Review of the Dark Knight

What doesn't kill you makes you stranger. So says the Joker in Christopher Nolan's second installment of the Batman franchise, The Dark Knight. Following on closely from the first film - Batman Begins - The Dark Knight sees Gotham City besieged by a new villain. A psychopath who wears make up and a purple suit, known only as the Joker. We are also introduced to the White Knight of Gotham - District Attorney Harvey Dent. What follows is two and a half hours of dark action that pushes the comic book movie genre to its limits. The theme of this movie is choice, and the consequence of the choices we make. It runs from the self proclaimed agent of chaos, the Joker, to rule abiding Batman (albeit his own rules) and Harvey Dent. It shows us how the consequences of your actions can be difficult to live with and will, for some, break you. This is a film with flaws. It is not the best movie of all time, possibly not even of the summer, but it is the first movie in a long time that I enjoyed from beginning to end and left the cinema feeling thoroughly satisfied. It had a STORY, pitch perfect performances from the ENTIRE CAST, not just Heath Ledger (although hats off to Heath and Mr Nolan for making my least favourite Bat-verse character incredibly watchable) great action sequences and a gritty, realistic tone (as much as is possible in a movie that centers on a millionaire who dresses up as a bat and fights crime on the mean streets of his city). Will this movie stand the test of time? I don't know, that will remain to be seen, but forget about the hyperbole, ignore the nay-sayers and go see it. I highly recommend it. 5/5.