The night is Darkest before the Dawn...

Rating: 10/10 (17 July 2008)

Is there anybody out there that was more excited about this movie than I was? Maybe but most probably not. I've been looking forward to another Batman movie since the credits rolled on "Batman Begins" back in 2005. Batman is a movie that needs no synopsis, even for non-fans. But in case you are totally clueless, all you need to know is that Batman is a guy that dresses up in a bat costume and fights crime in Gotham city. The Dark Knight continues where Batman Begins left off. Christian Bale reprises his role as Barman from the last movie, and this time he has two new villains: The Joker, played by Heath Ledger and Two-Face/Harvey Dent, played by Aaron Eckhart. This is no doubt the most hyped movie of the year, especially with Heath's sudden death, and I must tell you it was up to the hype, or very very close to it. There's a buzz for an Oscar campaign for Heath and I'll tell you right now that he was absolutely amazing and deserves an Oscar, or at least a nomination. If Warner Brothers didn't tell us Heath was playing The Joker, I swear not many people would have guessed it was him. I know I wouldn't have. So is this a good movie or just a good-Joker-used-to-promote-an-average movie? Good question. But an even better question is did you watch Batman Begins? Did you enjoy it? If you watch this movie, you'll never want to watch Batman Begins again because The Dark Knight will make it look like the worst movie you've ever seen. I promise you. Everyone is talking about The Joker, but Harvey Dent/Two face is equally as good. His make- up, as Two Face will blow you away, and his acting is nothing less than amazing. Everyone else reprised their role from the last movie; all except Katie Holmes which if you ask me is a good move because I felt she didn't really belong in the first one. She is replaced by Maggie Gyllenhaal, which I love. Director Christopher Nolan is a genius (Yes I know all the directors I reviewed are geniuses). He not only made an awesome superhero movie, but an awesome crime/detective movie. His brother Jonathan Nolan worked on the script, and since I saw Memento which the two worked on, I know that these two were born to work together. So is there anything bad about this movie? As another critic rightly put it, "This movie was too long, but I'm only saying this so it seems like I'm doing my job..." That being said, I don't think the length of this movie is a problem at all. I mean, The Godfather ran for almost three hours, I don't hear anyone complaining. Moreover, in most long movies, you'll see a scene or two that can be cut to shorten it, The Dark Knight had none. It was pure two and a half hours of awesomeness! The closing speech of the movie ended with Commissioner Gordon saying "... he's the Dark Knight". Then there was a black screen. It was at that time that I noticed tears rolling down my cheeks because of how lucky I feel to be alive to witness this cinematic masterpiece. Ladies and Gentlemen, this is the first movie I've given 5 out of 5 stars!