The Dark Knight

The Dark Knight
PG-13
Running Time: 152 minutes
USA

I have no idea where to begin with this review. My head is filled to capacity with geekdom and is ready to explode. Truthfully, I don't consider myself all that geeked-out or nerdy...but when I see a movie of this quality all my self-perceived "coolness" goes out the window and I revert to '92 when comic books and my imagination were king.

I won't bother with plot outlines, seeing as how this is one of the biggest movies to come out all year and I assume that most everyone will see it...

...which leads to the only thing I want to talk about: Heath Ledger. Oh-my-hell...words cannot express the shock and awe. There are some phenomenal actors working currently and there have been many notables in the past. However, I am here to prophesy that Mr. Ledger will go down in history for this role as one of the most memorable, powerful and believable performances ever captured on film. Truly, movie-goers everywhere should be saddened at his passing, not only for his human worth and goodness, that being the main reason, but also for the fact that this one performance would have rocketed him into acting immortality. He most certainly would have graced us with a myriad more characters and performances sure to shake the dust off our souls.

It is extremely rare to come across a character that is so creepy, so insane, so despicable and conniving...and yet so charismatic, so strangely charming and so spellbinding. This is how I always pictured the "real" Joker when I would read the comics. This is the character that I have had in my head all this time. This is the human portrayal of my inner demons. Truly, this is as close to acting perfection as it comes...I've only seen it a handful of times: Daniel-Day Lewis (There Will Be Blood) and Javier Bardem (No Country For Old Men) to name a few. However, Heath Ledger now joins that list and becomes a part of acting legends that will never be forgotten.

In fairness to the rest of the film, it was incredible all around. Christian Bale, Morgan Freeman, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Gary Oldman, Aaron Eckhart and Michael Caine were outstanding. The script was tight and even the one-liners hit on all cylinders. The CGI was flawless and the fight choreography was fast-paced and exciting. Honestly, if you only see one movie this year, it needs to be this one. Let the geeks run free!!!