The Dark Knight

We never knew, in 2008, a storm like this would hit us! Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight, apart from revolutionizing the superhero genre, has completely elevated the quality we should be anticipating from a motion picture in general. Could you imagine having an expectation weight this gargantuan on your shoulders every time you decide to make a superhero flick?

Heath Ledger's performance as The Joker is something you'd see once in a lifetime! It's the same as Robin Williams' Genie. The thespian is unbelievable! His ambushes, manipulativeness, fake stories about how he got his scars, philosophy, violence and the shot of him walking out of the exploding hospital are downright audacious, hilarious, terrifying and never fails to send chills down your spine! He is the one right villain who could push all the buttons and send Batman to a roller coaster ride in hell!

The choices given to Bruce Wayne / Batman (Christian Bale) is brutal! Option to save Harvey (Aaron Eckhart) or Rachel (Maggie Gyllenhaal), threat on true identity from within company to a point where Batman has to sacrifice himself for the blame to preserve the good he's fought hard to keep is incredibly moving! It's the direct attack on core values and principles that's the highlight battle here! Batman, Commissioner Gordon (Gary Oldman) and Harvey Dent constantly keeping social perception in mind before making most of their moves is written and portrayed onscreen with clarity.

The writing is first class! Most of the dialogues are bumper sticker worthy! Actions taken by the principal characters amplify the theme of order versus chaos. Batman’s drastic measures to nab Joker by spying on every cellphone in the city to which Fox retires after getting himself involved in such an unethical task plus Harvey Dent’s gradual moral decline that leads him from being an esteemed district attorney to one of Batman's most infamous nemesis Two-Face are examples. Reversals and foreshadowing of character arc plus events are brilliantly used! However, the revelation about Gordon's alleged death doesn't work as well as one would think.

Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard flood this movie with so much energy! If the word 'epic' only specifically fit one thing alike Cinderella's shoe, it's for The Dark Knight's score without a millidoubt! Sharp sound design, high contrast color scheme and the elaborate production design are immaculate! And just like the first instalment, it's gadgets and gizmos galore yet again! Sonar scan eyes, upgraded flexible Batsuit, parachute bag for cape and Batpod ejection from Tumbler are among the greatest things we've seen in a Batman motion picture adaptation, ever! Actions sequences are out of this world! Betrayal in the beginning heist featuring The Joker's army, initial Batman brawl in a carpark with Scarecrow and copycat Batmen, Joker meeting Harvey in the hospital, the incredible climax from Batman in pursuit of Joker, voting in boat until Batman catches Joker upside down, target extraction in Hong Kong using a private jet, fundraiser party infiltration, Batman interrogating Joker, police station blowout with a contusion, helicopter being ziplined plus the entire highway battle featuring Batman's Tumbler before The Caped Crusader tangles and collapses Joker's truck with the Batpod are pure euphoria! Nolan effectively uses Gotham City and its citizens to generate genuine panic! Tension and conflict are high at all times due to real stakes!