Over the 3 day weekend, Batman : The Dark Knight broke all box office records to make 155.4 million dollars. It climbed ahead of Spider-Man 3’s 151.1 million to become the biggest opening ever. While I know that the main reason this happened is because the film was put in a ridiculous amount of theaters thus allowing people more opportunity to see it, I’m still pretty happy, as The Dark Knight is pretty amazing.

I’ve always had a soft spot for a good super hero summer extravaganza (the X-Men series being my favorite) but The Dark Knight goes beyond this.. It goes beyond convention and archetype to create a film that is part super hero, part noir, part horror. Ideas of corruption, redemption and how one can work to make their city (or any environment) better give the film it’s guts and allow it to transcend the normal morals of good vs, evil - the villains here go beyond greed and attack the fundamental problems that define society today.

And of course Heath Ledger is amazing, so good that I admittedly almost started crying during one of his scenes. There are certain actors you expect to grow-up with (he was only 3 years older than I) and even if you don’t consciously think about it, you expect to see them in the movies until you yourself grow old. Heath Ledger was one of those actors and if his performance here (and in Brokeback Mountain and I’m Not There) is any indication, his work in the future would have only continued to grow. He defined the joker in a way I didn’t think possible.

Here are some links to some of the better Dark Knight write-ups on the internet - and some videos, because if you’ve seen the film, you’ll be itching to relive the experience.

Also, takepart and find out information on your city council and how you can get involved in making your city the type of place you want to live - Harvey Dent would be proud.

• Showdown in Gotham Down @ The NYTimes
• The Dark Knight; OR Can Superhero Movie Fatigue Be Defeated @ The Auteurs Notebook
• A Batman For the 21st Centry @ The Chicago Reader

*photo by  geminiangelus