The Best Movie Of 2008 Is The Dark Knight

I was extremely excited about this movie when it originally came out in July 2008. I could not wait to see it then and was equally excited to see it again this week when it was finally released on DVD for the holiday season. And to top it all off the movie was re-released this week in theaters for a short final run before the Academy Awards where it will probably take home a truck load of Oscars.

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 positive reviews and just watch it and make our own decision on if the movie was great or not.

Well after seeing it back in July i can say that without question 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 is not a serious contender for multiple awards including Best Picture. At a bare minimum Ledger should (WILL) 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. But again, this is Ledger’s movie and he steals every single second of screen time.

At this point the movie has made over 1 billion dollars world wide and is the second highest grossing movie of all time behind Titanic. From all reports I have read it looks like it could also become the #1 DVD movie ever release in a short amount of time.

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. He steals every single minute he is on screen without exception. It is that good in my opinion.

The IMDB link for the movie is http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0468569/

I would recommend EVERYONE go see this movie if you can, or rent it immediately.