an actor so fully embody a character to the extent that Heath did. Ledger actually became the Joker so much so that Heath just disappears. Bale (the best Batman to date 2019) gives another great stoic performance as the caped crusader and is pushed to the limit mentally by the Joker as to how far he is willing to go in his quest to fight crime. The scene where Batman (in the Batmobile/on the Bat-pod) and the Joker (in the semi truck) duel is hands down my favorite movie scene of all time. The Joker is ready to let Batman kill him in order to get Bats to break his "one rule" and prove his point. Nolan uses this "argument" that the Batman and Joker are having to create a masterpiece on social commentary that is more of an action packed psychological thriller than a comic book adaptation. He also cleverly uses the character arc of Harvey Dent to show how life tragedies affect the 3 main characters (the psychological complexity of which is way too deep to delve into in a review but genius). Dent, an outwardly moral man, after losing Rachel fulfills his own prophesy, "You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain", thus becoming Two Face. The Joker has already let tragedies turn him into what he has become, a man with no rules, who needs Harvey to fall in order to prove that 'one bad day' can turn anyone into a monster. And finally Batman, who despite losing Rachel (on top of his parents deaths) and breaking his one rule by killing Dent in order to save Gordon and his family, remains good and takes the blame for Harvey's crimes in order for Gotham to maintain hope in what is the most EPIC movie ending of all time. He rides off as the secret hero. A true "Dark Knight"! There are other important aspects of social commentary that Nolan touches on, but I'm not going to get into all those. The movie also sports an all-star secondary cast: Gary Oldman, Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, and Eric Roberts (to name a few) who are stars in their own right. The soundtrack won awards. The only thing I didn't like about the movie is that after you see it you know that you have seen the greatest movie you ever will in your lifetime.