Best film of the year. Best ever?...

Rating: 10/10 (14 August 2008)

I'm no major authority, but I have followed the Batman character across multiple formats (even the camp TV series as a kid). To me this is the real Batman that Kane invented. Too often Batman is shown/written/spoken about as a pure vigilante. In this film, despite all the effects etc. we see some of the intelligent driven detective, the selfless public servant (of sorts) and the dark core of his broken psyche. In Burton's original and Batman Begins I like the dark yet virtually always in control intelligent character, but in this film, for me, he really comes alive. Mainly because of the humanity of the performance. His dual persona's are highlighted by his love for Rachel in both identities, by the knowledge that as Wayne he can't beat Dent's good guy charisma and as Batman he can never be a lover to her. His choice of the good guy over the girl highlights that regardless of his personal feelings, his higher calling to fight crime (and to a lesser extent his seeing Dent as his way out of being Batman) is his overriding concern.
Eckhart is probably a loser in this, in that no matter how well he plays Dent he's up against two of the best actors of their generation. You can pretty much see how his descent into madness and the Two Face persona occurs without feeling that it's contrived or underplayed. You know the Joker is already insane and Wayne/Batman is just this side of the line, but you see in Dent how a psyche can go from virtually one extreme to the other so quickly and so believably.
But in the end, the Joker is the main act here. He doesn't take the whole show from Bale, because to me, many forget that Bale is in effect playing two characters (and to a lesser extent Eckhart). But because he is such a well written character and the fact that both the writers and the actor seem to clearly understand the Joker, he is the strongest single character. The key to the Joker is his lack of limits. Anyone who has read the Dark Knight Returns, or more appropriately The Killing Joke, will see a villain who has no moral compass in any way shape or form. He does what he does because he enjoys it. He has no desire for money or power, no revenge motivation, no love interest. In his sick, brutal and twisted way he is just having fun. He's the ultimate sado-masochist. I think Ledger got that the guy is insane, he is twisted and he is amoral, but most of all he gets that the guy does it purely for the enjoyment.
It may not be considered by many to be the best film ever. I think it's classification as an action movie (some times I really hate the pigeon holing of movies like this) undermines it's impact as a well written, well imagined, well filmed and above all, well acted spectacle. I wonder how next one can even hope to top this?