AS The Dark Knight prepares to open in US cinemas on July 18, early reviews suggest that Christopher Nolan’s keenly-anticipated sequel to Batman Begins is an instant classic.

The film finds Christian Bale’s Batman squaring off against a brilliant new enemy known as The Joker (played by the late Heath Ledger) and is said to mark one of the greatest crime dramas – not to mention superhero movies – of all-time.

The Hollywood Reporter, for instance, described it as “pure adrenaline”, adding: “[Nolan], having dispensed with his introspective, moody origin story, now puts the Caped Crusader through a decathlon of explosions, vehicle flips, hand-to-hand combat, midair rescues and pulse-pounding suspense.”

Of the central performances, it goes on to state: “Bale again brilliantly personifies all the deep traumas and misgivings of Batman’s alter ego, Bruce Wayne. A bit of Hamlet is in this Batman.

“Ledger’s performance is a beauty. His Joker has a slow cadence of speech, as if weighing words for maximum mischief and contempt. He moves languidly as if to savor his dark deeds, his head and body jerking at times from an overload of brain impulses.” Read the full review

Variety, meanwhile, wrote that it’s “an ambitious, full-bodied crime epic of gratifying scope and moral complexity, this is seriously brainy pop entertainment that satisfies every expectation raised by its hit predecessor and then some”. Read the full review

Rolling Stone agreed, stating that “the haunting and visionary Dark Knight soars on the wings of untamed imagination”.

While Australian website Dark Horizons concluded that it’s “a dark, ambitious, mature and gritty crime saga the likes of which Michael Mann or Martin Scorsese would be proud to call their own”.

More glowing reviews look certain to follow…

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