The Dark Knight is an intense, emotionally gripping drama that will haunt you long after you've left the theatre. It is perhaps the best comic book movie ever made and easily one of the best films of the year. It picks up about a year after Batman Begins. The crime level in Gotham is decreasing, the mob is weakened after the continuous attacks from Batman and Lt. Gordon, and while some people view Batman as a symbol of hope for their city, others see him as nothing more than a vigilante who needs to be brought to justice.

This brings us to the Joker. After forming a relationship with the mob (and showing a very cool "disappearing pencil" magic trick), he quickly goes after all of Gotham's best and most honorable citizens. Each scheme that the Joker unfolds adds to the constantly building tension of the film and leads him closer to his ultimate goal: complete and utter chaos in Gotham. This is what makes the Joker such and effective villain. He doesn't want money or power, only chaos, and you get the sense that even he doesn't know why. As he states in one scene, "I'm like a dog chasing a car. I wouldn't know WHAT to do if I ever caught the thing. I would just...do.".

While Heath Ledger did a fantastic job of making the Joker one of the best movie villains in the past few years, the other characters were just as good. A good portion of the movie focused on Harvey Dent, Gotham's district attorney. Harvey was responsible for putting away most of the city's major criminals and one of the only people brave enough to use his position of power to go after the mob. Bruce Wayne recognizes his nobility and sees Harvey as something the city truely needs: a hero without a mask. Bruce also sees this as an opportunity to hang up the cape and armor and pursue a normal life with the woman he loves, Rachel Dawes.

I won't say much more about the plot because I don't want to spoil anything. For some people, there may seem to be alot going on, but as the movie progresses, everything comes together perfectly. Every single actor brings their A game and truely makes each character their own. As much as I loved this movie though, I do have some very minor complaints. In the opening 45 minutes, there were a few scenes that were a little silly that just didn't seem to fit in with the dark, serious nature of the film. There was also a Wayne Industries employee that finds out that Bruce Wayne is Batman, and even though he's only in the movie for about 2 scenes, it just felt like it didn't really need to be in there. None of this has a negative impact on the movie though.

Christopher Nolan made my favorite comic-book movie with 2005's Batman Begins and now he's done it again with The Dark Knight. This is what a Batman movie should be. Dark, smart, emotional, and dramatic. Simply put, this is a movie everyone must see (except for children under 10, as there are a few scenes that may give them nightmares). I give it a 5 out of 5.

Before I go on an angry rant, let me go into a little bit of a back-story. A few weeks ago, I found out that there were tickets available for a midnight show for The Dark Knight in my area. I invited my friend and brother to go and I told my friend that he could invite some people if he wanted. The people my friend invited never got back to him, so we just got tickets for him, me and my brother. My brother, being the only one with a credit card, bought the tickets online. Seems simple enough, right?

Well, last Friday (4 days ago) one of the people my friend invited decided he wanted to come with us and instead of just buying his own ticket, he asked my friend to ask me to get it. So, 2 days ago I went to my brother's apartment and gave him $10 to get the extra ticket (he has a thing about getting the money in cash before he orders something for me with his credit card). Tonight I just got a text message from my brother saying that he couldn't remember where to buy the tickets online and he asked me to send him a link.

Once I got on the website where the tickets are for sale, I saw that tickets for the auditorium we were going to see the movie in were sold out and the best thing we can get is a ticket for a showing at the same time in a different auditorium. I told my friend this and he flipped out on me, claiming that I told him that I got his friend a ticket already. When I dropped the money off at my brother's the other day, I told my friend that I gave my brother the money, my brother would get the ticket, and that his friend needed to bring money to pay me back. I never said that we already had a ticket for his friend.

So, now my friend is really pissed of and he's calling my brother a "****ing idiot" and saying that he screwed everything up. He's also saying that he's not gonna go now because it wouldn't be right to his friend.

Here's how I feel: Him and his friend are the only ones who are at fault here. His friend waited too long to decide to come along, and when he did decide he wanted to go, he should've just bought his own ticket instead of asking someone else to do it for him. And if it's "not right" to go because his other friend can't go, how's that supposed to make me feel? It's ok to break an engagement with me because it will please his other friend? Within the past 2 years, he's fallen into the "wrong crowd" and now all he seems to care about is getting drunk and high. He's become a really big jackass lately and I'm starting to hate hanging out with him. You might be wondering why I don't just tell him to **** off. This will probably seem trivial but he currently has 5 of my DVDs (2 of which he borrowed over 2 months ago) and I'm just trying to avoid a fight with him until I can get them back.

I kind of wanna ask: Am I at fault here or is he just being a dick?

P.S.

He just asked me if my brother could buy him 2 tickets for a different theatre.

With just 1 week to go until the release of The Dark Knight, the Batman merchandise is starting to roll in. Yesterday, I picked up 2 DVDs which releases were timed to compliment the release of The Dark Knight. I'm talking about the Batman Begins Limited Edition Giftset and Batman: Gotham Knight.

I'll start by talking about the new Batman Begins DVD. I had already picked up the 2-disc Deluxe Edition of Batman Begins (which included a bonus DVD with special features and a 72 page comic that had the first Batman story and 2 other stories that inspired Batman Begins) when it was originally released but I couldn't resist getting the new one. It comes with 3 DVDs (the main movie, the same special features disc that came with the original Deluxe Edition, and a 2 minute exclusive preview of The Dark Knight), 5 postcards, a Batman Begins lenticular, a 128mb flash drive with 18 images from The Dark Knight, and a coupon that gets you $7.50 off a ticket for The Dark Knight. I got it for $25 but prices seem to vary from store to store. If you're a movie collector, a big Batman fan, or you just still don't own this movie on DVD, you're definitely gonna want to check this out. There's also a Blu-ray version that comes with different extras.

Now, on to Batman: Gotham Knight. For those who don't know, this DVD contains 6 animated shorts from 6 different acclaimed anime directors. It's supposed to help bridge the gap between Batman Begins and The Dark Knight but the only real relation it has to the films is that it helps set up some minor characters like Detective Alan, Detective Ramirez, and Sal Maroni. That's not to say it's bad though. Some of the animation styles are pretty cool and the stories are pretty entertaining. Plus, Kevin Conroy (Batman: The Animated Series, Batman/Superman Adventures, etc.) returns as the voice for Batman. There are some faults with it though. The first short, Have I Got A Story For You, is terrible. The plot revolves around 3 kids telling their different interpretations of Batman. The characters were very annoying and in my opinion, the animation style wasn't very good. I've also heard some complaints about the 3rd short, Field Test. I didn't find that one to be bad but it wasn't that good either. All in all, I'd recommend it. If you do decide to buy it though, make sure you get the special edition which comes with 2 documentaries and 4 episodes from Batman: The Animated Series.

A few hours ago I walked into my living room and spotted this through the curtains:

Now, I'll admit that I'm scared of bugs so needless to say, this thing scared the **** out of me. As far as I can tell, it's some kind of beetle. I don't really have a lot of time to write much more so I figured I'd just post the picture. I'll probably have more to say in my next blog.

A few days ago I went to my brother's place to help him move some stuff out of his apartment before it got sprayed for roaches. While we were there, he handed me a piece of paper. I openned it up to see that it was what I'd been nagging him to get for a week: 3 tickets to the midnight show of The Dark Knight. I had to get my brother to buy them because we could only get them online and he's the only person I know who's willing to use his credit card to buy things.

Needless to say, I'm very excited. I've been counting the days (17 days, 9 hours, 35 minutes) until the show as they seem to crawl by.

I'm going to end this blog with a question. As we all know, at certain movie premieres, some people tend to go dressed up as characters that are associated with the movie. I offered to give my friend $25 if he went to The Dark Knight premiere in Joker make up. He hastily declined and after I called him...something you're not allowed to say on Gamespot, he turned the offer back to me. I said I would gladly go in make up if he would pay me $25, which of course, he also wasn't willing to do. So here's my question:

If one of your friends made the same offer to you, would you take the $25 and go to the movie in Joker make up?

I was gonna wait until a little later to do this blog post but I'm bored so I might as well do it now. Tomorrow, June 26, 2008, marks my 2 year anniversary as a Gamespot member. What can I say about the time I've spent here? There have been good times, bad times, I've seen some pretty cool people come and go. I'd say I've rather enjoyed myself on here and it's all thanks to you, the community. You guys have made it pretty easy to stick around and I look forward to the time that I have left here.

Also, in case anyone's been wondering, I'm having loads of fun with my guitar. That's not to say I'm good, however. So far, I've only learned a few basic chords and I can play the main riff of Iron Man...poorly. You can't become a good guitarist overnight though, so I'm being patient and not giving up. I signed up for lessons at the music store where I bought my guitar and my first one is this Saturday. The people there are extremely nice so I think I'll have a pretty good time.

The driving's been going well, too. I'm a lot more comfortable behind the wheel than I was when I first started and I should be getting my license soon. There's just one thing I don't like about driving: the other drivers. There's one street I drive down to get to my house that seems to be a huge gathering area for idiots. Tonight, some guy had his SUV parked on the side of the road I was driving down, with his headlights facing me and his high-beams on. Other times I've driven down that road, there was a gym teacher making his students run laps in the street when they could've just gone on the sidewalk or in the park that was 5 FEET AWAY FROM THEM! I need to break my habit of driving down that street...