The Dark Knight is not only the biggest movie of the year, but the second biggest of all time, trailing only after Titanic. The hype for this movie was unbelievable, and unlike some comic book adaptations(ahemSpider-Man 3ahem), the film actually lives up to that hype.

The sequel to Batman Begins finds Bruce Wayne(Christian Bale) questioning his actions as Batman, as a new threat rises to bring anarchy to Gotham called the Joker(Heath Ledger). Batman teams up with James Gordon(Gary Oldman) and the new D.A. Harvey Dent(Aaron Eckhart) to put an end to the mob and the Joker's reign of terror.

The Dark Knight is more than just a comic book movie. The great performances and realistic feel make it a great film that is gearing towards Oscar territory. Heath Ledger's performance delivers a deeply disturbing and sinister Joker that no other portrayal has even matched. Despite his bear-like growling, Bale is still the best Batman and Bruce Wayne, yet. Eckhart joins the cast and doesn't disappoint as Dent/Two-Face, perfecting his transition from a justice-devoted agent of good, to a revenge fueled killer. Maggie Gyllenhall also joins the cast, replacing Katie Holmes as Rachel Dawes, who is the woman in a love triangle between Bruce and Harvey. Maggie does a good job stepping into a performance already portrayed by another actress, but with Katie currently under Tom Cruise's spell, Gyllenhall makes a worthy predecessor. The returning allies of Batman all return and deliver: Oldman as Gordon, Michael Caine as Alfred, and Morgan Freeman as Lucias Fox.

The aforementioned realistic feel and message of the film also keeps it one step of ahead(or millions of dollars ahead). TDK proves why heroes are important...whether we need, or deserve them.

*SPOILER WARNING IF YOU'VE BEEN LIVING UNDER A ROCK FOR THE PAST FIVE MONTHS*

Harvey Dent IS dead. Bringing him back would ruin the realism. "Hey, let's pull a hat trick for the hell of it and say he actually didn't die." His return would offer nothing to a story. His purpose was to show that even the best of us can be corrupted.

Like I've stated, the special features are a few features short of a bombshell. As big as this movie was, there should be tons more...there's not even a "Making Of" in the regular sense of the feature, just a look at how Batman evolved from the first film to this one, and the making of the musical score(which is dynamite by the way).

There's also episodes of the fictional news program "Gotham Tonight" hosted by a guy played by Anthony Michael Hall. I admittedly didn't watch all these. I watched the first one and that was enough. It's more like a parody of news that just so happens to revolve around events in the movie.

There's also some scenes in IMax which don't really do anything for you if you're not looking at a gigantic screen, and galleries of art. Overall, these features are decent, but also disappointing.

*Widescreen Version presented in a "letterbox" widescreen format preserving the "scope" aspect ratio of its original theatrical exhibition enhanced for widescreen TVs

The look of the film, as mentioned, is overall realistic. Batman's new suit offers some good action for he can move better. The Joker and Two-Face's make-up is beautifully done.

*English, French, and Spanish: Dolby Surround 5.1

Besides Bales growling voice, the movie sounds excellent. Heath perfects his Joker voice and the action and explosions captures you.

This nice and shiny package features Batman crashing through a window with a Batpod. This image was never a favorite of mine, and isn't very realistic, just...cool. I much rather would've seen the image of Bats with the bat-symbol burning on a building above him...NICE. However, once you take this cover slide off, that awesome Joker cover is presented. On the back of the slide cover is Batman and Joker in the interrogation room and the case is the same, except Joker has plastered some "signatures" all over it. Overall, a good package.

The Dark Knight is a fantastic film, and exceeds even it's excellent predecessor...I just wish the features offered more