If there is one movie you plan on seeing this summer, and only one movie, then you should go see The Dark Knight.  I’m not often prone to suggesting this.  Most summers I can’t decide which movie should be seen, hands down, above all others, but this summer the answer is easy.  Believe the hype.  Believe all of it.  This movie is just simply that good.

Heath Ledger steals the show, as you may already know.  But even knowing that going in, I was unprepared for the utter power of his performance.  Ledger’s Joker is insane, an agent of chaos, and he pulls it off remarkably.  The insanity of the Joker is palpable.  It infests every scene.  The madness ranges from sheer horror to black humor.  Indeed, Ledger’s portrayal of the Joker is as it gets, but it’s also funny.  You simply don’t know what to expect.

Everything else about the film is excellent as well.  Ledger doesn’t stand atop a mediocre film–this is a great film, and Ledger simply makes it greater.  All the actors do a good job.  The action and the dialogue are strong.  The special effects in no way steal the show, but where they are used they are used well.  This is not an extremely high tech movie.  In fact, for all of Batman’s fancy toys, the Joker responds with knives and canisters of gasoline.  It’s darker, grittier, and more bloody.

As the Joker says so eloquently, “This town deserves a better class of criminal… and I’m gonna give it to them.”

The Batman series needed a better class of criminal, too.  Ledger’s Joker is the villain the franchise was looking for.  It is very sad, for so many reasons, that Ledger will not be back to reprise his role.  It is a masterpiece, and not to be missed….

…but parents, please do leave your children at home.  In the theatre I was in, there was at least one two-year-old who cried each time the Joker came on screen.  I was scared watching this movie.  I can’t imagine being a little kid and having to endure it.  This is the stuff of nightmares, so unless you want to be responsible for giving your kid bad dreams, hire a sitter.

Kain's major subjects of focus at NeoConstant are international strategy; support of Israel; the failure of the international community to stop genocide; the spread of American power and democracy; historical analysis; and current events both domestically and abroad. He writes here, Newsvine and his blog, IndiePundit.