The Iconic Superhero film that not only sets the bar for its genre, but redefines it

Rating: 10/10 (20 June 2013)

'The Dark Knight' is everything I wanted a Batman film to be and it has that level of darkness that a lot of superhero films just don't have. The story has a lot of depth. The cast is great. The way Nolan used Chicago as his Gotham made the film look larger than life. There is a sense of realism compared to pre-Nolan Batman films. I could go on and on, especially since Batman is my favorite superhero and that character played a huge role in my childhood whether it was the cartoons or the Burton/Schumacher films. People say that they had a problem with Christian Bale's Batman voice, but to me personally it doesn't take away from the film, because the essence of the character is still there.
Heath Ledger's Joker in my opinion has a become an iconic villain of cinema. Unlike Jack Nicholson's portrayal of the Joker, Heath Ledger's Joker will actually disturb you more than make you laugh. I always identified 'The Joker' with the animated series version voiced by Mark Hamill. That was the iconic Joker, but to have an actor being able to rise to that standard and reinvent a super villain was something I really did not expect before I even saw 'The Dark Knight.' And that is really evident especially when Batman and Joker are both on screen. Every interaction between them somehow brings back my memories of watching the animated series only this time its live action and its more mature and darker than I ever imagined my favorite superhero and supervillain to be.
I could go on about the rest of the cast such as Michael Cane, Gary Oldman, and Aaron Eckhart for their fantastic portrayal of the characters. Not only is this a fantastic superhero film, but this is also a fantastic piece of cinema. If I could ever go back in time to witness this film for the first time over and over again, I would just to feel the aura of excitement coming from me and everyone in the theater. I didn't know what to expect with 'The Dark Knight' just as much as I did not know what to expect with 'Batman Begins.' I was expecting a good ol' superhero story, but instead I was watching a reinvented Batman and a re-imagining of the story I always knew of the character.
The old Batman films were fun for me as a child, but the rebooted franchise definitely inspired me to read the graphic novels that played a part in influencing Nolan's vision. Every scene is shockingly dark, captivating, but most importantly iconic and memorable and I sure hope that this film has a far reaching influence on other superhero films, because the film really set the bar for the genre. Every other superhero I will watch unfortunately will be compared to 'The Dark Knight' and it will be judged based on that film. These are the only superhero films of its kind and the fact that it stands out from the rest shows how much quality the film has and how much it gets right. 'The Dark Knight' is a classic in every sense of the word not just as a superhero film, but as a work of storytelling in general.