It’s the movie of the year, a simple but true fact we all know by now. But to an even more impressive extent, The Dark Knight has reinstated the power of mainstream pop entertainment. I hadn’t been this anticipatory of anything to come out of Hollywood in years, and for the first time in well, ever, the movie not only met by expectations but exceeded them. It has set a new benchmark for summer blockbuster entertainment, and while it’s not perfect by any means, it is an extraordinary piece of filmmaking that marks what very well be the best Batman movie that will ever be made. It’s also the best film I’ve seen since Children of Men, over eighteen months ago. If that isn’t high praise, I don’t know what is.

Speaking of praise, where to begin? While some may go with the terrific ensemble group of actors, topped by the towering power that is Heath Ledger’s final full performance (more on him later), or the superb direction by Christopher Nolan, my praise starts with the script. Before the first camera had rolled film, all the boys and girls walking on set of this movie had a massively epic screenplay to start with. Batman Begins is a solid effort, but it is the baby-steps-prologue to Nolan’s Batman trilogy, yes, seemingly three films that have all been packed into one movie. The script delivers on every level; it’s fast-paced, ambitious, and absorbing. The places this movie goes nobody could’ve expected. I know I didn’t.

Now I’ve always been a fan of the Batman character and the Batman movies. In fact, of all the Supermans, Iron Mans, Supermans, and Aquamans (the latter, at least in the Entourage universe), I’ll take a Batman movie any day. I’m not going to talk about how the Tim Burtons and the Joel Schumachers of the world have just pissed all over this character before Chris Nolan could finally get it right. Besides the abhorrent 1997 debacle Batman & Robin, I find a lot of joy in all the other films, even the 60’s Adam West vehicle.

I still remember walking through an early 90’s video store (one that even rented laserdiscs, no doubt) in Roseville, California, and asking my dad what that videocassette with just a simple bat image was all about. Voila, my intro to the Batman universe was born. Then the first time I ever saw a movie on opening night with a large group of people, with nary a mommy or daddy in sight, was in Summer 1992, when I went with my friends to opening night of Batman Returns. By far my favorite Batman film of the 1989-1997 time period, the movie still has a dark and isolated charm about it. Batman Forever was a fun guilty pleasure and then for ten years we had nothing but shame, followed by long bouts of waiting.

Batman Begins wasn’t my favorite film of 2005. In fact it wasn’t even in my top 20. I found the set-up way too long, Katie Holmes mis-cast, and the villains rather bland, but little did I know how important this film would be to the future of the Batman franchise. Just three years later we would get the Batman masterpiece fans have been waiting for. Everything wrong with Batman Begins has been fixed in The Dark Knight (even the replacement of Holmes, wow!) and improved upon in such a way that the film has to qualify as one of the best sequels ever made, if not the best.

The anticipation leading up to the Dark Knight was something I hadn’t experienced in years. Those last handful of days leading up to the Friday midnight screening were really difficult to get through. And then the two hours or so before going to the theatre I literally had a huge grin on my face, as if it were Christmas morning and I were around the age of 10. I can’t remember the last time I felt it. Kill Bill? It’s been awhile. From The Joker to Two Face to Chris Nolan to Heath Ledger to the incredible reviews, this movie promised to be an event. My hopes had been high for another big sequel earlier in the summer, Indiana Jones 4, and I sat in that theatre bored and ready to watch anything else. Such was not the case with The Dark Knight.

A lot of franchises lately has taken the more modernized, gritty approach. Successful in the newest James Bond relaunch with Daniel Craig and certainly the start of something great in Iron Man, this new realistic approach to fantasy material has never been more brilliant in The Dark Knight. This is the first Batman film I’ve seen in which after awhile I forgot it was a Batman film. While Burton had dark fun with the material and Schumacher just, well, did what he did, Nolan respects the audience’s intelligence and dares to merge the familiar Batman brand with an epic story that could exist in any Coppola or Scorsese universe.

Even though the film has that ever-so-prominent PG-13 rating, one astonishing aspect to the Dark Knight is just how intense and rough it is. I, a grown man (at least according to some people) was disturbed at some of the violent scenes, particularly that now infamous Joker disappearing pencil trick. When Batman throws The Joker around the jail cell, you can hear and feel every punch and hit. The Joker himself is absolutely terrifying (I’ve since had two nightmares about him), and Harvey Dent becomes a pretty scary villain as well. The thought of seven-year-old kids in Batman costumes going to this movie just seems so odd to me. I was the right age for Batman in 1995 with Batman Forever. And now I’m the right age for this new Batman saga. It’s almost as if the Batman franchise has grown up right along with me.

Nolan has done everything right with this franchise, and he has shown since his brilliant breakthrough Memento that he has a knack for casting. Most of the great actors from Batman Begins return, and Christian Bale proves again he is up for the task of portraying the increasingly brooding Bruce Wayne and the increasingly physical Batman. Gary Oldman has a lot more to do in this one, and it’s always exciting to see him on screen. He has recently played two parts in major franchises–Sirius Black in Harry Potter and Commissioner Gordon in Batman–and he couldn’t be any more different. Maggie Gyllenhaal gets the still-semi-thankless role of Rachel Dawes, but at least her character marks a major turning point in the franchise in this film. Aaron Eckhart, so great in everything he does, finally gets his moment to shine here, playing both sincere and maniacal in the role of Harvey Dent.

But the star of the show is Heath Ledger, and this film not only marks his most inventive performance, but it also proves the kind of jaw-dropping talent he had just begun to showcase. The Dark Knight is Ledger’s Rebel Without a Cause, that rare occurrence where an actor’s posthumous role will make him more famous than he ever was when alive. Ledger is a revelation in this. Ever wanted to see the Joker played for real? Here it is. That the movie surrounding his performance is worthy of him makes for one to breathe a sigh of relief. After Ledger died, Nolan could’ve done a lot of things to screw up his performance and/or the movie, but he very wisely keeps the Joker on-screen the perfect amount of time, making all his moments truly count.

I’ve always enjoyed Ledger’s performances, particularly in the under-rated A Knight’s Tale and in his very brief running time in Monster’s Ball, but it was in Brokeback Mountain that he first showed the making of an incredibly talented young actor. I was really skeptical of that movie. As a still in-the-closet gay man who hadn’t really seen a serious love story between two men on a mainstream movie screen, I hoped for the best. It’s a beautiful film that has stuck with me for the most part because of Ledger’s performance. I love love love that we have his quiet, nuanced, restricted performance in Brokeback Mountain and his loud, manic, mesmerizing performance in The Dark Knight to compare. Before his death, Ledger got to prove that he was capable of anything a talented director could throw his way. And in The Dark Knight, he goes out in a blaze of glory.

Will The Dark Knight pass Titanic as the biggest movie of all time? Will it be nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards? Will Heath win the Oscar? All of these questions seem almost pointless. The main question should be, did Christopher Nolan deliver on making one of the most extraordinary summer blockbusters of all time? Yes, he did. And he’s now directed two of my favorite films of the decade. I really don’t know how The Dark Knight could be topped with a third film, but as long as Nolan is in the director’s chair, I’ll follow this man anywhere he goes.