The Dark Knight

The Dark Knight

Batman raises the stakes in his war on crime. With the help of Lt. Jim Gordon and District Attorney Harvey Dent, Batman sets out to dismantle the remaining criminal organizations that plague the streets. The partnership proves to be effective, but they soon find themselves prey to a reign of chaos unleashed by a rising criminal mastermind known to the terrified citizens of Gotham as the Joker.

  • Released: 2008-07-14
  • Runtime: 152 minutes
  • Genre: Action, Crime, Drama
  • Stars: Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Michael Caine, Gary Oldman, Aaron Eckhart, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Morgan Freeman, Nestor Carbonell, Monique Gabriela Curnen, Ron Dean, Chin Han, Eric Roberts, Ritchie Coster, Anthony Michael Hall, Keith Szarabajka, Joshua Harto, Melinda McGraw, Nathan Gamble, Michael Jai White, Colin McFarlane, Nydia Rodriguez Terracina, Tom 'Tiny' Lister Jr., William Fichtner, Cillian Murphy, Patrick Leahy, Matt Skiba, David Dastmalchian, Michael Vieau, Michael Stoyanov, William Smillie, Danny Goldring, Matthew O'Neill, Olumiji Olawumi, Greg Beam, Erik Hellman, Beatrice Rosen, Vincenzo Nicoli, Edison Chen, Andy Luther, James Farruggio, Tom McElroy, Will Zahrn, James Fierro, Sam Derence, Jennifer Knox, Patrick Clear, Sarah Jayne Dunn, Charles Venn, Winston Ellis, Sophia Hinshelwood, Keith Kupferer, Joseph Luis Caballero, Richard Dillane, Daryl Satcher, Chris Petschler, Aidan Feore, Philip Bulcock, Paul Birchard, Walter Lewis, Vincent Riotta, Nancy Crane, K. Todd Freeman, Matt Shallenberger, Michael Andrew Gorman, Lanny Lutz, Peter DeFaria, Matt Rippy, Andrew Bicknell, Ariyon Bakare, Doug Ballard, Helene Maksoud, Tommy Campbell, Craig Heaney, Lorna Gayle, Lisa McAllister, Peter Brooke, Joshua Rollins, Dale Rivera, Matthew Leitch, Thomas Gaitsch, William Armstrong, Adam Kalesperis, Tristan Tait, Bronson Webb, David Ajala, Gertrude Kyles, Jonathan Ryland, James Scales, Nigel Carrington, Ian Pirie, Lateef Lovejoy, Grahame Edwards, Roger Monk, Ronan Summers, Wai Wong, Michael Corey Foster, Hannah Gunn, Jon Lee Brody, Debbi Burns, Maritza Cabrera, Shirin Caiola, Laura Chernicky, Henry Milton Chu, Kelli Clevenger, Richard Divizio, Tony Domino, David Fultz, Natalie Hallam, Jordon Hodges, Erron Jay, Nicky Katt, Thomas Kosik, Don Kress, Tim Krueger, Dan Latham, Tom McComas, James Mellor, Joseph Oliveira, Buster Reeves, Peter Rnic, Amit Shah, Michelle Shields, Sofiya Smirnova, Bruce Spielbauer, Robert Patrick Stern, Robert Stone, Richard Strobel, Tom Townsend, John Turk, John Warman, Chris Wilson, Kevin Zaideman, Rob Clark, Brandon Lambdin
  • Director: Christopher Nolan
 Comments
  • joellopez-12182 - 15 June 2024
    Greatest Batman & Joker of All Time
    When it comes to playing as batman and joker, Bale and Ledger really know how to do it! Their performance is superb and undeniable. To this day, not one actor has out performed them. There will never be a greater joker than Mr. Heath Ledger. There will never be a greater batman than Mr. Christian Bale. Maybe one day someone will rise to their level of talent but until then we have The Dark Knight to look back on. This movie is definitely a 10/10 and gives me the goose bumps when streamed on my TV. Too bad Heath Ledger passed away. His performance in The Dark Night has definitely hit the history books!
  • Tiggorious - 1 June 2024
    A Masterful Descent into Chaos
    The Dark Knight: A Masterful Descent into Chaos Christopher Nolan's 2008 superhero film, The Dark Knight, transcends the genre, becoming a complex and thrilling exploration of good, evil, and the fragile nature of order. It's not without its flaws, but its strengths are undeniable.

    A Villain for the Ages

    Heath Ledger's iconic performance as the Joker is the undeniable centerpiece. His chaotic energy and unpredictable nature make him a truly terrifying villain. Ledger portrays the Joker not as a cackling madman, but as an agent of pure anarchy, forcing Batman (Christian Bale) to confront the limitations of his own rigid morality.

    Moral Murk

    The film delves into the murky depths of human nature. Batman himself is a morally ambiguous figure, a vigilante taking the law into his own hands. Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart), Gotham's rising white knight, is tragically corrupted by the Joker's schemes, raising questions about the possibility of true heroism.

    Technical Triumph

    Nolan's direction is masterful. The action sequences are thrilling and visceral, grounded in a sense of realism. The cinematography is dark and evocative, perfectly capturing the decaying atmosphere of Gotham City. Hans Zimmer's score adds another layer of tension and unease.

    Criticisms and Considerations

    The film isn't without weaknesses. Some might find the plot overly complex, with several moving parts that occasionally threaten to derail the narrative. Bale's Batman, while stoic and determined, can feel emotionally distant at times.

    A Lasting Legacy

    Despite these minor quibbles, The Dark Knight remains a landmark achievement. It elevated superhero cinema to new heights, proving it could be a platform for serious storytelling. Heath Ledger's posthumous Oscar win cemented his performance as one of the greatest villain portrayals in cinema history. The Dark Knight is a film that will stay with you long after the credits roll, a dark and unsettling masterpiece.
  • Kaishi_Axon - 21 May 2024
    Not much to say that hasn't been said, BUT,
    After seeing this film in theaters, then on various home releases, I want to provide two points that I don't see other reviewers mention about the different cuts / editions of this film.

    1) 3D release: This was made to go with the 3D releases of Batman Begins and The Dark Knight Rises. It was post-processed to make it 3D, and without a realtime depth map, so there are some visible artifacts. It isn't the best 3D post-production I've seen, and in my opinion, I think it takes away from the film. I'd give it an 8/10.

    2) IMAX release: holy cow. This is what bumped my overall review from a 9/10 to a solid 10. I don't know what it is about those cityscapes in the full-height 4:3 IMAX that make such a difference, but to me it really did. If you get the opportunity to see this movie in IMAX, I would HIGHLY recommend you go for it.

    3) 4K UHD Blu-Ray release: Obviously a great one to own, if you have the playback equipment for it. About as good a version of this to watch, but the normal cut of the film doesn't have a good way to show the IMAX scenes, just crops them to 16:9 as I recall. 9/10.
  • gillmurphydogg - 6 January 2023
    A wild but slow ride
    I think one needs to pay homage to Heath Ledger's performance. It's a great one at that. But I must also say, he was probably the best thing about this film. Batman as a character is never particularly inspiring - he tends to be one dimensional no matter who plays him. That's just the character and writing in my opinion.

    The Dark Knight definitely sets a darker universe of Batman that expands on the first installment of the trilogy. It gets you thinking about what "good and evil" means and there's a lot of metaphor throughout. The film's score and direction are also epic. My only major gripe was the slow pace at times as my mind did wander periodically. But I did stick it out because I knew this was fundamentally a good film.
  • jeremyrandopurnomo - 29 December 2022
    The Dark Knight
    My ever first review after comeback to nostalgia with this movie. A magnificent dark, brooding and a complex story makes this movie so memorable for my childhood. The Dark Knight also leave me a bit traumatic experience of Joker because Heath Ledger acting that so well done in that time. TDK always remembered as the best Batman movie for me as personal and maybe for most people. The finest batman sequel ever made and tribute to Heath Ledger's Joker for being one of the best movie character. It give my childhood a whole lot experience and interest me to read the comic book also in that time. Deserved as a best movie.
  • rugufuco - 18 December 2022
    probably good
    The article was unique. I really say this! If Batman Begins was the beginning of a new narrative in the Batman universe, and it was handled flawlessly, The Dark Knight went beyond what it should have been. The film was a pure and lovable work and, as we say, strange, which had no purpose in its sequences other than to entertain the audience. It was a unique show of manifestations of madness, fear, worldliness and of course the beginning. There is no doubt about this, and if you ask the truth, there is no doubt at all about the greatness of Nolan's works! But one thing should not be forgotten

    Rest in peace Heath Ledger.
  • cespjnuin - 10 December 2022
    What a Movie
    The film is extremely fierce and dull for a batman film, more dim than the first. Joker might scar kids, the things he does and says. Obviously he could do without truly anything no human existence not even his own, he shoots his cohorts, stirs up his tale about his scars (This was written in deliberately by Nolan), he chuckles manically when he's killed, and so on. He does a great deal of things that children could view as terrifying however as long as they probably are aware this is a film and police and our defenders have a vastly improved watch and command over these sorts of help could assist them with being more agreeable. It likewise is really vicious, shootings, stabbings, blasts and more are a typical topic. It has a general dull tone also and takes advantage of more profound things that no batman or even superhuman film has done previously. So by and large Joker is unnerving, it's fierce, it's dim however it astonishing.
  • bxth-dx - 28 November 2022
    Plot
    Director Christopher Nolan returns to Gotham City with this sequel to The Batman Begins. Christian Bale once again stars as the man behind the mask in The Dark Knight. With the help of Lieutenant2 Jim Gordon(Gary Oldman), Batman has been successfully combating local crime until the Joker(Heath Ledger) appears, unleashing chaos throughout Gotham city. To stop this threat-Batman's greatest enemy-he will have to use every high-tech weapon in his arsenal3 and confront everything he believes. Edison Chen will make a small appearance in the film as a villain4.

    When Batman Begins ended, Gordon warned Batman that his presence was making Gotham more dangerous because it was drawing criminals to the city. "This situation has now meant that he feels more of a duty to continue," Bale told the New York Times.

    Bale added, "And now you have not just a young man in pain attempting to find an answer, you have somebody who actually has power, who is burdened by that power, and is having to recognize the difference between attaining that power and holding on to it." "As we looked through the comics, there was this fascinating5 idea that Batman's presence in Gotham actually attracts criminals to Gotham." Nolan recalled. "When you're dealing with ideas like people taking the law into their own hands, you have to really ask, where does that lead? That's what makes the character so dark, because he expresses a vengeful6 desire." Ledger had completed work on the Bat-sequel before he died, and that Nolan feels a "massive sense of responsibility" to do justice to Ledger's final lead performance. The director calls Ledger's portrayal7 of the Joker "terrifying" and "amazing."
  • fourhours-02778 - 17 November 2022
    Perfection
    What a masterpiece, here we have a film opening that stands in a league of its own which is also filmed in IMAX, all action sequences are filmed in IMAX which means you get an aspect ratio of 1.90:1 which fills the entire TV screen, if you have a large TV you get a certain cinema feeling, the film is really rich in action and things happen basically all the time, the film has been seen by me many times and when the epic final scene is over I am just as surprised every time, what happened? You are thrown around in action and madness and those 152 minutes are over in no time and it is absolutely fantastic, Heath ledger's role as the Joker is the best I have ever seen, where all the scenes with The Joker are 10 out of 10, in my opinion it is absolutely impossible to choose a favorite scene cus all scenes with the Joker is a pure masterpiece something that I feel is completely unique, every time our white clown appears on the screen I end up in a direct trance and just hunger for the next joker scene, Aaron eckhart does an absolutely fantastic role as Harvey Dent and how his transformation into TwoFace throughout the film is both exciting and entertaining, Gary Oldman who plays Jim Gordon is the best version of the lovable GCPD cop so far where he convinces the audience with his performance of both heart and soul, last but not least we have Christian Bale as Batman which I think is perfect for the role, you can clearly see how he lives into the character but Ledger's role as the Joker really steals the spotlight throughout the film, 152 minutes of action and madness with beautiful IMAX sequences, fantastic acting and very good music from Hans Zimmer make this my absolute favorite movie of all time, full pot 10/10.