The Dark Knight2008

99/100 Ingenious in its entirety and near-perfect as a film. This film has been discussed at length before, and I have little to no new insight. This film earns its praise as perhaps the best film ever to feature Batman, the Joker or Two-Face. The plot is absolute genius, showing off great examples of setup and payoff. Unlike the last film, this one opts for a multitude of themes more subtly enforced rather than one major theme, which works well with its crime thriller approach. Christian Bale reaches his height as Batman here, playing both the Caped Crusader and his civilian disguise greatly, enhanced by a new, much better Batsuit and an even better script. He works great when portraying the duality of the character, one of the film's major themes. This is also helped along by great villains. Aaron Eckhart is great as Harvey Dent and conveys his gradual decline very well, to the point he's honestly one of my favourite parts of the film, and it's a shame he was overshadowed by the Joker. However, when you watch any scene with the Joker, its clear why. Heath Ledger disappears into the role, and though this is a unusual take on the character, it still has the core characteristics of the Joker. This version of the character is very egoistic and hypocritical, yet still manages to be funny sometimes, though of course his jokes tend to be rather dark. He's manipulative and genuinely smart with his tactics, and just becomes more and more dangerous throughout the film, cementing him as a perfect take on the character. This film also has themes of anarchy vs. order and morality, all executed well with a great screenplay. The crime thriller approach also works to make the film great even if you're not a Batman fan. This is just a great film in every sense of the word. My only critique is that the Batcave is a downgrade from last time, but that's such a minor complaint drowned out by how great this film is. This isn't just a great Batman film, but a masterpiece all around. Highly recommend if you like Batman, crime thrillers or just comic book movies in general.