I was extremely excited about this movie. I could not wait to see it. And then when the early reviews came out and they were outrageously positive I thought for sure I would be let down. Even Rotten Tomatoes had it at 95% positive which NEVER happens on that website. People were going crazy calling it one of the best movies of the year, or ever made. I thought that this must be hysteria surrounding Ledger's recent death. So the group of us I went with all decided NOT to be overcome by all of the positve reviews and just watch it and make our own decision on if the movie was great or not.

Well after seeing it i can say this 100% - it is amazing. It is not just a great "super hero" movie, it is an incredible movie from start to finish. I would be shocked if it does not win multiple awards and potentially even Best Picture. At a bare minimum Ledger should win for best supporting (or lead) actor. Dead or alive, his portrayal of the Joker is beyond memorable. It is creepy, unique and a character for the ages.

The plot is deep, twisting, and filled with a ton of character plot lines. Visually the movie is dark, but also HUGE. The entire city is used, destroyed, and featured. The action is as good as any action film in recent memory and there is also multiple relationship story lines and some humor on top of it all.

Bale further establishes himself as the standard for the role and is even more perfect as Batman then Tobey Maguire is as Spiderman (and Maguire is pretty darn good in that role)

With an all star cast that includes Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Aaron Eckhart, Michael Caine, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Gary Oldman, AND Morgan Freeman it is hard to decide who does a better acting job. They ALL are exceptional in their roles. Eckhart is perfect as Harvey Dent / Two Face and Freeman (Lucius Fox), Caine (Alfred) and Oldman (Lt James Gordon) are are great again reprising their roles from Batman Begins.

I am betting that this movie tops the all time opening day record from May 2007 Spiderman 3 film's opening weekend mark of $151 million. It is that good.

Finally the movie is about 2.5 hours long but feels about 1 hour long because the pacing is so well and the editing is perfect. There are no lulls, no slow parts and not one scene I could say is off the mark. The movie IS pretty graphic in its killing and threats of killing. this is mainly due to the demonic Ledger who delivers many of his lines with a very creepy and scary delivery that will undoubtedly be compared to Anthony Hopkins role as Hannibal Lector. It is that good IMO.

I read a great review that captures the movie well at Techtree.com India > News > General > The Dark Knight Review

The IMDB link for the movie is The Dark Knight (2008)

I would recommend EVERYONE go see this movie.