Wow. Just wow. By far, the best movie of the year so far.

This movie continues the revisioned Batman world of Batman Begins, and this is an excellent thing. No more neon lit batmobiles and bat suit nipples as found in Batman Forever and Batman and Robin. As a by product of this, parents beware: This is dark and does not feature any of the kid friendly black light fight scenes or neon villains of the previous movies. Expect questions from small children. If your children are prone to nightmares, maybe you should consider Wall.E, an almost as good, much cuter, and easier to digest movie that will keep you and your kids entertained.

What The Dark Knight does dish up is  a great deal of action, plot, and several layers of bad guys all outshined by the amazingly provocative portrayal of The Joker. Without a doubt, this is the best Joker in the Batman series. He is malicious, crazy, and perhaps darkest of all, sharp as a razor. This is no delusional, spirit speaking mass murderer. He is Bruce Wayne's equal.

The quote that stays with me most is when The Joker states to effect: "I use Gasoline and bullets. These things are cheap." I think it reminds us that while The Joker is a fictional character, that doesn't mean that he is an impossible character for the real world. To me, that is what is the scariest thing of the movie, but then again, why so serious?