The Dark Knight

Even when being constantly bombarded over the head by exposition and explosions The Dark Knight's undertow of emotional rescue gives the film a permanence that will outlive typical summer blockbuster status. Because director Chris Nolan has presented the story as a cross between a Michael Mann's Heat/Thief mode of crime thriller against a backdrop of operatic overkill the film exists outside the world of slick comic book adaptations (Iron Man) or even more intellectualized versions of same (Hellboy II).
The Dark Knight was partially shot in IMAX and that alone will put asses firmly in surround sound seats. The sheer enormity of the establishing city shots (Gotham and Hong Kong) and the opening bank robbery sequence in the IMAX format, mixed seamlessly with regular widescreen, puts this film on an entirely different playing field. It's not unlike the 3D attraction of films like Journey to the Center of the Earth. You certainly want to see this Batman installment on an IMAX screen if you see it at all. When Nolan switches out formats the movement is subtle enough that you really don't notice. They film opens with the first sequence in IMAX and then that larger format sets the tone (said wide aerial establishing shots) for each succeeding movement. The image expands top to bottom but again the effect transition spreads smoothly. In a movie like Brainstorm or the beginning of Bad Education where the image expands horizontally your eyes notice it to a slightly greater degree.
To date most of the blog talk has been blah blah this Heath Ledger blah blah that Oscar. The only person in recent history to have been nommed for an Oscar for a role in a comic book movie was Al Pacino for Dick Tracy. Where The Dark Knight will clean up with nominations are the superlative tech accomplishments (camera, sound) and the Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard score.
Yes, Ledger is great but he's always shown extreme range in movies, so that's nothing new. The Joker does exude a rebel kind of charisma, especially in a nurse candystripper look.The character with the widest arc is Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart) and frankly the Dent/Two-Face ordeal is the best reason this film works during its last hour. You'll know what I mean when you see Eckhart with half a face, one side handsome the other barely holding the sinews and eye socket together. Rightly so Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) comes off as a dick and the lurid way he and Joker taunt each other shows they both harbor borderline personalities.
The action consists mainly of fist fights, cars crashing and buildings exploding. The fight sequences are notable for the sound design. You'd think Batman had fists of fury with the constant shellacking he gives baddies. It's not unlike they took the thought balloon exclamations (Pow! and Biff!) from the 60s television show and replaced them with steroid enhanced sound tweaks. Nolan brings an exuberance to this although there's a PG-13 mojo at work that dictates little actual blood or gore. Still if you're thinking about taking a pre-teen to The Dark Knight prepare to deal with their nightmares.
The Dark Knight offer a bizarre love triangle between Bale and Eckhart and Maggie Gyllenhaal who replaces Katie Holmes as Rachel Dawes. There's a dramatic intensity to their lover's angst that Nolan uses to counter the action hyperdrive. Other than Gyllenhaal the continuity matches Nolan's previous Batman outing Batman Begins. Since Wayne Manor was burnt to the ground Wayne now works all night in an industrial lab located underneath one of his factories and the manor is a sweet penthouse. Michael Caine and Gary Oldman are back too.
The mobster versus mobster action will skew non-superhero fans while the drama knocks the acceptance rate for the more serious minded up a notch. Prepare to be exhausted though by the time you walk out. The third act throws a lot of details our way at fastball speeds but that's because this is a Batman that respects our time and intelligence.