Movie #12: The Dark Knight

Movie #: 12
Movie Title: The Dark Knight
Year Released: 2008

Director: Christopher Nolan
Notable Cast: Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Heath Ledger, Gary Oldman, Aaron Eckhart, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Morgan Freeman

Short Description: When the menace known as the Joker wreaks havoc and chaos on the people of Gotham, the caped crusader must come to terms with one of the greatest psychological tests of his ability to fight justice. (IMDB.com)


Rank on the Top 100 Lists (as of 1/7/2013)

AFI.com: N/A
IMDB.com: #7
Ranker.com: #8
Lifed.com: #5
Empire.com: #15
FilmCrave.com: #4
FlickChart.com: #31



Date Watched: 12/5/2016

Grade: 5 out of 5 (Exceptional)

Rationale: Honestly, if you need more than Heath Ledger as a reason to love The Dark Knight, that's disappointing because, for my money, Heath Ledger's Oscar winning performance as The Joker is the single greatest performance in all of movie history. I mean, the guy was setup to fail from the beginning and knocked the ball completely out of the park and into a new universe. The fan backlash from The Joker being the villain was bad enough because Jack Nicholson had done such a good job in 1989's Batman, but the casting of Heath was severely looked down upon because he was mostly known for romantic comedies. I even remember pooh-poohing the choice myself. My bad. Moving on, other than Katie Holmes tragically being recast by Maggie Gyllenhaal for the role of Rachel Dawes, the acting and story transcended the standard quality of a comic book movie to the point that serious award season buzz existed and the Oscars even changed their nomination process for Best Picture because of fan criticism for The Dark Knight not receiving a nomination. I again go to one of my favorite phrases: "In Christopher Nolan I trust".