As good as
Batman Begins is, it's
The Dark Knight that elevates the series and the genre to heights never reached before. Everything about this film is top notch, Grade A impeccable.
Christopher Nolan joins the ranks of true visionaries and creates one of, if not the greatest sequels of all time.
Christian Bale as
Batman takes his role even deeper than the first one. But this movie begins and ends with
Heath Ledger as the
Joker. His performance is nothing short of brilliant and he did the impossible, He redefined and made the character his own. When you sign up to play an iconic character like
Joker, you will invariably be compared to
Cesar Romero and
Jack Nicholson. But now THEY are the ones being compared to
Heath.
So what makes
Ledger's performance great? We see a
Joker that 'just is', not for fame an glory, but one that can't help himself and can't control what he is and does. With a fractured mind like that, you see why he can't be reasoned or bargained with, which makes him the most dangerous foe
Batman will ever face. With no pressure points to inflict on him, he will always be uncontrollable.
Heath just nails it in projecting a flawed, albeit highly entertaining character. It's a shame that he passed away shortly after. Not only did we lose a great actor, but the chance for even more
Joker performances had they gone down that road.
If I have any criticism about
The Dark Knight it's a couple of things. First, Batman's "voice". At times it was a bit overkill and has since been parodied ad nauseam. Second is the casting of
Maggie Gyllenhaal as
Rachel Dawes, taking over for
Katie Holmes. I like continuity with my movies and whenever an actor is "replaces" along the way with someone else, it just feels....wrong. These two things don't harm the movie in anyway, but I felt that they needed to be addressed here.
I highly recommend this as a
Buy, and this is definitely worth a
Rent for those that don't like the Superhero Genre. It's worth it just to see
Heath Ledger prove why he deserved the Oscar for Best Support Actor with his final role. Amazing.