Let me begin with the adjectives: AMAZING, EPIC, ENGROSSING, EXCITING, COMPLEX, GRIM and simply OUTSTANDING. It’s hard to describe a comic-book movie unlike any comic-book movie before it. It has more in common with films like Heat, Godfather II, Silence of the Lambs, and the Bourne Series than it does with Spider-Man. The Dark Knight is choc-full of ideas and moral dilemmas that you almost forget you’re watching a kick**** action movie pitting the Batman (Christian Bale as a slick and conflicted Bruce Wayne/Batman) against the psychotic and truly scary Joker (Heath Ledger gets lost in character and makes you forget all about Brokeback Mountain). The most realistic depiction of Batman and his dark universe that propels the viewer from one harrowing calamity to the next all connected by the terror-inducing Joker and his quest to create chaos just for the sake of it.

The film picks up months after Batman Begins left off. While Batman’s presence has helped to deter crime in good ole Gotham City (a wonderfully disguised Chicago) the Joker emerges in the opening bank robbery sequence as a major wrench in the machine and displays his evil streak. You know off the bat (no pun intended) that this isn’t your goons-carrying-a-boombox-playing-Prince-songs kind of Joker. The Joker is as dead serious as Joe Pesci in Goodfellas.

He soon takes over the mob scene in horrific fashion and is determined to bring Batman and Gotham to his level. Bruce Wayne meanwhile is relieved and concerned that the new crusading District Attorney Harvey Dent (played with supreme confidence by Aaron Eckhart) is as committed to ridding the streets of gangsters as he is except he uses the courts and not a cape. The gung-ho D.A. is also dating Bruce’s longtime friend and unrequited love, Rachel Dawes (played this time by a more believable Maggie Gyllenhaal) and that creates a love-triangle of sorts. Bruce has to reconcile his feelings for Rachel while bolstering the effects of Dent so he could hang up his cape and utility belt. Of course all hell breaks loose and complicates everything.

As the action unfolds the Joker becomes more dangerous and more brazen creating murderous havoc to draw the Batman out and challenge everything he stands for. It is the line that gets blurred between hero and villain and how close will you go to serve justice. Choices befall everyone and the consequences sometimes turn deadly. How far will you go and what rules will you break to do the right thing, the necessary thing against someone with no rules and no morals? Questions arise about humanity and sometimes the lack of humanity. It’s Shakespeare with a heavy metal soundtrack.

Even the supporting characters help propel the plot with superb performances from Morgan Freeman (as his trusted gadget man, Lucious Fox), Michael Caine (as Alfred, his faithful butler and father-figure), Gary Oldham (as Lt. Gordon, as the trusty good-cop and police liason) and even the underrated Eric Roberts (as mob boss Sal Marconi).

Director/Co-Writer Chris Nolan along with brother and co-writer Jonathan Nolan has created a thick, deep script full of mayhem and complexity that separates it from your run-of-the-mill hero tale. The action sequences were filmed in IMAX so they engulf the viewer into the action. From Batman’s skyscraper plunges to the big rig flipping to the buildings exploding and collapsing it is all there in wondrous color and fury. No expense has been spared in bringing this dark tale to fruition. It is 2-1/2 hours of blood, madness and adventure well worth the price of admission. In fact you’ll consider it a bargain for all that you get in return.