The Dark Knight (2008)

The Dark Knight follows the continuing adventures of Batman.

In this installment, Bruce Wayne, a.k.a. Batman (played by Christian Bale), is still fighting crime in a cleaner Gotham City.  In a large-scale operation, Batman, along with Lieutenant Gordon (played by Gary Oldman), D.A. Harvey Dent (played by Aaron Eckhart), and Mayor Anthony Garcia (played by Nestor Carbonell) decide to put the squeeze on a slew of organized crime families.  The heads of these families (notably Salvatore Maroni, played by Eric Roberts, who sports the WORST goomba dialect I've heard in a while) band together, and take a new criminal, know only as The Joker, up on his offer to off the Batman.

The Joker lives for chaos.  He wants to see what makes the Batman tick, and humanity at large, as well.  In doing so, he pushes all to the brink.  Staging murders to draw the Batman out from behind his mask, inticing the public to scream for his de-masking, placing John Q Public in horrifying situations to show what their really made of, and forcing 'White Knight' Harvey Dent off his high horse, and causing him to live up to his knickname of Two-Face.  The Batman and The Joker find themselves pushing and pulling against each other through innumerable scenarios, thus birthing a love-hate relationship that can never be kicked.  "I think you and I are destined to do this forever," The Joker says.  At least in another incarnation.  Also in this film is the usual cast of characters played by Hollywood A-Listers.  Seriously, too numerable to mention.

This movie had me bouncing in my seat in the theater.  The action arc of this film was so perfect.  Christopher Nolan was a maestro in pulling the right strings.  This film's 152 minute running time had absolutely no affect on me whatsoever.  Not a wasted moment, not a wasted character, no fat that could have been trimmed.  Seriously, my only qualm about Nolan's handling of the film was his use of Christian Bale's raspy Batman voice.  Otherwise, he's orchestrated a phenomenal piece of cinema, and done very well in the super-hero genre.

This was really an ensemble picture.  What, with so many A-Listers it kinda had to be.  Every actor played so well in the whole.  A lot of people are talking about Heath Ledger's performance, and rightly so.  Oscar nod?  Dunno.  I think he was phenomenal, but I feel it would be too sentimental if it was awarded posthumously.  Maybe I'm wrong, and there won't be a stronger performance to come out this season, but unlikely.  Winter hath not fallen.  What was interesting to note is that an earlier version of the trailer really gave the feel that Ledger was channeling Jack Nicholson's Joker.  Later versions totally put that to dust.

As an action film, this is top notch.  Seriously, I was strapped into the ride and screaming like a maniac at every twist and turn.  As a super-hero film, this one had so much depth.  Lots of character progression, perfect handling of new villians, and a great balance of comic lore.  

So far, this has been the best movie I've seen this year.  This bad boy is worth watching, and rewatching.  More trinkets each time, and the action never gets old.