The Dark Knight

Reviewed by:
Eric Alt

Directed by: Christopher Nolan

The Skinny: Now that Batman (Christian Bale) has finished beginning, Gotham should be as criminal-friendly as McGruff's biscuit box, right? Too bad a new menace called The Joker (Heath Ledger) has a plan to bring some explosive and murderous anarchy into the lives of Bats, his cohort Jim Gordon (Gary Oldman), and Gotham's new firebrand District Attorney, Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart).

The Good: Not to put too fine a point on it, but comic book movies finally have their Godfather. Batman's world is expanded and Gotham's threat level significantly elevated without the movie ever losing sight of its hero and his reasons for being (something the other Batman movies never achieved). And trust us when we say the threat is elevated—Ledger's Joker is the walking, talking, cackling embodiment of pure terror, and his performance is every bit as good as you've heard. This is a bleak, almost tragic movie that still has "holy shit, that's cool" moments—in other words: Best. Movie. Of. The. Summer.

The Bad: Our summer is officially over. Nothing else will come close to this.

Isn't That…? Yep, that's Anthony Michael Hall as the host of Gotham City's favorite news program.

Theater, DVD, or TNT in Five Years? Right. Like there was any chance of you missing this opening weekend.