The Dark Knight

Rating: 10/10 (19 August 2008)

The Dark Knight is based upon the Batman characters created by Bob Kane and is a follow up to 2005's Batman Begins. I remember in some earlier reviews of mine this year that I stated that I didn't even know if I would end up going to see The Dark Knight. After giving Batman Begins a perfect rating on this site you are probably wondering why I wouldn't want to see a sequel to a film I enjoyed so much. Well, when I saw Batman Begins in the theatres I thought it had a lot of style, action and kept me compelled and entertained and I found it a really good time at the movies. Hence the perfect review I gave it three years ago. Then, I saw it again on DVD and I did not like it at all. The thrills and excitement were gone and everything that held up so well the first time had vanished and rather than seeing all the good things I enjoyed about it on my first viewing, instead on my second viewing I found parts of it boring and I started to have a few problems with the acting performances. I still kept the rating on this site to a 10 because that was my first initial reaction to the film, but after not enjoying the film much at all seeing it a second time and having been entirely sick and tired of all the superhero films coming out this year I really couldn't have cared less if I saw The Dark Knight at all. Then all of the really good reviews for the film came pouring in all over the internet and I kept hearing how dark and bleak this version was and I even heard of one critic who couldn't recommend the film because of how dark it was. This intrigued me because I have always been a fan of darker fare and the fact that family members saw the film and told me that I would really like it ended up in me seeing it. And to my surprise I thought it was as close to perfect as a superhero film could possibly get and I would most certainly call it a masterpiece. The acting was all top notch from every performer involved especially by the late Heath Ledger who played the role of the Joker. I have seen Heath Ledger in other films such as Brokeback Mountain, or I'm Not There and to play this role he isn't more or less playing himself, but instead going totally out of character and playing a twisted and menacing psychopath and everything the Joker says, does and the evil in his facial expressions show that he is a true terrorizing evil. All of this is perfected by Heath Ledger who gives the best performance of this year so far and I would compare his performance as the Joker to last year's best performance of Daniel Day Lewis as Daniel Plainview in There Will Be Blood. Day Lewis won an Oscar this year, so I see no reason why Heath Ledger couldn't get nominated, or even win the award in his memory seeing as he tragically passed away earlier in the spring. His performance was one of the best parts of the film. What was also so good about the film besides the top notch acting, direction and cinematography was it's story. Instead of being filled by non stop explosions, high tech gadgets and over blown self indulgent special effects, this film instead mostly focused on the characters and for each one involved we are driven deep into their minds to see the madness of the villains and the good and also troubled lives of the others including Batman himself. The character study here is so fascinating that anyone taking a sociology or psychology course couldn't help, but be interested. The story in the film had me drawn in from start to finish and I liked the menacing and dark tone to the film which I found all the more interesting and I liked how this film did not use formulas, or clichÃ©s and instead gave us a straight out story that you would not know how it ended till the end credits rolled. The Dark Knight really hit me and made an impression on me. Even days after leaving the theatre I 'am still thinking about the film and certain scenes and characters in it. This is what I call a powerful, thought provoking and stay with you film that is so good that it has almost a power to remain in your mind like this. The Dark Knight is a brilliant achievement and I will go as far to say that it is the best superhero film I have ever seen simply because it is not like other superhero movies and this is also the best mainstream film of the year so far and I hope it is not shunned come Oscar time.