Before I really delve into anything too deep about the movie, I’ll go ahead and warn you that I intend to not hold back any of the spoilers. A full review of a movie requires one to talk about every bit of the gory details - this review included.

Now that that is out of the way, allow me to preface this review with a small statement: Dark Knight is the best movie I’ve seen in a number of years and likely will see in the foreseeable future. It is the best comic-based movie ever made. The summer is done as far as movies are concerned (and it’s only mid-July!). Now that’s out of the way, back to the review -

As a fan of basically any movie ever made, I’ve seen hundreds of films in recent years and none of them has had the amount of hype and desperate urge to be watched as The Dark Knight. The first thing I wondered when Heath Ledger died was: “Wait… he’s in Batman, did he finish filming his role as Joker?” Not too sentimental of a statement about one of the most promising could’ve-beens (especially after this film) but I think it speaks volumes about the level of secrecy surrounding the movie.

Before last night the public had access to a nil amount of media: a few trailers, one minute of Joker in the dining hall, and the first 5 minutes of the film, all of which pale in comparison to the epic nature of the movie. The last 45 minutes hasn’t seen the light of day and I couldn’t have been happier to not spoil the entire movie. First, I’ll talk about the characters themselves.

Batman is starting to have an effect on the city’s minor crime (drug deals, robberies, etc) and the media struggles to figure out if he’s good for the city. He has a new costume in this sequel to Batman Begins, largely because he wants to be able to turn his neck - go figure. Agile as it might be, the new suit is more prone to bullets and knives, providing a natural opening for Joker’s knives.

I know this has been said a lot in reviews but it has to have it’s place: Ledger’s acting and style is the opitome of Joker’s character. I would’ve been glad to see Joker replace Two-Face’s entire screen time (mostly because Two-Face has been turned into a very small character, compared to the great Tommy Lee Jones in Batman Forever). An hour or two after watching his acting I couldn’t help but wonder how the media and fans of the movie would react to the acting by Ledger had he still been alive. Would we have taken his acting as seriously? I don’t know the answer to that question and glad that I never will. Pondering aside, “make the pencil…DISAPPEAR” will be one of the most memborable moments in movie history; if you’ve seen the movie, you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about. Joker (eventually) is a natural ally to Harvey Dent, post-scorching, of course.

Harvey Dent is a lot like Batman, except his face is very public knowledge. Batman decides that Dent is the face Gotham needs and will eventually replace Batman. Harvey is now dating Rachel, Bruce Wayne’s long-time friend and overall love interest. Being held captive in a soon-to-blow oil storage facility, Harvey is strapped to a chair and falls over after spilling a drum of oil, leaking all over the floor. You see Harvey in a very visual manner, half of his face is resting in an extremely flammable liquid. Batman, instead of saving Rachel (who dies the same death Harvey should’ve, thus causing the emotional anger in Dent’s soon-to-be character) rushes in, carries him outside just as the place implodes, catching Dent’s entire right side of his head on fire. Minutes later we see the aftermath - Two-Face. Joker, dressed as a woman (jokingly, of course), convinces Harvey to go into a murdering rampage, killing those that started the mess.

The story is the really interesting part of this movie. Nearly every character reevaluates his future: Batman struggles to continue fighting crime, Dent loses his mind after half of his head is burned off, Rachel can’t decide who she wants to love; however, Joker remains absolutely psychotic and unstoppable through the entire film, as is his nature. Bruce Wayne has billions and shows it off through the entire two and a half hours, driving around in a Lamborghini, flying in on a helicopter with three models on his arm, and doing business deals with other insanely rich.

The setting of Gotham is exactly as one would remember it from any other Batman movie in the past: kind of like New York but still no recognizable buildings and tons of people. The city is a huge playground for plenty of chases, killings, sharpshooters etc.

As you can see, the most important part of this movie when seeing it or the first time is enjoying the characters, mainly Joker and his psychopathic ways. There were flaws in the storyline and the development of some of the characters but they have absolutely no weight in bring down this movie in the least. This is a pure action film (both love interests even die near the end) and definitely the highest quality comic book-based movie ever made. After seeing the second appearance of Joker roughly 10 minutes in, you’ll immediately understand this movie is much darker than any Batman before.

Runtime: 2 hr. 32 min.