The Dark Knight - Christopher Nolan - 2008

★★★★-Pretty much an unquestioned masterpiece. Easily the best live-action Batman movie of all-time, though it isn't perfect and is probably middle of the road for Nolan movies. 

Second installment of Nolan's Dark Knight Trilogy, co-written with his bro Jonathan. By far his most linear movie. Doesn't even have a flashback. Ensemble cast includes Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Heath Ledger, Gary Oldman, Aaron Eckhart, Maggie Gyllenhaal, and Morgan Freeman, among other. Gyllenhaal is a vast improvement over Katie Holmes as Rachel Dawes. Eckhart's ark is pretty interesting. Could be read as the fall of a great man, pushed to his limits. Or a man that wasn't that great to begin with, self-serving and power-hungry that was always capable of evil. What I think of as Dibo's, aka “Tiny” Zeus Lister, final decent role.

Gist of the film is Batman, police lieutenant James Gordon, and district attorney Harvey Dent, join forces to combat organized crime in Gotham City; but, their plans are thorted by the Joker, a chaotic mastermind intent on pushing Batman to his limits. Standard Batman stuff on paper. But this is way more than your standard superhero fare. It's probably the best superhero film ever made. Definitely is in my book.

Heath Ledger's Joker is, of course, incredible. Every time he's on-screen is a gift. Starts with one of the best openings to any movie ever. Then the meeting with Lau, the Chinese guy, where the Joker does his magic trick is incredible exposition. The Harvey Dent fundraiser. Chasing Harvey Dent. When Batman interrogates him. All are rewatchable gems. It's the little things that really make the performance stellar. Slicking his hair back as he walks over to an incapacitated Batman, sticking his head out of the window as he rides away in a cop car after his escape, holding up his hands and repeatedly smacking the detonator to the hospital that doesn't explode (this was apparently improvised). Dude was a talent. Nolan was a genius for just letting him play hero-ball. What we get is a true agent of chaos. 

Never gets than his conversation with Dent after killing his lady. Talks about “plans” and “schemes” and so forth. Then delivers the best monologue of the movie: 

“Nobody panics when things go 'according to plan.' Even if the plan is horrifying! If, tomorrow, I tell the press that, like, a gang banger will get shot, or a truckload of soldiers will be blown up, nobody panics, because it's all 'part of the plan.' But when I say that one little old mayor will die, well then everyone loses their minds. Introduce a little anarchy. Upset the established order, and everything becomes chaos. I'm an agent of chaos. Oh, and you know the thing about chaos? It's fair.”

Fucking great. And accurate. 

Another great and accurate quote comes from Dent at the end when he says, “You thought we could be decent men, in an indecent time! But you were wrong. The world is cruel, and the only morality in a cruel world is chance. Unbiased, unprejudiced, fair.”

There are some things, though. Don't like all the doggo death, even if they are trained to kill. The stuff with Lau was pretty messy. Multiple cellphones that aren't allowed that cause a bunch of havoc. Drags and is pretty unnecessary, going to China, wasting like 20 minutes of screen time. Could have been cut down and not had the extraction and kept things a little simpler. It's sort of a slog the fifth or so time you watch the film. Also, I'm pretty sure an authorized plane in Chinese airspace wouldn't end too well. The stuff with the other Batmen is also completely improbably. How do they find a major drug deal going down in a parking lot? There are more parts that sort of drag, in that first hour especially. The cell phone stuff at the end was complicated and weird and unnecessary, too. It's not like the government doesn't use shit that is just as fucked up all the time. Ever hear of Stingray?

Harvey Dent being unable to recognize the Joker until he takes off his N95 is genuinely hilarious. Don't get a lot of unintentional comedy in Nolan movies, but this, and then pretty much every time Bane opens his mouth, are funny as shit. 

The film's impact is obvious, especially with DC's grittier, crime-focused approach, probably to the detriment of film as a whole. It basically ushered in the great IP era of film when it comes to superhero movies.