This is unequivocally one of the most riveting, exciting and well-made films of the year, if not of the century. Directory Christopher Nolan has teamed once again with the perfectly cast, dark and brooding Christian Bale in the title role and added the late Heath Ledger as the Joker, whose performance is beyond genius.

Ledger’s Joker will be lauded as one of the most evil film villains of all time, easily surpassing Anton Chigurh of No Country for Old Men and landing right up on top with Hannibal Lecter and Darth Vader. Ledger’s Joker, with his maniacal face and his nihilistic demeanor, is the kind of villain most people cannot come close to understanding, making him that much more frightening. It’s all too easy to imagine similar insanity being unleashed in our own world today and not limited to the beautifully dark and sultry streets of Gotham.

This time at bat we find Maggie Gyllenhaal in a role last mishandled by Katie Holmes-- she’s Assistant District Attorney Rachael Dawson, Bruce Wayne’s former sweetheart and current girlfriend of newly appointed District Attorney Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart). Anyone familiar with the Batman franchise knows what ends up happening to Dent, but no one can be truly prepared for the grotesque realism of the makeup when Two-Face finally emerges.

Nor can anyone accurately anticipate the almost overwhelming thrill of the visual images or the stunning impact of the fights, the chases, the weapons or the emotion. Even the score, composed by greats Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard, is pitch black perfect. The Dark Knight opens on a record breaking 94 IMAX screens throughout the country and it is strongly recommend that you see it on one of them, if at all possible.

This film colossus deserves to be viewed on a colossal screen.

Rating: PG-13

-- LJM