Believe the hype!!!!!!!!!!!!

Rating: 10/10 (18 July 2008)

I don't even know where to begin with this movie. I have never been more excited to see a movie more than Iwas excited to see The Dark Knight. As soon as I saw Memento, I knew that Christopher Nolan was what all directors in Hollywood should aspire to. Batman Begins was incredible and who could forget the intricacies of The Prestige. Christopher Nolan, Peter Jackson, Guillermo del Toro and Ridley Scott are the class of Hollywood right now. Now for The Dark Knight
I was absolutely ecstatic when I heard Heath Ledger was going to portray The Joker. Heath's death was tragic in every way possible. We lost a true talent who would have captured the big screen for many many years to come. Early marketing was all hype for Ledger's Joker performance and rightly so. In all of the comic book world there is no more important hero/villain relationship than Batman/Joker. It's better than Superman/Lex Luthor, better than X-Men/Magneto, better than Fantastic 4/Dr. Doom, better than Spider-Man/Venom. You DO NOT have Batman without the Joker. With all the hype leading up to Ledger's Joker the question is raised: is it worth the hype? The answer, in a word is ABSOLUTELY. Jack Nicholson has nothing on Heath Ledger. The Joker steals the screen in every scene he is in. He also has the greatest entrance of any character possibly ever with his "disappearing pencil trick." It sets the tone for his character as dark, twisted, demented, sadistic and strangely funny. It is a OMG scene but you will have a very hard time not laughing. Ledger steals the movie, but in a very good way. He is over-the-top but you never ask him to apologize for it, in fact, you'll be thanking him for it. The Joker sums it up in one line when he says to Batman "you and I could do this forever." If the Acadamy does not recognize Heath Ledger posthumously for his role in The Dark Knight, then I vow to never watch the Oscars ever again.
Now for Christian Bale. After watching the '89 and 90's Batmans I always thought that if you could take Michael Keaton's Bruce Wayne character and mix it with Val Kilmer's Batman character that you'd have the perfect Batman/Bruce Wayne. Ladies and gentleman, I give you Christian Bale. He is the fun loving and smart Bruce Wayne that Micheal Keaton gave us and the brooding and unrelenting Batman that Val Kilmer gave us. Batman has always been my favorite hero because he has no superhuman powers. He is a vigilante but never crosses the dark line. However, at the same time he is angry with how his beloved Gotham City has been taken over by crime. I have always liked Christian Bale. In The Dark Knight we see Batman struggling with how the morals and ethics of being a hero, but not crossing the moral line and becoming a criminal himself. Much like in Batman Forever we see Bruce Wayne considering hanging up the mask forever. Batman goes from being the Caped Crusader to the title character of The Dark Knight. Bale pulls this role off flawlessly and you really start to feel for his struggle with donning the mask and cape.
Michael Caine is always brilliant, and he gives the role of Alfred Pennyworth his due course and adds in some humility, direction and even a little humor. I am glad Nolan gave him this role.
Aaron Eckhart as Harvey Dent is awesome. This was another casting that I was very excited for. Dent's character is perfect. If Batman is the Dark Knight, then Dent is Gotham's White Knight so to speak. Dent ruthlessly hunts down, in the legal realm, Gotham's criminals in an effort to clean the streets of crime and corruption. However, as we all know, Harvey Dent must eventually become Two-Face and you see his struggle with morality. Dent himself has a dark side that he must confront on several occasions. SPOILER HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!! Dent does become Two-Face about 3/4ths of the way through the movie. It is not the cartoon-like Two-Face that Tommy Lee Jones gives us. Like the rest of the movie, it is dark and evil and when you see his face you might look away at first. It's not for the feint of heart. END SPOILER!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Maggie Gyllenhaal is perfectly re-cast as Rachel Dawes. She seems to connect better with Bale than Holmes did. However, Nolan does not give her character much to do in the movie. She does have a cool encounter with The Joker, but overall her character is not extremely important to the movie as a whole.
Gary Oldman is another character that deserves an award for his role in The Dark Knight. His portrayal of Jim Gordon is awesome. For moments in the movie you actually forget that he's acting. He must find his own place in a corrupt police force that struggles with deciding to capture or honor Batman. Nolan hit the nail on the head again with this casting choice.
Overall, the story is a little convoluted, but it doesn't matter because once the Joker hits the scene, that's all you care about. The fights between Batman and Joker are epic. This is the blueprint of how all comic book/superhero movies must be made. Iron Man was cool, but I left this movie thinking to myself, "who's Iron Man?" This movie lives up to every hype possible and is required viewing for everyone and anyone who likes movies at all. This is one of the few movies I've seen that I cannot point out any flaws in the film-making.
A resounding 10/10
Heath Ledger 1979-2008 RIP