Ugh. lol
I loved the movie, Batman Begins is my fave movie and Dark Knight blew that away. That may sound like Im overreacting to the first time I saw it, but I remember seeing Begins the first time, it was nothing like this.
Joker of course, is fantastic. He is my new all time favorite villian, simply because he is unconventional. Aside from horror movie killers, all villains usually have a selfish goal behind their actions. Joker has no such goal, he simply does he what he does for fun. If he has a goal, it would be to show that everyone no matter how good can become like him, a nice nod to "The Killing Joke". I dont know if he will be nominated, but you wont find a more engaging character and performance all year. Last year the award for supporting actor went to a psychotic killer, I saw No Country For Old Men, and Joker would eat "Sugar" from that movie alive. One thing I loved, his appearances always seemed like a surprise, they never started a scene with Joker on screen, he always seemed to pop up from nowhere.
Everyone else in the cast is fantastic, Bale does a much better job pretending to be an arrogant playboy, and also does a lot more detective work as Batman. Gary Oldman gets a role 3x as big as the previous movie, and it really makes the movie much better. The Gordon character always seems to be caught between two opposite forces, whether its Batman and Joker, or Batman and Harvey Dent. Aaron Eckhart does a great job with what seemed like the most dialogue in the movie. His characters progression(which most Batman fans know) plays out very well side by side with Joker's game.
The action has improved a lot from Begins, no more shaky cam work. Explosions are constant and deaths rack up incredibly fast. The big chase scene involving the main three characters and the reveal of the Batpod had everyone in my screening clapping multiple times.
Visually the movie looks fantastic, especially the outdoor scenes with the IMAX cam. This is the most any Gotham has been shown in the daylight. The music is perfect for the movie, with loud heavy sounds and subtle creepy themes.
I absolutely loved the movie, its not the typical superhero movie in any way. The good guys get screwed every 5 minutes, main characters die, the situation doesnt seem to be much improved when the movie ends. Its ends with a fantastic setup for a possible third film, but doesnt end with a cheap cliffhanger.
If there are any complaints for me, it would be wanting more.
Spoiler:
I wanted more Scarecrow. I knew his role would be a cameo, but damn! I also wanted more TwoFace, I would of preferred a full movie with Harvey Dent and a full movie with TwoFace. That being said, the rise and fall of Dent is perfectly done in sync with Joker's schemes, so I cant complain too much.
Originally posted by The j0keR
There were more real villains in Begins than Dark Knight, so no worries.
Well... Scarescrow was only half a villain... Rhaz al-Ghul (in two characters) was the real villain. The rest was more on the sidelines.
But it sounds good. I loved the first 6 minutes in IMAX. I can't wait and it does sound it's not gonna be as disappointing as Indy 4 was.