Dark. Gripping. Emotional. Thrilling. Action-packed. Ledger. Bale. Everything needed for a superhero feat!

Rating: 10/10 (19 July 2008)

Rarely have I seen a sequel that is as good as or even better than the original one. "The Dark Knight" is a complete draw with "Batman Begins" as the best superhero film ever made. Unlike many other sequels, this Batman has a unique story of its own with great, intense action sequences, some philosophy, and an unforgettable villain.
Easily, "The Joker" is the performance of Heath Ledger's life. He does not copycat off of Nicholson who was more humorous than anything. Ledger as The Joker, although having a wicked sense of humor, is more of a believable villain. He makes up all the ingredients as a sinister, cunning, and even psychotic antagonist. I did not recognize him at all in the role. Even his voice is unrecognizable. He is The Joker. I would not be surprised if he gets an Oscar nomination for his performance.
Once again, Christian Bale is in the seat as Batman and is great at it. I found his character in this movie to be more ambivalent like Tobey Maguire was for Spider-man 2. The hero is drawn between whether he should continue his mantle as Gotham's hero, or let the law to take control with the new D.A. Harvey Dent.
Aaron Eckhart, to my surprise, was excellent as Dent, who later becomes Two-Face. Like Bale, he demonstrates a character that has an internal struggle on what is right and what is wrong. In the end, it leads to tragedy.
As with the plot, it circles around the original theme of good vs. evil. However, as good as a hero maybe, evil has a way of breaching walls and making the hero vulnerable which this movie demonstrates clearly with an unexpected death of a main character. As Michael Caine says in the movie, "Some people just like to see the world burn." Nonetheless, there's a bit of hope, as Eckhart says, "We are in the darkbut the dawn is coming." These simple lessons add much to the uniqueness of the film.
"The Dark Knight" is a dark movie more so than "Batman Begins". The behavior of the villains are ruthless and the violence at times is intense, but it is not overdone enough to be an R rating. For action lovers and Batman fans, this is the sequel you've been waiting for! There's plenty of hype to it! 10/10