The Dark Knight (2008) 4.1/4

Sure, it's only been a year since The Dark Knight came out but I don't think it's too soon to say it's the best superhero film ever made. The only other contender I can think of would be Batman Begins since it set the style and voice for this new Batman series. If you're finding this hard to digest, just re-watch any Superman film or a Tim Burton Batman film and you will no doubt see how far this genre has come in the past decade. The superheroes are no longer one dimensional. The villains' evil is a lot more believable and not always black and white. And it has very recently become a respectable sub-genre of adventure films. One exception would be the Superman Returns atrocity, but it's possible I never was a big Superman fan to begin with. I'm probably not a proper Batman fan either. On a recent tour of Warner Brothers studios, I spent a lot more time drooling over the new bat-car and bat-bike than the classic 1989 model.
Christopher Nolan, while remaining an expert in twists and captivation, takes his skills of suspense and surprise to new levels. The game-changers in the script are no longer the focal driving force in the plot like in Memento, Following, The Prestige, or even Batman Begins. Now it's a minor character; an exciting member of the supporting cast coming out for its cameo at the most opportune times. One element that Batman Begins and The Dark Knight shared was the ability to make the films appear to be concluding, only to have an entire extra act and an exciting unexpected climax. Just when I thought the movies were finished and resolved, they continued and kept getting better and better.
Nolan made brave decisions with the role of the Joker. He didn't have any of the elements that were relied on so heavily in the comics and the Tim Burton Batman film. There were no carnival scenes, no laughing gas, and aside from the masked henchmen and joker cards, there were no clown or magic gimmicks altogether. The movie even pokes fun of this fact when Ledger performs his one and only magic trick involving a pencil in a murder that's both shocking and funny. The Joker is totally stripped of what we expect to see in Batman's archenemy. And it works because of Heath Ledger. I can't imagine another actor in the role. In such a short time, it's become a legendary performance. Would it still be that way if he hadn't died? It's hard to say. I like to think that I stay relatively uninfluenced by media hype and performer's personal lives. And I can honestly say his performance is one of the best I've ever seen. I've seen the film several times and I can't for the life of me see Heath Ledger at any point in the film. He IS the Joker.
And I didn't even mention the incredible advances in prop construction, IMAX camera filming techniques, and the even more incredible lack of computer special effects used in the film. But I didn't need to. This too is just a supporting role in a film that uses character study, acting, and a rock solid script as its foundation.
I think it's difficult to have not seen this movie yet, but in case you haven't, I won't reveal any of the great surprises that are revealed in the film. Even after the ridiculous amount of hype and exaggeration surrounding this film, it WILL be remembered and revered for decades to come.