The Dark Knight is a dark masterpiece crafted by Christopher Nolan that will stand the test of time.

Rating: 8/10 (20 July 2008)

There is no doubt that this is possibly the most anticipated movie of the 21st century, and one cannot help but ask if it actually lives up to the massive hype following it. This simple answer is yes, this movie not only lives up to the hype, but it blows the hype out of the water! This movie is not just a superhero movie, but it's a movie that can work as a lot of things. A character and dialogue driven movie for the most part, Christopher Nolan crafted a movie that an stand it's own as a crime classic, not only a Batman movie.
The next question that everyone has is about Heath Ledger, and is he really as good as everyone is saying he is. Now to be honest, and this may offend some people, Heath Ledger has never really impressed me with his acting. In all his movies he just seemed like a pretty boy, and nothing really stood out. To me he looked like he was there to put chicks in the seats, and nothing more. When i first heard he was going to play The Joker i was worried. They were trusting what is possibly the greatest villain of all time to HIM! Needless to say i was not happy. But after seeing this movie i can see the talent that others have seen in Heath, and that he wasn't just a pretty boy. He played the Joker so well that if someone didn't know that Ledger was the Joker (which is impossible and this point anyways) they would never be able to tell it was him. When you play a character so well that you cant tell who the actor is, that's good acting. I would not be surprised if he gets the Oscar, and it's a shame that he died just after showing what talent he truly had. R.I.P. Heath Ledger.
The only problem with this movie is that because Ledger was so good and died, his performance will overshadow some other truly amazing performances, Aaron Eckhart especially. He made Harvey Dent an amazing character, and made you feel for him during and after the transformation into Two-Face. Much better then that sad performance from Tommy Lee Jones. Maggie Gyllenhaal as Rachel Dawes was much better then Katie Holmes was. Yes Katie Holmes was hotter, but Maggie Gyllenhaal gave an amazing performance. She added something to the character, and when she died, you really felt something. Michael Caine was great as usual, as he provides both comical and emotional scenes. Morgen Freeman, although his role was small, was still great as always, and Christian Bale continues to show why he should continue to be Batman/Wayne. Last but not least, Gary Oldman's Lt. James Gordon is, to me anyways, the most interesting character. Oldman is an amazingly versatile actor, and I'm always interested to see what he'll do next.
The music, done by Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard is amazing, and sets the tone for every scene. An epic and thrilling score that really ups the adrenaline during the action scenes, which are amazing in there own. No over the top CGI or anything like that, what your seeing during those action sequences is all real. The only visible CGI that i could notice was parts of Two-Face's second face. I know most of it was make up, but you could tell that parts we're added in post production.
None of this would have been possible without Christopher Nolan. Him and his brother really really captured the essence of Batman in the script, and provided the depth and darkness that a Batman movie really needs.
Overall this movie is a masterpiece. I'm not going to rate it, just leave it at that. It's a masterpiece. Kevin Smith wasn't lying when he said that "The Dark Knight is the Godfather II of superhero movies."