I was completely blown away. It's probably the best superhero movie I've ever seen. The movie did have a lot of hype and expectations and to be honest, I think it exceeded them.

Heath Ledger was pitch perfect as the Joker. His magic pencil trick was um, quite effective, let's just say. Cackling and twitching, odd mannerisms ahoy, Ledger completely becomes the Killer Clown from Hell. No one's going to remember Jack Nicholson after this one. The one recurring thought I had walking out of the theater was how unfortunate it was that we wouldn't see his incredible talent again in the inevitable third feature.

Aaron Eckhart's Harvey Dent was also excellent. As other reviews have already said, he is the White Knight to Batman's Dark Knight. The entire central plot is pretty much designed to channel this man's fall from grace. When you first see the full reveal of Two Face's face, it's hard not to gasp. The CGI/make-up for Two Face is how he should always look, it's iconic and grotesque and realistic all at the same time.

At a running time of 2 and a half hours, this is ostensibly a rather long movie, yet it never felt that way to me. Probably the fastest 2 and a half hours I've spent in the theaters. From the opening bank robbery to the sobering finale, I was completely captivated by this epic crime tale from Chris Nolan. Yes, this is not simply a feel good superhero movie like Iron Man (which I enjoyed a lot), but an honest to God HEAT-esque crime drama. For some people, this may not be a good thing. They may complain that it wasn't light hearted enough, that it was disturbing to peer into the heart of darkness in a city without hope. For those people, yes... please go elsewhere. Maybe go watch Mamma Mia. For the rest of us, The Dark Knight is a night to remember.