The Dark Knight

OK, let's just get it out of the way here. The new Batman sequel entitled "The Dark Knight" is fucking brilliant! It is a triumph not just of action and direction, but also a triumph of acting and characters. This is not simply a story of the good guys versus the bad guys, but of flawed human beings whose childhood scars have formed them into people who can never lead a truly normal life (whatever that means anyway). How thrilling it is to see a movie that actually lives up to the hype. I was desperately trying to control my expectations before going in, but it was hard to with all the glorious reviews that the movie was generating. How relieved I am to see that all these reviews are more than justified!

No longer burdened by the traditional comic book setup of who the "hero" is and how he came to be, the movie thrusts us right into the action with a brilliantly staged robbery. Director Christopher Nolan has said that the movie "Heat" was actually a big inspiration in the making of this movie, and it does have the look of a Michael Mann movie. It also allows us an inspired intro to the chief nemesis of Batman in this movie, Joker. Unlike other movie villains who are interested in money and power, the Joker really has no discernable movie other than creating total chaos. This makes him the scariest kind of villain in that he really has nothing to lose while everyone else around him does.