One of the most eagerly anticipated films in the past several years, The Dark Knight just may be the huge money-maker that Warner Bros. Pictures hopes it will be. With an intriguing plot and a stellar cast, this Batman movie may just be the best in the series yet. At least that’s how the fans see it. Online movie forums are filled with people who are quite excited about this movie. Some are comic book fans who are interested simply because this is a Batman movie. But many others are looking forward to this film for other reasons.

As mentioned above, The Dark Knight has a highly-talented cast. Batman is played by Christian Bale, who also played the role in Batman Begins. Bale was the seventh actor to play the character of Batman in a live-action film and the only non-American actor to have the role of Batman. The other lead character in The Dark Knight is the Joker. Heath Ledger was cast as the

Joker. Unlike Jack Nicholson’s portrayal of the Joker in 1989’s Batman—in which the Joker was a bad guy, but he was also rather amusing-- Ledger portrayed the Joker as a frightening sychopath. Ledger took a lot of inspiration in developing his character from Sid Vicious and the 1971 movie, A Clockwork Orange. Other noteworthy actors in The Dark Knight include the Oscar winner Michael Caine, who plays Alfred Pennyworth. Pennyworth is Bruce Wayne’s (Batman’s) butler.

Morgan Freeman, another Oscar winner, has the role of Lucius Fox. Fox runs Wayne Enterprises for Bruce Wayne. Several other well-known Hollywood actors and actresses are in this film as well. Harvey Dent—the District Attorney who helps Batman fight Gotham’s crime spree—is played by Aaron Eckhart. Attorney Rachel Dawes, who works with Harvey Dent, is played by Maggie Gyllenhaal. Talented cast notwithstanding, The Dark Knight has had its share of problems and concerns. Perhaps the most well-known is the death of one of the main actors of the film. Heath Ledger’s sudden death on January 22, 2008 could have caused some major difficulties for Warner Bros. Pictures.

Luckily, though, Ledger had already finished filming his scenes and post-production work. So, although the film was not going to be completed and ready for release for another seven months, Ledger’s death did not cause any real trouble for the actual movie. This is a good thing, because the character of the Joker is of central importance to The Dark Knight—and, by nearly

all accounts, Ledger’s portrayal of the Joker is marvelous. The basic premise of this movie is that Batman teams up with District Attorney Dent to try to get rid of the crime in the city. But, the Joker—and his multitude of rogues--becomes more dangerous than anything else they have faced.Whether fans are looking forward to this film because it is the newest Batman movie or because of the cast or even because of the eerily gruesome Joker matters not—at least not to Warner Bros. Pictures. They seem to have a blockbuster on their hands—the biggest blockbuster of the summer of 2008.