Yesterday, I had the pleasure of attending an IMAX press screening of The Dark Knight. I don’t know if words can do justice to the Awesomeness of this movie, but I will do my best to get across every jaw-dropping, eye-bugging, mind-blowing aspect of the flick.

In other words, I liked it. A lot.

When Batman Begins came out, my review stated “This is everything a Batman movie should be.” With The Dark Knight, Christopher Nolan has made me eat those words, and say “This is everything a Batman movie should be.”

The Dark Knight kicks into high gear right off the bat. I know we have all seen the “leaked” footage of the bank heist online, so there’s no real need to say spoiler warning when I tell you that it’s the opening of the flick. On the big screen, it looks even more stunning. The ride from there, just gets better.

All your favourite characters are back, Gary Oldman’s Jim Gordon is spot-on again, Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman provide their seasoned, veteran charm, and even Maggie Maggie Gyllenhaal’s Rachel Dawes (a throwaway character in Katie Holmes’ hands) is given great treatment, and more importantly, a great role in the story. She has an actual reason for being there this time, and it brings her character up to the level of the rest of the cast.

Heath Ledger’s twisted version of The Joker is every bit as incredible as the hype has made it out to be. If he did not receive a posthumous Oscar nomination for it, I would be shocked. The voice he puts on alone makes it worth my while, and he makes Jack Nicholson’s Joker look like Cesar Romero. To echo a statement, this is how The Joker should be. Twisted, devoid of all trace of sanity, and very, very scary.

Also worth mentioning is Aaron Eckhart’s transformation as Harvey Dent. A character previously given horrible treatment by Billy Dee Williams, and Tommy Lee Jones. The special effects here are definitely worth a shudder or two, because they are just plain creepy.

And what of Christian Bale’s second turn beneath the Cowl? Brilliant. He takes the dark, gritty Batman from Batman Begins to even deeper levels as he begins to question his quest, and his motives.

All that, and then we have the plot. Fans of Loeb & Sale’s work, will be pleased to see that the story continues to borrow from the comics, with nods to Frank Miller’s work, and other Batman comic scribes over the years as well. The story moves as quickly as a Batman fight scene, and the viewer is hooked all the way through. The Dark Knight clocks in at just over 2 and a Half hours, but it dose not feel like it, and there are more than enough “OH MAN!!!” moments to keep you wanting more after the credits start to roll.

I think that the ending of the movie is going to be somewhat controversial amongst the comic and movie faithful. It sets the stage to take Batman in a somewhat different direction that we are used to seeing him. For the record, I love it. It’s breaking fresh ground without straying to far from the source material. But we can talk about all that after the movie is released.

The Dark Knight is so great that even after saying all that, I’ve barely scratched the surface of it’s awesomeness. It is one of those rare sequels that not only lives up to it’s predecessor, but easily surpasses it. This is the movie of the summer, possibly the year.

Iron Who? The Incredible What? Wanted? What’s wanted? Tickets to see The Dark Knight? Yes, you’ll want some. Now.

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