Not just the best movie to be based on a DC comic book, or the superhero genre as a whole, The Dark Knight is one of the greatest movies of the 21st Century in any genre. With the origin story now out of the way, Christopher Nolan was able to craft the Batman movie he had always envisioned; a complex, smart blockbuster that has more in common with a sprawling crime epic than a standard superhero movie. Opening with a meticulous bank robbery that introduces Heath Ledger's instantly-iconic take on the Joker, from here the movie continues its key theme of escalation as the Clown Prince of Crime causes things in Gotham City to spiral wildly out of control. A masochistic, anarchic yet highly intelligent nemesis to Batman, the Joker is one of the great big-screen villains and was fully deserving of a posthumous Best Supporting Actor Oscar for the late Australian. Almost as important to the story is the arc of Aaron Eckhart's Harvey Dent, who begins the movie as Gotham's shining light but finds himself driven to darkness, which has direct repercussions for Bruce Wayne. Although Ledger walks away with the movie, the ensemble cast are all uniformly excellent in their roles, providing the heart and soul of the picture. Wally Pfister's cinematography is again flawless and Nolan stages several jaw-dropping sequences that range from intense dialogue scenes to massive action set-pieces. Visceral, emotional, intelligent and brilliantly realized, The Dark Knight will take some beating as the best comic book movie ever made.
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