**Overall : A cinematic marvel and once-in-a-decade masterpiece.**

This isn't simply a superhero movie or a Christopher Nolan film. The Dark Knight is a masterpiece. A perfect film. An epic scale with magnificent action pieces, oscar-winning performances, incredible writing, excellent pacing, dazzling special effects, and the list goes on and on, including the set design, costumes, and more. But, Christopher Nolan did more than make the greatest superhero movie of all time. He made one of the greatest movies of all time! All this is elevated further by Heath Ledger's once-in-a-lifetime portrayal of the Joker. Ledger was born for this role with a performance in league with Anthony Hopkins' Hannibal Lecter or Val Kilmer's Doc Holliday.