Deep, layered, dark, twisted, action-packed, and utterly brilliant!

Rating: 9/10 (18 July 2008)

The Dark Knight is without a doubt one of the coolest and most brilliant movies I have ever seen.
If you considered Batman Begins to be amazing, than you will find this film to be unbelievable.
Everything that made the first film a surprisingly fantastic super-hero movie is taken times 2 in this film, and then some.
The plot is very layered, like Batman Begins, but the themes are much deeper, it is much darker and more intense, and it feels very very epic.
It is still very suspenseful but the action scenes are slicker and more exciting than the first film.
Still, however, the main focus of the movie is not the action scenes but the characters, and oh how amazing the characters are.
Christian Bale is perfect as a Batman with a very deep and powerful inner struggle.
Aaron Eckhart is very good as a determined Harvey Dent who is putting everything (almost too much) into getting Gotham's criminals off the streets.
Gary Oldman is brilliant as Lt. Gordon. His character in The Dark Knight seems a little deeper than he was in Batman Begins and is more interesting in my opinion.
Micheal Caine is of course the perfect Alfred, always behind Batman with moral support and an interesting anecdote or two.
And then there's Heath Ledger, in a class of his own. The Joker, as seen in The Dark Knight, is by far one of the most intriguing (not to mention entertaining) villains every to be portrayed on film, and Heath was perfectly cast. The character was brilliantly scripted but even more brilliantly acted. Heath had everything down...the mannerisms, the voice, the quirky disposition, and some amazing dialog makes this a performance worth-remembering. The phrase "Oscar-worthy" comes to mind. I don't know if the academy has ever awarded an Oscar to someone who has already passed, or if they're even allowed to, but I think Heath at least deserves a nomination for this part, and it is a shame he isn't still around to keep bringing more magnificent characters to the silver screen. R. I. P.
But while the joker may steal the show, this movie is definitely about more than one character. It is a deep, layered, dark, twisted, action-packed and utterly brilliant crime film that you will not want to miss!