“I believe, whatever doesn’t kill you, simply makes you… stranger.”

Inevitably, like a lot of other movies, my relationship with The Dark Knight has always been an odd one, though I’ve always been on the side that still loves it, weirdly enough. When I first saw it in middle school, it was most definitely my favorite movie for quite a while, probably solely because of how shocked I was by Heath Ledger’s performance. However, as the years have gone by, my biggest criticism until now has been that it was a little bit carried by Heath Ledger’s performance. This time, not only did it click with me just how genius this movie is in both the storytelling and filmmaking departments, but I don’t consider Heath Ledger to carry it at all; he just elevates it to an entirely different level.

His performance is almost always pointed to as not only one of the greatest performances in a comic book movie, but in any movie, period, and for very good reason. It’s actually funny because when you think about it, his casting situation was very similar to someone like Robert Pattinson as Batman, where both were heavily known for both romantic movies, as well as dramatic ones. When he was first announced as the Joker, the internet understandably was a little taken aback.

The reason it is one of the great film performances of all time is because of what Heath Ledger brings to it all on his own. He knew exactly the character that he needed to be, even though words on a script couldn’t really meaningfully convey everything he needed to do to bring this character to life. All of the mannerisms, shockingly improvised moments, and line deliveries make him a scene stealer in the best possible way, where it doesn’t take away from the actual movie you are watching, but actually enhances it, because how he portrays the Joker only emphasizes his dark and twisted, but brilliant mind. It’s interesting because this was a pretty different take on the character, but was so incredible that it is now seen as the definitive one, one that hasn’t and will likely never be topped.

And not only could I go on and on about his performance, but the writing to back up the character is just as genius as the performance. I think one of the reasons this clicked with me this time more than it ever has was because I was simply paying more attention to it, as funny as that sounds. The Joker’s plan and scheming is some pretty maniacal stuff that’s incredibly brilliant for someone so messed up in the head, but it also never strains credibility whatsoever. Every time he outsmarts someone, it’s a mind-blowing moment that feels earned and believable. What also makes this movie so dark is that, in a very twisted sense, what he reveals about society is unfortunately true in a lot of ways. To borrow from some of what Alfred said, he’s not looking for money or anything your typical villain would want, not even revenge; no, he just wants to reveal society for what it is at its core, at least what he believes to be at its core: that any good person can be turned corrupt.

And while the Joker definitely overshadows Batman in his own movie, it’s actually not a downfall at all. The Joker not only completely messes up the mental state of the people of Gotham, but also makes Batman the most vulnerable that we had ever seen him up to that time (though The Dark Knight Rises takes things even further). Christian Bale’s performance in The Dark Knight is much more drawn back and simplified, but intentionally so. In Batman Begins, we get to see Bruce Wayne become Batman, where even though there are certainly points of vulnerability there, it introduces us to this character that usually outsmarts his foes at the end of the day. On the other hand, in this movie, this is when he first realizes that it’s not always going to be like that, and the Joker takes him to some pretty deep psychological places.

Everything, literally everything, that I’ve talked about up to this point could have only been directed by a genius storyteller like Christopher Nolan. Sure, he had hits like Memento, and even Batman Begins, but The Dark Knight was the first movie that put him on the map, and why we look up to him so much as a filmmaker nowadays. The visual storytelling in The Dark Knight, to put it simply and straightforwardly, is just genius. This is going to probably seem random to bring up, but I can assure you I have a reason to bring it up: Stanley Kubrick (which I want to make clear is one of my favorite directors) has always been looked at as a director where every single frame of his movies has intent behind it and some hidden meaning, and while that is often dramatized quite a bit, Nolan does a lot of that type of stuff here. The Dark Knight is a movie where the camerawork does a lot of the storytelling, much more so than most other movies. Whether it’s the way the camera moves, the positioning of the characters, or even simply the still shots, it always has some very clear meaning behind it that goes along with what is happening in the story. There is a certain interrogation scene, and I believe this is the scene where this is demonstrated at its very best.

And while this is a very dark movie because of its subject matter, the theme of hope is never lost on it at the end of the day. While the Joker is twisting people into the darkest versions of themselves, there are people, even people in Gotham City of all places, ready to stand up and resist embracing dark things about themselves that the Joker evidently wants to bring out of them. At the end of the film, for every dark and messed-up situation that happens, there is an alternative one that offers that important and very essential message of hope.

Now, I want to take the time to talk about what is easily the most underpraised and underappreciated part of the entire movie, and that is Aaron Eckhart as Harvey Dent. I don’t want to go into too much depth with this, because while everything with his character is essentially public knowledge at this point, it would still definitely be classified as spoilery stuff. Anyways, Aaron Eckhart perfectly matches the almost impossible task of the great performances from both Heath Ledger and Christian Bale, and his character essentially has the central arc of the story, at least when it comes to its themes and what it’s all really about. Again, I don’t want to go into too much detail, but the evolution of Harvey Dent throughout the runtime is perfectly executed, and his arc comes to an extremely powerful conclusion.

Something that only further proves how great The Dark Knight is is that the action and especially the thrills are just as incredible as you would want them to be, yet they are the thing that sticks out the least about the movie at the end of the day, whereas most movies, especially comic book ones, I would be mentioning this kind of stuff way earlier on in the review. This was Nolan’s first movie to market itself as an IMAX experience, something that he has gone on to incorporate in each of his films since. While IMAX had been around for a while, The Dark Knight was the first movie to use it where it became a breakout and hugely talked about thing, especially going forward in hindsight. This movie is thrilling the whole way through, but the big spectacle moments come from all of the scenes shot in IMAX, and they fully deliver on their spectacle, as well as thrills.

Quite literally, the only knock against this movie is Maggie Gyllenhaal’s performance as Rachel Dawes. For all the slack that Katie Holmes gets in Batman Begins for playing the same character, Maggie’s performance is significantly worse, but not even a lackluster or even bad performance can hinder anything else that makes The Dark Knight such an incredible movie.