The Perfect Batman Film

Rating: 10/10 (16 April 2014)

This is it. This is Christopher Nolan's, Jonathan Nolan's and David S. Goyer's masterpiece. The film hits everything it strives to hit. I do not believe that 'the only reason people love(d) this film was because Heath Ledger was in it and he died afterwards'. The film had almost everything; perfect casting, extremely tense at times, a great dark touch to it, intelligent writing, brilliant action scenes, et cetera. It got almost everything right. The only things it seemed to lack is realism at times (such as Harvey Dent's burn), but all superhero films must lack this to an extent, and it drops some connections to the comics.
The writing is excellent. Moreso than the first film, 'Batman Begins'. It adds tension just as much as the directing does and adds humour that was missing in the first film (necessarily, however). Again, you can tell Christopher Nolan is involved just by the type of writing; intelligent but somewhat confusingly wrote. The way it is written is very dark and mysterious, just as Batman should be, but is not as realistic as the first one. The believability disappears to a degree. But the characters still feel vulnerable much of it is realistic. I think it's mainly the directing that takes away some realism, though.
The directing here is still amazing. 'The Dark Knight' has the same style as the first film, so not much to add here. I still prefer Tim Burton's directing of 'Batman' and 'Batman Returns' to this. It isn't as Gothic. Still unique in its own dark way, however. You still must be impressed. The shots are usually perfectly done, just like 'Batman Begins'. I think the best thing to do would be to add blood on occasion, making it much more realistic. The age certificate should have been bumped up, so certain things could be more realistic and terrifying. The action scenes were brilliant, but most scenes such as that relied on tension, not fighting unlike the first film. This is both good and bad.
The characters in this are pretty much perfect. The casting couldn't have been any better. Christian Bale is just as good as he was in the previous film as Batman. I didn't mind the recast of Rachel Dawes. I prefer Maggie Gyllenhaal to Katie Holmes. It didn't bother me at all. The two villains, Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart) and the Joker (Heath Ledger) were genius, unique villains. Villains seem to be what the Dark Knight Trilogy does best. Although excellent, they are little like their comic book counterparts. Jack Nicholson did a much more faithful Joker. But I loved the twists in personalities; without the twists it'd just be the same characters over and over in every remake.
Again, Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard have created the perfect soundtrack. Both composers never cease to amaze me. Hans Zimmer is my all time favourite composer, and the Dark Knight Trilogy includes some of his greatest work. The music in this soundtrack is very similar to the first, but is still unique and just as exciting to listen to. The soundtrack helps create the tension. Most tracks feature dragged out music. The best way to describe the entire soundtrack, just like the rest of the film, is tense. It never blasts out excitingly, it's tense and slow. The music is very metallic too in a Batman-type way and fits in perfectly.
Is this film the best Batman film ever made? Most definitely. Is this film the best superhero film ever made? Quite possibly, if this is the sort of thing you're into. Is this *one* of the best films ever made? In my opinion, absolutely. I loved it all. Every second. Yes, I believe it is quite slow, but films need to be slow sometimes, and this film is very tense when it is slow. I think, for once, a film has lived up to its hype. I disagree with the popular reviews here that dislike the film. It certainly deserves its place at #4 on the Top 250 films. I look forward to watching and reviewing the conclusion to this masterpiece of a series.