The Dark Knight

If you have seen this you will know what I'm talking about. If you have not seen it I highly suggest you see it at least twice. The first time you watch just let the ride happen. You may be totally emotionally exhausted by the end of this 2.5 hour epic. The second time you watch it do so for the nuances. Relish the smart script. Savor the more than Oscar-worthy performance of the late Heath Ledger. Get into the sub-plots and subtle messages. It is easy to miss them the first time through because there is so much happening so fast you need to see it twice, at least, to take the full measure of this movie in.

This is hands down the best comic-based action thriller movie out thus far. And it sets the bar very high. This is what big budget movies are supposed to look and feel like. This movie would still be great without Batman. If, instead of Batman, you plug in a very tough, very smart, cop or vigilante, or even a very rich crime solver, it would still work. That is because the movie is not about Batman. The movie is about the criminals. This is so brilliant it has evaded most the watching public.

Don't get me wrong, Christian Bale does a brilliant job as the Caped Crusader. I shows a full range of emotions and is more human than some of the other guys have been. He is truly heroic.

Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman reprise their roles in support of Bruce Wayne. Each is a very welcome, smart, and funny addition to the story. Maggie Gyllenhaal is also back and the love interest, but with a huge interesting twist.

Other welcome faces include Aaron Eckhart and Gary Oldman.

But the true star of this movie; the one who carries the entire story on his shoulders with delicious flare is Ledger's Joker. Nothing like Nicholson's over-the-top masterwork of 20 years ago. This Joker is much more real, much creepier, much more sinister, and much more macabre. His character study is so perfectly psychotic one might wonder who he used for inspiration.

Watch this movie with someone who can help you keep up with what's going on.