The Dark Knight

I have heard the hype before: "American Gangster will be the best movie of the past 25 years!" It was just okay. It barely made my honorable mention list for 2007. Or, what about Spiderman 3? Gag.

So, along comes another Batman movie. The Batman movies began in 1943. The Dark Knight makes the 13th. Compare that to 6 Rocky movies. I had serious doubts about this one.

Harold called the Dark Knight every bit as impactful as Indiana Jones. I rolled my eyes. "You must see it soon," Harold said. "Okay, Okay," I replied. I went and saw it last Tuesday when I had the day off.

I slid into the seat at the Regal theatre thinking "Well at least I have a comfortable seat." As I gnawed on popcorn and drank diet coke, I watched the 12 year old kids skip in. "Geez, I am here with 12 year olds," I thought.

Then the movie started. It had me at hello. Action, intrigue, story line, contrasts, special effects, costumes, Christian Bale, Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine, Aaron Eckhart and his face, Maggie Gyllenhaal, and someone named Heath Ledger, aka Ennis Del Mar of Brokeback Mountain.

Oh my. I cannot put into words the greatness of Heath Ledger's acting. His portrayal of a twisted, dark, broken, sociopathic, masochistic, and sadistic Joker was absolutely unbelievable.

Batman completes the Joker. Heath completes this movie and makes it one of the great ones.

5 out of 5. Joe.