Best Comic book movie ever

Rating: 10/10 (22 July 2008)

First off, congrats to everyone working on this film, they pulled it off. Batman Begins was exceptional, but Dark Knight managed to raise the bar to a whole new level.
A huge part of this is down to the casting, Heath Ledger will be getting a lot of praise and its easy to see why, the whole time I watched it I found myself thinking how is this the same guy i saw in Knights Tale and Brokeback Mountain? He took the joker character and truly made it his own, its only sad that he can't be around to see how much people have liked what he has done.
Christian Bale, Arron Eckhart, Gary Oldman, Maggie G, and Michael Cane all need to be mentioned in this too, they all gave tremendous performances that helped to enhance the story, I loved how the chemistry between Bruce and Harvey grows the closer Harvey and Rachael become. Michael Cane again shows us that Alfred isn't just the bumbling butler who just happens to know everything, he is actually contributing a lot to Batman as a character. Gary Oldman is fantastic in every role he has ever played, this is a role that could have been a little dull if played in the wrong way but he managed to keep him empathetic and interesting.
The story is brilliant, The Joker isn't out for money or riches like most villains, he simply wants to change the world and almost prove to himself that people are evil. The fact that we never truly learn about why he is the way he is, just adds that level of creepiness to him that we've never seen before. Burton's Character was comedic, Nolans character is psychotic. HUGE difference.
Gotham looks realer than ever, especially more so than the Schumacker disaster's, Its gritty, dark and whole. it doesn't feel like your watching backdrops or computer animated places, its all real.
The fact that Scarecrow makes a return appearance helps to connect the films together, only other films i've seen this done in are superman (Lex) and XMEN (Magneto) but they didn't really have much choice.
Twoface looks scary and you can understand why he is so pi***d! Nothing in this film happens by chance everything fulls into place, the equipment he uses and vehicles aren't just there magically like other adaptations.
And yes someone does take up on that whole 'but surely someone will know its him, look at all the resources and money he has'. Waited a long time for someone to look at that.
Anyway back to the point, this film has met all expectations, it has exceeded its original which puts it into a small group in my opinion, it sets up for a third film and leaves us wanting more. if you haven't seen it, do, if your not a fan of the other Batman films, it doesn't matter. The character has come along way from using that shark repellent spray to get rid of a great white hanging off his leg or wearing costumes with rubber nipples attached, he is 3 dimensional and diverse. the plot is intriguing and the characters all shine, nobody can deny that this film is nothing short of a masterpiece and will truly stand the test of time.