Batman - The Dark Knight

The critic in me is itching once again and I declare that The Dark Knight is the BEST Batman yet!

I have just came back from the cinema watching The Dark Knight with my honey and I was in awe of the skillful directional efforts under Christopher Nolan.

Gotham City has never looked and felt so real and believable. A hero has never been so tormented and misunderstood until Batman.

Yes, The Dark Knight is much darker and makes the hero the misunderstood tormented soul but this is what Batman is all about. A misunderstood tormented hero.

Every main cast put in commendable and some, superior performances. The most outstanding and eye catching was definitely Health Ledger (well, almost everyone said that too!).

Joker may be the most memorable villian and a best vehicle to stand out but the actor who takes on a role like Joker must also be capable enough to flesh out the role and Health Ledger did a fantastic job!

I felt he had even outshone Jack Nicholson as the ultimate Joker representative and his performance in The Dark Knight was definitely the highlight in his career.

I was pretty surprised by the performance of Aaron Eckhart, besides Health Ledger, he had also stood tall with an outstanding performance. To me, I felt that Aaron Eckhart has that "Two-Face" face and that worked very well for the role of Two-Face. It was a pity that he was killed in The Dark Knight.

The thespians with the likes of Morgan Freeman, Gary Oldman and Michael Caine shone just as bright. They brought credibility and believability to the roles and the movie itself.

Maggie Gyllenhaal did a far more impressive job as Rachel than Mrs Tom Cruise though not as pretty. In fact, I like Maggie Gyllenhaal's version of Rachel and was sad that Christopher Nolan had to kill her off.

I can't say our local actor, Ng Chin Han, did good enough to stand alongside the main cast but he did a commendable job still. Nothing too outstanding or impressive but not shabby either.

The laughing joke must be on Edison Chen, all the Hong Kong reports about him snagging a special appearance in The Dark Knight were simply hilarious and over-exaggerated!

His so-called special appearance was none other than an extra with dialogue! A blink and you sure missed appearance.

I hate to say this but even though Christian Bale single-handedly revive Batman in Batman Begins and made Batman all vulnerable and human-like, he was completely overshadowed by the strong cast in The Dark Knight.

Nonetheless, it's never easy portraying a hero since a hero needs to be always straight-faced and upright.

However, Christian Bale always excels in roles that are tormented and struggling with one's soul and he did bring vulnerability and believability to Batman.

So my advice is GO WATCH The Dark Knight and be tremendously entertained.