Above any of the highest expectations

Rating: 10/10 (18 July 2008)

Christopher Nolan is the master storyteller of the new millennium. I haven't seen any film of his that I could not give a perfect rating to and The Dark Knight is no exception. Any bias toward comic book characters aside this is a masterpiece of epic proportions. I recommend that those who hate comic books give it a see because The Dark Knight feels as authentic in human emotion as any drama could ever be.
The anticipation for this film begins and ends with Heath Ledger as the Joker and I must say it is an electrifying performance. If Ledger gets a nomination for Best Supporting Actor at the Academy Awards it won't be out of pity, his Joker will easily be remembered as one of the most scary villain in motion picture history. There is no limit to what this monster of a character is capable of and the audience on the edge of their seat every time he is on screen because we know he will push the bar a little farther. I consider myself to be well read in the Batman universe and I knew that they were basing a lot of the character here off of the iconic Killing Joke and even I was left unprepared and aghast by what Ledger does. The Dark Knight is not for kids, hell even some smart adults will have to drop their jaws at what this Joker does. He is frightening, genuinely frightening. Praise most be given to Nolan as well because he is careful not to use too much of this Joker by over exploiting him with excessive screen time, he gets the same amount of screen time as a lot of the ensemble cast but it is worth it. All too often are good villain killed by too much screen time and every time the Joker is on screen he is as fresh and scary as he was before. This Joker really is a great collaboration between the outstanding script and an actor who does everything exactly right with it.
Ledger isn't the only great performance though. Every actor takes this material extremely seriously and there isn't a bad performance in this movie. In fact there are some career performances in here besides for Ledger's, Aaron Eckhardt is outstanding as the tragic Harvey Dent. I was somewhat hesitant to the casting of Eckhardt, he hasn't really impressed me in anything before but I couldn't imagine anyone doing more with this character. The CGI used to create the Two Face character is somewhat fake looking but Eckhardt doesn't skip a beat when a lesser performance would be overshadowed by Two-Face's visuals. Gary Oldman is given more to do as Jim Gordon and this performance isn't just a notch in the belt for Oldman. He makes Gordon one of his most well rounded characters and one who is as tested by the Joker's anarchy as Batman and Dent.
The script brings Batman to brave new places. Bale is terrific in the lead role but the lead role is different than it was before. We have never seen Batman as dark in his characterization than he is in this film. Batman is pushed past his limits and he becomes darker in his methods and along the way he loses the people he cares about. By the end of the film he is paranoid and uses his friend Lucius Fox's technology to spy on the people of Gotham to find the Joker's location. If The Dark Knight has a central theme it is that of justice and Bruce Wayne comes to realize that he will be alone in his quest for justice. The Joker tries to make his opponents more like him and he succeeds in turning Dent into the monster Two-Face but he also tests Batman. He questions Batman about his one rule in his exploits and we know that if Batman kills the Joker he will become him. The Joker delivers the classic lines stating that the two complete each other and that they will end up carrying out their war both not breaking who they are.CGI and the visuals often plague films like this and Nolan tries his hardest to make you believe that this could happen in our world and for that I most praise him. The Dark Knight is a story drenched in humanity and because of this Batman is the greatest superhero we have ever seen. Sure you could get bitten by a spider or build an Iron suit but that doesn't make you human. Batman is human and goes through hell in his crusade and for that he is the greatest superhero.