Not so much a review, as just my thoughts on this movie (because everyone has already done a review). This movie exists in the crime drama genre, and I’d argue that it actually settles into the film noir sub-genre. Why the sudden fascination with film noir in our society? So many movies, books, comics…all based on Film Noir. Not that I’m complaining. As long as they’re done well, for me, it’s the most compelling, and interesting genre.

Christopher Nolan has created a perfect crime drama. So perfect, you could actually compare it (gasp) to No Country for Old Men. Hear me out. Both movies, have a low-grade tension running throughout. What violence will come next? The Joker, while thankfully blood-free, is a force of chaos, much like Chigurh in No Country. There is no good, only differing shades of grey. The world is going to hell…and the main characters are trying to slow that descent.

Just because this is a ‘comic-book movie’ doesn’t mean that it isn’t well made. Nolan has used symbolism throughout (can’t explain it without giving anything away — mind you, with it already earning $300 mil, everyone has probably already seen it). The Joker joy riding down main street in a cop car, reveling in the chaos that has descended upon Gotham — police cars in pursuit, and we know it is all for naught. He is chaos, and he cannot be captured so easily.

Also notice the discordant music (if music is what it can be called) whenever the Joker is about to appear. While this ‘music’ won’t go down as famously as the psycho music, or the jaws music, it is just as effective, perhaps moreso. Does the audience even notice the off key noise? A bleeding of chaos. The joker isn’t just evil — he is chaos.

Of course, chaos that can predict everything that will happen.

While the Ledger’s Joker dies with him, for the sake of the Joker (and thereby Ledger’s joker) that is a good thing. Once you’d hit Batman 3, Batman 4, he’d become a cheap rip-off of himself…much like Hannibal Lector, Michael Myers, Leatherface…

With Ledger gone, the Joker will now live forever. Crazy. Chaotic. Perfect.