Batman's new style continues strong.

Rating: 9/10 (5 November 2009)

It's hard for me to think of a movie which I had more expectations than The Dark Knight, I guess I can thank Batman Begins' ending for that, the way the plot was left for sequel possibilities was genius, and I'm not even a comic book nor a Batman fan, I imagine the effect that caused to some of those. The Joker card presented with information about a new criminal with a theatric vein just like Batman was the thing that caught me. And here it is, Dark Knight is not only a commercial success but also a critics success.
The plot revolves greatly upon the Joker, incredibly played by Heath Ledger, and that's fine, but I believe not even the producers and the director ever thought this impact would be so unbalanced. Heath Ledger is the soul and body of the film. It all started in Begins, where Batman was reinvented to a more plausible manner, out with the weird costume with the underwear wore outside the pants, in with the high-technology suit giving a mere human abilities no other would match. Sounded too good to be true, but they did it amazingly. Now with the Joker they did the same, the Joker is a mysterious guy, it would be somewhat pointless to just have someone out there making jokes in a more mature Batman movie, so now even Joker's smile has a reason, he's got scars on his face that along with make-up form the infamous smile, the actual reason is uncertain due to the character's playful personality throughout the movie. Dark Knight's Joker is a blend of a chaotic, anarchic, mysterious and with a good sense of humor character, the result is an amazing personality that fits perfectly to Batman's new approach and is also stunningly played by Heath Ledger.
The rest of the movie is good and it never goes beyond that, with solid performances from all the other actors. I must admit that the absence of Katie Holmes worried me a little bit prior to the release of Dark Knight, but my worries turned out worthless, Maggie Gyllenhaal did a fine job. The overall atmosphere still has that dark touch. The ending, again, leaves much room for a sequel, and I certainly hope they get started with that soon, now with a new villain, developed during the story of this one. In the end this movie survived the high amount of hype it was thrown against it, but it won't receive a maximum score for the simple fact that the rest of the movie didn't really accompany the massive success of the Joker, and without him this would be more of another great action movie than anything else. But the way it is, it's an amazing experience that shouldn't be missed.