[SamandMax]

The Dark Knight

When Christopher Nolan said he wanted to make a crime epic like "Heat", he was not kidding. This isn't simply a superhero movie, this is a huge, bleak giant of a film showing the complete destruction of a city and all of it's population simply because of the actions of one single man, The Joker. No amount of hyperbole could over hype how good Heath Ledger is in this role, he brings a sense of dread into every scene he's in but still manages to keep a really dark sense of humour to it. There's one scene later in the film where he stands awkwardly in a nurse's uniform outside a hospital with a bomb detonator in his hand, and there's this child like naivety to his evilness that makes him far more terrifying a villain that Hannibal Lecter or Anton Chigurh. There are problems with the film, it might bite off a bit more than it can chew with the introduction of another villain 3/4 of the way through and the Rachel Dawes character isn't given much to do except be a pivotal plot point, but the overall epic scope of the film and Heath Ledger's mesmerizing performance make up for any flaws and make this not only a great superhero movie, but just a great movie in general. If they do make a third movie they have their work cut out for them because I don't know how you could top this.

9/10