The Dark Knight

When I saw Batman Begins in theaters, I was seriously impressed, and excited like a little school girl at the direction that Hollywood is taking my favorite DC comic hero.

Today, I saw The Dark Knight. Mark this on the record books, because my barriers for awesome have officially been blown away. The Dark Knight has, on every level, completely rewritten what it is that makes a movie great to me. I promise I'm not hyping it up when I say that that was the most near-to-perfect movie of the genre that I have ever seen.

The stars are most definitely the biggest three players in the movie. We have the prolific Batman played by Christian Bale, the malevolent Joker played by Heath Ledger, and Aaron Eckhart as the District Attorney, Harvey Dent. I won't go into details when it comes to how these three interact, as that's all part of the magic that this movie is so plentiful of, but I will make it a point to tell you this. As much as this is a Batman movie, the real star was Heath Ledger as the Joker.

I'm not a huge Heath fan, not crazed or anything like that. To be honest, before The Dark Knight, the only other movie I had even heard his name in was Brokeback Mountain, and from what I heard about that movie, I really wasn't interested in exposing myself to this actor. When I heard about his death, I did some research on him, and grew to respect his abilities, but I still wasn't -sold-.

Then I see Dark Knight, and I am forever changed. The late Ledger played the role of the Joker so -perfectly-, there's no other way to describe it than chilling. His presence onscreen is demanding of an audience, as he seems to have very little control over himself. His eyes, the flicking of his tongue as he speaks, the very way he speaks is all very... authentic. This isn't the Joker that you could never imagine existing. Ledger portrays him in such a way that he's believable to the point that you're glad it's a movie.

When you read of Ledger's devotion to the role, you gain another level of respect to his professionalism. Ledger lived alone in an apartment, spending hours upon hours just practicing posture, voice, and movements. He spent days reading The Killing Joke and the like. Ledger kept a diary of the Joker's thoughts and feelings as he practiced, pulling himself deep into the character. What he produces on screen is nothing less than a marvelously anarchic version of the Joker. Pure brilliance, and it will probably go down as Ledger's crowning achievement through his short time as an actor.

The story itself was deep, brooding, and at times, amazingly tense. Lighthearted humor here and there sprinkle the overall feeling that everything is spiraling out of control, just furthering your confusion as one moment Bruce Wayne is making a little humor at the sake of the District Attorney Harvey Dent, and moments later he's scrambling to get to his Batman suit as the Joker busts into his party, threatening everyone there.

The mood in the movie is dark and deep, reflecting on the challenges being faced by our heroes. Every moment, you can connect with any actor on screen, and feel the emotions and the weights that just wear at them. My overall view of the movie is definitely one of the best this season, and absolutely the best Batman movie ever. I can soundly give this movie a full 10 out of 10, and I highly recommend you take 2 and a half hours to watch it, they're worth the money spent. To help you hurry along, please enjoy this trailer, it's got some wonderful dialogue from the Joker himself:

On a different note, the one thing I can truly complain about is that the movie was almost ruined, as a high-pitched guy behind us couldn't find a way to just sit back and watch the movie. There were more than a few moments where I would have been riveted, where instead I was infuriated as the guy behind us whinnied his mouth off. I'm sure you won't have to deal with him, though, so don't let that deter you. I've got his address, anyways.

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