Absolutely stunning

Rating: 10/10 (25 July 2008)

The Dark Knight is the one film ever to be hyped up by everyone with a brain in their head, and then still exceed my expectations. With everyone on planet Earth hyping it up to the extreme, I was thinking that it could never be as good as people said it was. I was right, it was even better than that.
Heath Ledger plays an amazing Joker. Unlike Jack Nicholson's 1989 terrible performance, the Joker as played by Ledger doesn't go out of it's way to be funny. It just is, the way he does some of his lines, he comes off as funny-yet morbid, exactly how the Joker should be played. It was almost as if they just took the comic book character, changed the way he looks slightly, and slapped him on screen. He plays the Joker that perfect.
Aaron Eckhart plays an incredible Harvey Dent/Two Face as well. Again, it's almost as if they took the best comic adaptation and slapped it on screen. Eckhart was better as Two Face than some comic adaptations. Some of the comics go way out of their way to portray him as troubled and struggling with himself, and it ends up interfering with how terrifying of a villain he is. Not the case with Eckhart. He plays a perfect balance of troubled Harvey Dent and murderous vengeful Two Face after the explosion. And the way he looks is incredible. After campy purple-faced Tommy Lee Jones in Batman Forever, I wasn't expecting much for Two Face's look. Wow, did it shock me when he first turned toward the camera. His face was a total train wreck. So gruesome, yet it was impossible to turn away. Very incredible.
With all the buzz about the incredible villains in this film, people tend to ignore the goddamn Batman. Christian Bale delivers yet another incredible performance as Gotham's protector. This time, already established as Batman, he struggles with keeping the identity versus saving innocents. This creates quite a conflict for him, as he even considers giving up on being Batman at one point. Very well played, but sorry Bale, your performance didn't seem as direct out of the comics as your adversaries. He played an amazing Batman, incredible performance, but it didn't strike me as quite as good of a performance as Ledger and Eckhart's. Even Gary Oldman's Commissioner Gordon seemed direct out of the Batman:Year One series. Bale seemed to be the only actor that wasn't direct out of the comics. I can't explain why, exactly, but if you've read a significant number of Batman comics and you see this film, I'm sure you'll agree.
All in all, incredible. I went in expecting a lot, and went out beyond satisfied. The first thing I wanted to do upon leaving the IMAX theater was buy a ticket to get back into it. Completely mind-blowing movie from beginning to end. The first movie experience I've ever had where I felt like all the hype was telling the truth.