Review: The Dark Knight

The Dark Knight.

To most of us, Heath Ledger's final bow.

To others, Warner Brothers' second (and only) chance to turn a profit after the disaster that was Speed Racer.

To me, simply the most exciting two and a half hours I've spent watching a single movie. And I'd see it again.

To give you an idea of how good The Dark Knight is, you must look at it not just as a superhero genre type of film. This is a crime drama at its best. This is, as some critics are calling it, "Scorsesian".

The Dark Knight is the sequel to Christopher Nolan's 2005 film Batman Begins. It follows four characters: billionaire playboy Bruce Wayne (along with his alter ego, the crime-fighting Batman), Gotham City's new District Attorney Harvey Dent (played by Aaron Eckhart), Gotham's Police Detective Jim Gordon (Gary Oldman), and the Joker (played by the late Heath Ledger), a maniacal villain who has just dethroned Javier Bardem's Anton Chigurh for This Decade's Creepiest, Most Effective Villain (Hannibal Lecter is SO last decade).

The story revolves around the Joker, who rounds up Gotham City's villains for one goal: Kill Batman. At the same time, Batman and Gordon contemplate trusting the new District Attorney Harvey Dent and his ambition to rid the city of crime. I won't delve deep into the story since I know I'll spoil something eventually, so I'll just cut it at that much with the plot.

Christian Bale's Bruce Wayne is very calculated, arrogant, and fun. Bale is an amazing actor, one I've admired ever since seeing American Psycho. I look forward to a third Batman installment with him in it and also the fourth Terminator flick coming out next year(?).

Maggie Gyllenhaal takes on the role of Rachel Dawes in this film, dethroning Katie Holmes' previous performance in Batman Begins (Holmes opted to not sign on for Dark Knight). The character looks and feels like Rachel Dawes from the previous film, but adds much more personality to it.

Aaron Eckhart, an actor I was made aware of by Thank You For Smoking, takes on the role as Harvey Dent (whom most of you might make the connection as Two-Face). Eckhart shares about the same on-screen time with Bale and Ledger and not a single moment is boring. If anything, the script was basically centered around Dent who is Gotham's hero; a man who fights to take crime off the streets and in turn is heraled by many to be more effective than Batman. The movie perfectly ushers in the rise and fall of Harvey Dent as he transcends into Two-Face. A teaser line from the trailer foreshadows his fate: You either die a hero, or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain.

Heath Ledger is talent beyond recognition. If The Dark Knight proved anything, it was that Ledger's untimely passing away is a huge tragedy for everyone. Ledger is such a talented actor and he shows it by creating his own version of the Joker: a psychopathic, criminal mastermind that makes Jack Nicholson's version look like a circus clown. Mark Hamill's voice acting has nothing on this. You know, people were trying to start a petition on getting Ledger an Oscar nod because of his passing. To them, I say this: Give him an award based on his acting, not because of his death. Heath Ledger has put out one of the best performances I've ever seen, and as I said earlier: Heath's Joker completely blows Javier Bardem's Chigurh out of the water.

Verdict: Watch it in theatres. Watch it twice if you want. See it in IMAX. Whatever you do, don't miss out on The Dark Knight. It is simply the best movie of the year, or at least so far.