The Dark Knight

It a rarity to have a sequel that is superior to the original, but in the case of The Dark Knight, that is exactly what we have. Picking up the themes of the original and carrying them forward, this follow-up explores the consequences that can come from standing up against evil can bring, not only towards the individual themselves but also their loved ones. With a rare intensity and dazzlingly good performances, this entry into the Christopher Nolan Batman trilogy just may be a masterpiece.

The film opens with a daring mid-day bank heist perpetrated by a group of men in clown masks led by a mysterious man named The Joker (played by Heath Ledger). It turns out the bank was Mob owned and The Joker was stealing their money. This makes him a marked man by the various criminal organizations in Gotham, but rather than run and hide, Joker crashes their meeting and makes an intriguing offer, for half of their collective earnings he will do what none of the rest of them have been able to: Kill the Batman. Realizing that Batman has no sense of jurisdiction when he goes all the way to Hong Kong to aprehend a crooked accountant for mobster Sal Maroni (played by Eric Roberts), they eventually agree to The Joker's terms. Meanwhile, Batman (played by Christian Bale) is hunting The Joker, trying desperately to find the madman and teams up with District Attorney Harvey Dent (played by Aaron Eckhart) and Lt. Jim Gordon.   

This film takes the Superhero film and takes it up a notch, showing that it can be just a dark and gritty as crime drama. Christopher and Jonathan Nolan wrote the script with Christopher directing and the results are nothing short of impressive. The cast across the board is at the top of their game. Christian Bale's second go at the role of Batman is even better than the first. Maggie Gyllenhaal takes over the role of Rachel Dawes from Katie Holmes and brings a lot to the role, portraying a fiercely strong and independent woman. Aaron Eckhart brings a strong nobility in his turn as Harvey Dent. But the role that overshadows the rest is Heath Ledger's performance as The Joker. He's a character that is clearly insane and thoroughly unpredictable, which is what makes him truly scary. It's a memorable performance and a fantastic rendition of a character that I loved, even when I probably shouldn't have.

Overall, The Dark Knight raised the bar for the perception of what a comic book movie could be. It showed that it could be just as dark, bleak and intense as any crime thriller. It was the first comic book movie I saw where I felt like there were real stakes and maybe, just maybe, the good guys weren't going to win in the end. It's an intense and suspenseful film with a rich narrative. It's a fantastic accomplishment in the genre of comic book movies. The only downside is that since it's huge success, Warner Bros. has apparently decided that every one of it's DC Comics based films needs to be dark and gritty like this film, which frankly is not a one size fits all approach. But for this one, it fit it like a glove.