The Dark Knight (the character is played by Christian Bale) is perhaps one of the most terrific films this year. In this comic book film sequel to Batman Begins, Bruce Wayne (also Christian Bale) remains a billionaire who has a secret identity: The Batman, a vigilante hero who fights crime and corruption in Gotham City, a dark metaphor for New York City. The new District Attorney, Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart) appears to be the one uncorrupted city official working for justice. Enter the Joker (Heath Ledger), a super villain or (perhaps terrorist?) who plans to help the city's criminals take back the initiative through one event: the destruction of Batman. This backstory sets up the rest of the movie for the rest of its awsomeness.
In supporting roles Maggie Gyllenhaal takes over as Rachel Dawes from Katie Holmes, while Morgan Freeman is Lucius Fox the new CEO of Wayne Industries, and Batman's armorer. Michael Caine does a wonderful job of Alfred Pennyworth, Wayne's grandfatherly butler. The movie is full of twists and turns, such as (SPOILER ALERT) the apparent “death” of Lieutenant Gordon (Gary Oldman) in a raid on the Mayor's funeral by the Joker. All of these twists are masterfully woven together in a convincing plot by writers David S. Goyer, and Christopher Nolan.
The only thing that cloud possibly put a damper on this firework of a movie was the violence that many feel could have pushed the movie into R territory. This was a concern of the director that an R rating could lower box office revenue, and thus a few select scenes such as the pencil-in-the-head scene at the beginning were toned down. Other than that I believe this was one of the greatest movies ever, especially for one based on a comic book hero. Five stars, hands down.

This will certify that the above work is completely original: Niles Wimber