<b>Director:</b> Christopher Nolan

What a masterpiece this film is! This is one of my all time favourite films ever because I just thought that basically everything in this film was perfect. This is one of the few films that I loved that had a lot of awesome qualities involved. Qualities like different styles of acting with the different sort of characters within the film. First of all I am going to start my review by saying about the plot. The plot is awesome. It is one of those plots that have quite a lot of different genres in it. It is obviously action packed and has now become my favourite action film of all time. It is really tense and suspenseful. It made my heart beat like it never has before but I am afraid it isnt my favourite thriller. Doesnt beat the suspense of Psycho, The Shining, Jaws and Silence Of The Lambs. This is also a very emotional film with a lot of dramatic turns and twists that occur in the film. It is a plot that sounds quite short but when you watch the film it isnt a short plot at all. It goes on but with a lot of good scenes and scenes that the viewers didnt know anything about before the film was released. The script fits perfectly with the style and creativity of the film. The film basically begins how Batman Begins ends really when Scarecrow appears at the very beginning and doesnt appear again in the film which is a bit of a relief because the film wouldnt be that good if Scarecrow was in the rest of the film. Christopher Nolan directed this film so well and because of this he has now officially become one of my all time favourite directors. I loved The Prestige, Memento, Batman Begins and Insomnia. But Chris Nolan himself said that he wouldnt be able to make any better film than he has The Dark Knight. I dont think he has made one bad film really. They are all great successes. When you first see the title of this film, it doesnt really sound that strong really but when the film is on in front of you it fits perfectly with the plot and other various things in the film. It is quite bizarre because knight means like soldier or hero but it fits Batman perfectly because he is the Dark Knight. In other words like the dark hero. Now onto the characters and then I will write about each of the casts performances. Batmans character is obviously really good but the Batman character in this one is a lot darker with a lot more inventive technology like Alfred Pennyworth mostly helps Bruce with ideas of what to do with the technology but Lucius makes it for him and gives Bruce the equipment especially when Bruce can afford to buy it anyway because he is so rich. There is something that we see in Bruce in this film that we have never seen before. For example, he doesnt like killing people when he is Batman but when Joker comes along that is another matter. Also it brings out whether Batman is a real hero when he doesnt really kill any of the troublemakers of Gotham. He doesnt so much chuck the evil people away in a bin he mostly sweeps them out of the city and tries to keep peace within Gotham. Also, there isnt really that much talk about Batmans past in this film either because his past really effected him when he became Batman. But I wont say anymore about Batman because I might spoil it for you whether you have seen this film or not. The Joker is the best character in the whole film I think because he has a psychotic character to him and because he is a clown that makes the Joker even more of an evil, dangerous and psychotic character. In this film there is some secret past of the Joker that we didnt know about but as I said I am not going to say. There is a lot of different sort of situations that Joker plots on when terrorising Gotham. Like where, when, who and how he can perform terrorism in Gotham. It is like the Joker has a lot of accomplices but as he loses them he gains them back again which is quite bizarre but pretty easy aswell. The Joker is a character that can affect Batman not just physically in a fight but emotionally aswell. There is a comment about Heath Ledgers performance as the Joker later on in the review. Harvey Dent is a character who is making extra special out of himself like becoming the new hero of Gotham along with Batman. He is sort of like Bruce Waynes heir in the Wayne business. This film is making him become like the un-superhero Batman who is keeping peace in Gotham until the Joker comes along and then changes things in his life forever. He comes along at an awkward time between Bruce and Rachels relationship as friends as both of them have hidden feelings for each other. I didnt so much like Rachels character in this film but performance in this one was better than Batman Begins. Lieutenant Gordon gets more and more involved in this film. He is in a lot more scenes in different sorts of situations. Alfred and Lucius Fox are obviously involved in this film but not as involved as they both were in Batman Begins. Now, onto the acting Morgan Freeman was good as Lucius Fox again and so was Sir Michael Caine as Alfred Pennyworth. Gary Oldman improved a lot in this film. He was a lot more dramatic because his character became more personal and got more involved in not just the whole film in general but it the lives of most of the characters within the film particularly Batman and Harvey Dent. Well done, Gary!! Aaron Eckhart was excellent as Harvey Dent because he performed really well as a hero but also as a murderer as soon as he became Two-Face. I wouldnt refer Harvey Dent a villain at all because he soon went mad for a reason which contains a spoiler. The Two-Face make up that Aaron has to have on his face is absolutely superb because the one half of his real face obviously looks real but when you see his other half of his face as a like ripped apart and burned aswell face. Because the make up was so good on Two-Face, I couldnt really tell whether the half face was a mask or just computer visual effects. To me I think it was both mask and visual effects. When Harvey becomes Two-Face I really felt for him because of what he became and also because of something that happens. Maggie Gyllenhaals performance as Rachel Dawes is good but not brilliant. She acted a bit dull. I couldnt see her love for either Bruce or Harvey at all. But I did think that she was far better than Katie Holmes was as Rachel in Batman Begins. Christian Bale makes a very impactful and awesome return as Batman once again. Christians performance is a lot darker as Batman than Batman Begins was by far. He performs a lot more stunts and greater action sequences within the film. But the greatest performance of the whole film and probably one of the greatest performances of the year which is Heath Ledgers terrifying performance as the Joker. Heath creates a character that nobody has ever seen before. He delivers a performance that will be remembered for the ages and that can never be forgotten. Heath creates a voice that is completely different from Jack Nicholsons Joker not to mention his own voice. Heaths Joker is totally different to Jacks Joker because Heaths was more psychological and menacing but Jacks was more comical if you get what I mean. Like for example Jack Nicholsons make up makes him look like Jack Nicholson but with Heath Ledgers make up on and the wig and so forth makes it looks hard to identify the Joker in The Dark Knight as Heath Ledger. Some critics say and even I say that Jack Nicholsons Joker is very hard to beat and no one will ever beat him but that failed until I saw this film. I think Heath used a lot of different things that leaded up to his own Joker like watching psychological movies like A Clockwork Orange. He kept a diary during filming of how he can change things around in the character and also how he can perform his different talents as the Joker. The make-up is absolutely superb on Heath. The scars that go across his lips look like real scars unlike the Tim Burton version on Jack Nicholson. Heaths hair in this film suited the Joker perfectly too because the Joker can be imagined easily with long hair like Heath appears with in this film. Heaths Joker was more deadly than Jacks. A sick thing with Heaths Joker was that the Dark Knight Joker had yellow teeth, the actor was a lot younger and laugh was a lot better. Heaths Joker laugh is really joyful in a real psychological way. It is a laugh that can always stay in your head and cant stop thinking about. It is quite a quirky feeling but a really good one aswell if you understand what I mean. Heath Ledger brings a quote that the Joker has never stated before in a film. For example Why so serious? and there are some other spin-chilling quotes that Heath comes up with in this film which you will have to wait and see. His performance was so good in this film that it has become my favourite supporting actor performance even beating Samuel L. Jackson in Pulp Fiction. Heath will get an Oscar for his performance. I would be very surprised if he doesnt win or even doesnt get nominated. This is his film. It is a shame that he isnt around to applaud his performance as the Joker. This film will win Oscar for either Best Leading Actor or Best Supporting Actor for Heath Ledger, definitely Best Sound, maybe Best Visual Effects and definitely Best Make Up. Best action film ever made. Best superhero film ever made and favourite film of 2008 so far. R.I.P: Heath Ledger.

When I first saw this film, I wasnt a fan of any of the actors or director of this film so I didnt enjoy it that much but when I saw it second time round, I thought Wow! What a creative, talented and emotional masterpiece from Nolan. This is definitely one of Nolans finest films. This is definitely a masterpiece from Christopher Nolan. After watching this, Dark Knight, Batman Begins and Memento, Nolan has become one of my all time favourite directors. Christian Bale, Hugh Jackman and Michael Caine have all become one of my favourite actors aswell. Scarlett Johansson is my fourth favourite actresses of all time. The story follows a celebrated Victorian stage magician Alfred Borden stands accused of the murder of professional rival Rupert Angier. The Prestige traces the course of their bitter feud, as their respective acts of sabotage become ever more deadly. There are a lot of keywords to describe this film. Keywords like beautiful, creative and imaginative yet it is disturbing, heartbreaking and quite tense in some scenes. Hugh Jackman portrays Robert Angier. Robert Angier is a aristocratic magician with a talent for performance. Christian Bale portrays Alfred Borden. Alfred Borden is a working-class magician with a total understanding of magic. They are both professionals but they clash over who is the better magician. But when a tragedy occurs there is a real rivalry and then turns into a battle between Robert and Alfred. Michael Caine delivers a brilliant supporting performance as John Cutter. He and Christian collaborate once again with Nolan after Batman Begins. Apart from that Christian and Michael dont have many scenes together in this film. Michael is better at portraying supporting characters than portraying leading characters. Michael Caine brings delight to this film because he makes people laugh at times and he always seems happy with most of the characters he plays in his films. I loved Scarlett Johansson in this film because she was beautiful and she acted a tiny bit cold when she interferes with Alfred and his wife and daughter. I love Scarlett anyway in pretty much every single film she has been in but her performance was the coldest of all of the characters she has portrayed in the films she has been in before. This film is a mixture of drama, romance, fantasy, science fiction and romance. This film is just so creative and amazing. This film well deservedly earned the Oscar nominations for Best Art Direction and Best Cinematography but an Oscar that I thought it was snubbed for was Best Costume Design because I thought the costume was absolutely superb. The script was really well written by Chris Nolan and his brother Jonathan Nolan. They both wrote the script for this, The Prestige and Memento but not for Batman Begins and Insomnia. Also the score for this film was really good. It was beautiful, inspiring and yet quite tense and scary in some places. For some reason I find this film quite underrated because it didnt earn many Oscar nominations or it didnt get the high box office gross that I was expected at first but it wasnt to be. This film features one of the greatest film plot twists I have ever seen. It was a turning point in the film that I certainly wasnt expecting at all. It was sort of a winter blockbuster in 2006. This was really well directed and produced by Christopher Nolan. Nolan brings together a masterpiece from a 1995 novel written by Christopher Priest. This film has definitely become my second favourite Nolan film. This film has made Nolan, Bale, Caine and Jackman some of my favourite actors/director of all time. It has become one of the best films of 2006. No wonder it is in the top 100 of the IMDB Top 250 films. But most importantly this film has become one of my favourite films of all time!

I was expecting at first to be a Chris Nolan disaster film but I dont think it was a disaster at all. There are quite a few reasons for this. It stars three Oscar winning actors Al Pacino (Scent Of A Woman), Robin Williams (Good Will Hunting) and Hilary Swank (Boys Dont Cry). I thought the whole cast was good in this film. I thought the best from the whole film was Robin Williams. I was unsure about Al Pacino and Hilary Swanks performances. I have seen better films from both actors. Al Pacino portrays Detective Will Dormer who is assigned to a new police force with his partner Detective Hap Eckhart to assist them with their investigation. The investigation is murder of a young 17 year old girl called Kay Connell after she was beaten to death. Robin Williams portrays crime writer Walter Finch. The young girl Kay was a big fan of his work. Hilary Swank portrayed Ellie Burr who is a police officer who assists Dormer and Eckhart in their investigation to the murder mystery. Ellie states herself to be Dormers biggest fan. I personally believe that Al, Robin and Hilary were all miscast as their characters. I think the roles should have been Clive Owen or Hugh Jackman instead of Al Pacino, Robert De Niro instead of Robin Williams and maybe Julia Roberts instead of Hilary Swank. I love Al, Robin and Hilarys films but I just believe that they werent right for this film. Apart from that, I thought it was brilliant. These are exactly the sort of films that I love. I love murder mystery detective films. This film has one of the best plot twists I have ever seen. It is really tragic that twists everything in the film and makes all of the characters awkward in all situations within the murder investigation. This film is really tense and is a lot like a psychological thriller. I wouldnt call this Nolans best film. I would say I enjoyed this more than Memento and Batman Begins but not more than Prestige and Dark Knight.

This is an absolutely fantastic piece of art from director Christopher Nolan. Christian Bale delivers one of greatest male performances of the year as Bruce Wayne/Batman. He is better than Michael Keaton, George Clooney and Val Kilmer. The action in this film was absolutely superb and so were the visual effects aswell. Bruce Wayne returns to Gotham after he starts to learn more fighting skills after his parents were murdered by a thug outside a theatre. He starts to become sort of haunted by the sight of his parents murder and also has flashbacks of him with his parents. The reason Bruce became Batman was obviously of his fear of bats since he fell down that well. The Batman outfit is just amazing and so is the Batmobile aswell! It is one of those films that looks like an obvious fantasy film but personally I dont think Batman is a fantasy film at all because Batman doesnt really have powers like Superman does. He just invents technology and makes his cape and mask. The very large cape is how he can fly through the air. Batman is obviously a fictional character but has the abilities that arent really fantasy if you understand what I mean. But this film was very good with a lot of different qualities just like this films Oscar nominated cinematography. I am not sure whether this will be better than its sequel the Dark Knight. I think it might be but will wait and see.

Class film. Guy Pearce is brilliant in this Christopher Nolan masterpiece. But not best Christopher Nolan film. I preferred Batman Begins. The tattoos and the symbols on his body were absolutely awesome.