(New policy, just going to post the IMDB link at the bottom for specific movie information, since that's where I grab the cast and plot from anyway).


In the city of Gotham, the caped crusader known as Batman rules the night, protecting the city against the slime of crime. Into this backdrop, the criminal mastermind known as the Joker enters a room filled with crime bosses and lays out his objective. Kill the Batman.

That is how this movie starts, a thrilling comic book adaptation of the oft adapted Batman series. This is the second film of Christopher Nolan's adaptations, adaptations which want us to take the genre much more seriously than in ventures pass. He has gotten a ton of press with The Dark Night, many proclaiming it to be the best movie of 2008, or best comic book adaptation of all time.

I would stop up short of such grandiose heights for this particular film. This is a terrific summer blockbuster for certain, rife with great action scenes, fighting, explosions; nefarious, unbelievable plots, but it isn't too much more than that. On a deeper level, I think it is lacking.

First off, the nefarious plots of the Joker, while certainly having an eye-popping wow factor, fail a little under closer scrutiny. Does he just have every structure in Gotham rigged for exposion, just in case he needs it? Otherwise, he and his henchmen are managing to demolish entire complex's with just a few hours of prep time at best. Sir Joker has the foresight of a Nostradamus combined with the evil genius of a Hitler, it seems, despite constantly claiming that he is a madman with no plans.

The character twist in Harvey Dent becoming Two-Face feels weak. We're surprised to see the 'White Knight,' Bruce Wayne's crime fighting companion in this movie, turn to fight against everything he so strongly believed in. It is also sad that Two-Face, one of the (I thought) major enemies in the Batman series, be given so little to do on the evil side. He kills a few people and, apparently, dies. It's a bit anti-climatic that he dies, I figured they could use that as a tag to lead into the next movie.

I'll refrain from mentioning other plot halls and logic defying falls in this movie. The acting is up and down throughout. Christian Bale, as Bruce Wayne/Batman, I feel is weak at both ends. His Bruce is stolid and distant, not acting like the massively rich leader of a world enterprise, but more like that leader's goth son trying to conduct himself with a pretext of professionalism. As Batman he does alright, he looks stiff in the costume, but who didn't (the 60's version aside)? What is most jarring, however, is his constant growl while in Batman mode, like he's speaking with a severe case of emphysema. It drags everything around it down.

Aaron Eckhart, playing Harvey Dent, is quite fetching as the DA, but I feel the writers didn't play up the dark undertones enough. He's too clean, too good hearted to become the evil Two-Face, even after the trauma of losing a fiancée. A slightly deeper examination of his character that exposed a few psychological weaknesses would've helped me believe his change.

In the end, this movie should be titled The Joker, because Heath Ledger's was the main character throughout. Batman takes second chair in this orchestration, I feel. He does do a very good acting job, though I wished there was a little more of the 'humor' to his character than there was. He was a Joker with out jokes, with out the joyful madness that defined Jack Nicholson's rendition in the '89 version. This isn't to say his acting job was bad, however, he carried the role excellently and was probably the strongest buoy in the film.

Overall 7.5 out of 10 stars. I realize my review is quite harsh, but this is a fine action flick, good for an afternoon to sit back and much on popcorn. My review is more of a counterpoint to all the raving mad 10 star reviews, don't expect The Godfather.


((EDIT: A little further behind the times than I thought, it was released in 200)