I am putting it on paper right now! The Dark Knight will be the greatest movie of all time. Better than The Godfather you might ask? Yes. Shawshank Redemption? Fight Club? Wall Street? Yes, yes, and yes. Why? Keep reading.


Batman Begins was as close to perfection as a movie can get in my personal opinion. Let's briefly list the reasons why...
 1) Batman is the coolest superhero of all time. Don't argue with me.
 2) Christopher Nolan is to directors what Jesus is to religion. Just nobody knows it yet.
 3) Christian Bale is the most talented and selective actor in modern film and possibly ever.
 4) A dark movie that doesn't follow the rules of being typical.
 5) A psychological movie. Batman Begins was as intelligent as it was action-packed.
 6) Character depth. I actually cared about every character that stepped on screen, even down to the homeless guy.
 7) Michael Caine (Alfred), Liam Neeson (Ra's Al Ghul//Henri Ducard), Gary Oldman (Lt. Jim Gordon), Cillian Murphy (Dr. Crane/Scarecrow), Tom Wilkinson (Carmine Falcone), Morgan Freeman (Lucius Fox).
 8) Pace and timing. It was impeccable.
 9) Did I mention Batman is a badass.

Rarely have I spent a day since discovering the creation of The Dark Knight without scavenging the Internet for insider information. Not a thing I have crossed has made me even the least bit skeptical.

The New Rachel Dawes: The first great news was of Maggie Gyllenhaal's replacing Katie Holmes as Rachel Dawes. Gyllenhaal has always been one of my favorite actresses since her small role in Donnie Darko. Something about her just fits in with a dark movie like TDK.
       >   

The Near-Perfect Cast of Batman Begins Is Perfected: Not only did they return every crucial character and their actor, but the addition of new characters for TDK is filled with reliable stars. We will get into Heath Ledger as The Joker in a bit and Aaron Eckhart as Harvey Dent/Two-Face too. But throw in some talented actors for tiny roles like William Fichtner as the bank teller and the mysterious listing of Anthony Michael Hall as a character named Mike Engel and you've got a slugfest of talent.



The July 18th Release Date: BB was released June 15 of 2005. I can only guess that the company was proud of their development but unsure of its potential reception as the crappy Batman movies prior to it must have weakened the fan base. Well, word got around, and as the buzz continues to grow it is clear that a mid-July release is perfect for a monster blockbuster. Had it been a July 4th release it would seriously coincide with Will Smith's annual lockdown of that weekend with this year's Hancock. To me, July 18th is the grand finale to a superb summer movie season.

Even Darker And More Psychological Than The First: Theres no doubt BB was an intelligent thriller with great action to boot. A complete film I'd say. Only Christopher Nolan can produce a film with such dark overtones (see The Prestige) in order to get the most out of the story. With the addition of The Joker, and eventually Two-Face, the plots will only thicken and the dark plots will only get darker.
                                                       

The Promotional Campaign: As Cloverfield marked a new age of advertising movies by taking over the Internet community with virals and sneaky websites only the most devoted will find, TDK is one-upping it. Not only have multiple websites been created (by the actual production teams) but it has merged into the real world. A real-life campaign and traveling bus has circulated the country to promote Harvey Dent as the Gotham District Attorney. Of course, there is no Gotham and Harvey Dent is fictional. But this hasn't stopped hundred upon thousands of showing up at these "campaign stops." The previews that you can see after the article have been strategically placed over the waiting period adding just a little bit of plot each time.

                                                            Check Out A Few:
                                                     www.whysoserious.com
                                                www.ibelieveinharveydent.com
                                                   www.thegothamtimes.com

Aaron Eckhart as Harvey Dent/Two-Face: It is my understanding that most of you have no idea that the infamous criminal Two-Face will be the villain introduced as the movie progresses. The Joker is taking most of the press, but Harvey Dent has always been known to become Two-Face and I am very excited to say that Aaron Eckhart recently quoted in the LA Times as saying, "There are fans on the Internet who have done artist's versions of what they think it will look like, and I can tell you this: They're thinking small; Chris is going way farther than people think." He later said, "I can tell you that, basically, when you look at Two-Face, you should get sick to your stomach. Being the guy under all that, well, that was a lot of fun for me. It's like you would feel if you met someone whose face had pretty much been ripped off or burned off with acid." And you know what these fans are coming up with!!??? Check it out (Not for the squeamish). I also recently found out from a reliable inside source that the ratings committee was desperately trying to get The Dark Knight at an NC-17 rating, almost entirely based on Two-Face's grotesque features. According to the version of Two-Face that TDK is basing it off (The Long Halloween comic) the following picture looks about right.

Heath Ledger as The Joker: Of all the amazing features that TDK has to offer, I am most excited for Heath Ledger's performance. I have already seen a good bit of it through viral videos, the 6-minute preview that was bootlegged around the Internet, and the most recently released trailer. But it's the rest of the things I've heard and personally believe. If you remember just after his death, Jack Nicholson (the original Joker) claimed he told Heath Ledger not to take the role of Joker as it is one of the most physically and mentally taxing roles out there. So true. And although the world will be greatly improved after we get to see his undoubtedly masterful performance, Nicholson is dead on. It's hard to look past the idea that Ledger may have become lost in this character. He claimed to have lost sleep over the things the Joker character says and does and at the person he had to become. Yes, it is tragic that he died, but if this performance is his last one and the legacy he leaves, it surely will be a lasting one. I'm already pinning it as the single best performance by an actor in cinematic history and there's still 2 months to go!!!

                                                    

The Previews: enjoy what follows...

The first teaser trailer that made me burst into a fit of joy:

The first full-length trailer:

The newest of the new...Be on the lookout for (a full look at the Joker and his personality, Harvey Dent quietly becoming Two-Face):

The famous and hard to find 6-minute sneak look at The Dark Knight. This appeared in front of I Am Legend only in IMAX theaters for one week. It's hard to see because it was filmed from someone's lap, but it's still drool-inducing: