“You can either die a hero … or you can live long enough to see yourself become the villain”
“The Dark Knight” rose onto the big screen in the summer of 2008 with Christian Bale suiting back up as Bruce Wayne and his masked alter-ego. Receiving universal acclaim and breaking box office records worldwide, the film earned the late Heath Ledger a posthumous Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his scene-stealing performance as the Joker.
Ever since billionaire Bruce Wayne began his caped crusade against the criminals and the corrupt as Batman, Gotham starts to believe there are good people in their city again. Setting out to put an end to the reign of organized crime, Batman forms a trinity with police lieutenant James Gordon (Gary Oldman) and Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart), the prosecutor with a reputation as ‘Gotham’s white knight’. But there’s a new reign of terror that threatens them and the entire city in the form of the Joker, who has one simple plan: thrust Gotham in a world of chaos, disorder and anarchy.
The purpose of Batman is to bring fear among those who prey on the fearful, to bring terror among those who terrorized the innocent, the helpless, the hopeless and the powerless. Batman, who eternally walks the thin line between being a symbol of justice and a spirit of vengeance, must now learn to walk the thin line between hero and vigilante … or risk crossing lines in order to stop the Joker, a criminal who just wants Gotham to burn.
The law may have its limits, but “The Dark Knight” proves that Batman has no limits in what he can do in the life he leads: making the hard choices that no one else would make, even if that means becoming an outcast, an outlaw, a silent guardian, a watchful protector.
Batman: “The Dark Knight” is both the hero Gotham needs and deserves, the hero the world needs and deserves because he shows that one person – man, woman, child – can make a difference.