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“The Dark Knight” is one of the most entertaining movies of the year.

“The Dark Knight,” directed by Christopher Nolan and starring Christian Bale as Batman, Aaron Eckhert as Harvey Dent, and the late Heath Ledger as The Joker, is the latest, darkest, and undoubtedly best installment in the newly revamped Batman franchise.

It begins with a simple bank robbery (well, not all that simple) and unravels into one of the most compelling crime dramas in recent memory.

Bale begins the movie as a still young and naïve Bruce Wayne/Batman whose mission is still simple and relatively black and white: to bust an organized crime syndicate, to get the bad guys. But his faith is shaken by the arrival of Batman look-alikes who’ve taken up his mantle and The Joker, an unnamed villain symbolizing utter, joyous chaos, and played with disturbing perfection by Heath Ledger. It is unlikely that we’ll see a performance this complete again in an action film for a long time. 

The Joker’s ultimate goal is bigger than bad - it’s the total destruction of society, of any idea of law and order, and he claims that he’s inspired by Batman to watch it all burn. “I’m like a dog chasing a truck,” he excitedly admits. “I just don’t know what I’d do if I caught it. I just do things.”

Aaron Eckhert plays newly appointed DA Harvey Dent, whose ambitions to rid the city of organized crime only seem to propel The Joker in his deviant plot. 

The way the sickening mind games between these three men play out makes for the most entertaining two and a half hours you’ll spend in a theatre all year. Don’t miss this one.