Looking back at 'The Dark Knight'

Sci-Fi & Action movies always excite me. But its a few particular directors that truly make me sit up & take notice say George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, Ridley Scott etc. When 'Batman Begins' was released, I was skeptical. The previous franchise was a dud for the most part, the only saving grace was 'Batman Forever' with Val Kilmer( an amazing yet underrated actor) as Batman & awesome performances by Jim Carrey(my fav) & Tommy Lee Jones. I was particularly repulsed by the new franchise director Christopher Nolan when he took a few liberties with the basic Batman premise. Suddenly, the sleek Batmobile became the gigantic 'Tumbler'. But overall it was a good movie. Then came the sequel that changed it all. Nolan's attempt to make the movie & the characters as realistic as possible paid off. In the guise of a comic-based action movie, 'The Dark Knight' turned out to be a grim, intense, thought-provoking movie.The late Heath Ledger immortalized The Joker, a psychopathic, shrewd criminal mastermind. Christian Bale is perfect as the misunderstood, forever in pain  caped crusader. Aaron Eckhart brought out the contradiction in Two-Face. For me, two things about the movie have made me a truly crazy fan. First is undoubtedly the Joker. His mannerisms, his amazing dialogues.. outta this world. He truly has given us a "better class of criminal". The other is the very meaning of 'The Dark Knight'. Especially since how relevant it is to our world today. Can there truly be a perfectly good hero? Highly improbable, by our human standards. Batman is our hero. He falters, he is misunderstood. He has to take the tough choices that make people hate him. He has to remain the outcast, the criminal. 

So Christopher Nolan has now joined my list of favourite directors. More so, after watching his amazing, time-warped 'Memento'(the inspiration behind Ghajini). And 'The Dark Knight' has become another movie in my eclectic collection which  I watch & discuss a hundred times over, to the point of nauseating those around me.