My favorite of the trilogy

Rating: 10/10 (28 April 2015)

After Batman Begins, two sequels were initially announced and being planned to release in the theaters. Everyone knew that The Joker was next, so I move on to THE DARK KNIGHT.
The film was released on July 18, 2008 to critical acclaim, praising the film as one of the best superhero movies ever made and considered by the film critics one of the best films of the 2000's and grossed over a billion dollars worldwide, becoming the first film based on a DC Comics character to gross this much.
The story picks up immediately after the events of the first film in Christopher Nolan's DARK KNIGHT TRILOGY. Batman has to face a new threat, known as The Joker, who threatens to kill everyone in Gotham City unless Batman decides to take off his mask and turn himself in. He then kills Bruce's longtime friend and Harvey Dent's love interest, Rachel Dawes and burns Harvey Dent's face, turning him into Two-Face. He defeats the Joker and Two-Face.
The story is very well thought out and I give credit to director / writer / producer Christopher Nolan and his brother, Johnathan Nolan, and David S. Goyer, who helped wrote the screenplay. The idea of calling this film "The Dark Knight" was really great and very fantastic. It was also great too because my expectations for The Dark Knight were a little bit low, but also highly anticipated because I wanted to see how Heath Ledger was going to do in his final film appearance of his career, as he died tragically in January of 2008 from a prescription of drugs. So I did not get to see this film until I first got on DVD, when I was in elementary school.
I watched it and I was just completely blown-away. The story can confuse you because the movie is about 2 hours and 32 minutes, so that in total -- makes it 152 minutes long worth of screen time -- and I don't think this movie could have been done any better.
The performances by everyone in this film is really amazing, but the only stand-outs in this film who really blew me away was Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne / Batman and the late Heath Ledger as the Joker. Christian Bale as Batman and Bruce Wayne, he totally got into character a lot more for this film and it is a challenge to play Bruce Wayne and Batman, because you have to play a billionaire and a caped crusader who goes out every night dressed as a bat, but he really pulled it off.
Heath Ledger turns in an Oscar-winning performance in his final film of his short career as the evil and vicious Joker. When I first saw THE DARK KNIGHT, I am going to be completely honest, I was a little scared of his Joker, but after watching the original 1989 film, simply titled BATMAN, directed by Tim Burton and starring Michael Keaton as Bruce Wayne / Batman and Jack Nicholson as the Joker, I watched this film again and I really liked his Joker. I can't compare both actors as the Joker, because there is no comparison.
The other actors are just memorable: Michael Caine plays Alfred Pennyworth once again and he is just awesome. Maggie Gyllenhaal takes over for Katie Holmes as Rachel Dawes, and even though her character dies later on in the film, she does turn in a good performance.
Morgan Freeman plays the role of Lucius Fox once again and to say the least, he is just incredible. Gary Oldman as Lieutenant / Comissioner Jim Gordon was amazing in this film. I think the only actor I have a problem with is Aaron Eckhart as Harvey Dent / Two-Face. His Harvey Dent is much better than the Harvey Dent played by Tommy Lee Jones and Billy Dee Williams in the previous films, but the way he plays Two-Face just seemed scary as hell, and once it showed his face in half, I just literally got terrified.
The Batsuit and the Batpod is really great in this film. The visuals are also great, especially with The Joker's make-up and Two-Face's burned and not burned face. The action is just incredible and six scenes in this film were shot wit IMAX cameras and it was really great to see that in the IMAX format. The music by Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard is emotionally powerful. The cinematography by Wally Pfister is also great, the editing by Lee Smith is spectacular and the production design by Nathan Crowley, was just top-notch.
Overall, THE DARK KNIGHT is an incredible superhero film from Christopher Nolan and with Batman Begins, it is the best film in his DARK KNIGHT TRILOGY and it is one of the best superhero films ever made. I love the hell out of this movie and I think a lot of people really do also. It's not a terrible movie, but it was definitely worth all the critical acclaim from moviegoers, superhero movie fans and critics.
I give THE DARK KNIGHT a 10 out of 10. If you haven't seen this film, go out and buy it on Blu-Ray and DVD, or download it digitally, or watch it on TV on TNT or AMC. This is one superhero movie that I don't think gets enough credit and is a darn good improvement over the first film in Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy and this is worth the watch. I have no problem watching this movie over and over again.
Like I said, THE DARK KNIGHT is one of a few good superhero movies that does not get enough critical acclaim that it got when it was first released in 2008. Heath Ledger was incredible in this film and I was very sad to not see him in The Dark Knight Rises.