Have you ever finished a great book or film and enjoyed it so much that you wished that there was a sequel you could sink your teeth into right away?

Now imagine a movie so good that you almost don’t want there to be a sequel because you couldn’t bear the disappointment when it doesn’t measure up to what you just witnessed.

Batman: The Dark Knight has left me with that feeling. It has been called the “Godfather” of its genre, in that it will likely be decades — if ever — before anything tops it. It is a film of stunning writing, acting, and directing. It is epic in its emotional magnitude — you will want to laugh, cry, gasp in fear, cheer, cringe in horror, lose hope, regain your faith…it grabs you from the minute it starts and does not ever let go. The story between Bruce Wayne, the Joker, Harvey Dent, and Rachel is so perfectly woven that not once do you feel like anything is being forced, like anything was being written down to the lowest common denominator of movie-goers. It is complex and richly detailed, gritty and dark — so dark, in fact, that I’m sure it had to be close to an ‘R’ rating. You definitely feel the evil and chaos pervading Gotham City.

The whole cast is great, but of course, as we’ve all heard by now, Heath Ledger as the Joker was undeniably fantastic. It will no doubt go down as one of the greatest film performances of all time, made all the more poignant by Ledger’s death just over six months ago. He created a character that was simultaneously funny and bloodcurdlingly creepy. You could feel the menace and the psychosis through the eerie face paint, with every smack of his lips and flick of the tongue. It is something I will never forget.

Go see this movie. I don’t remember the last time I could give such an unequivocal recommendation. Everyone needs to see this movie (except for young children — it could seriously be very disturbing for them); this is a landmark film. I’m listening to the Batman Begins soundtrack as I write this and am still occasionally getting the chills thinking about what I saw last night. Go see this movie while it’s on the big screen. You won’t be disappointed.