Finally saw The Dark Knight!

Rating: 8/10 (22 July 2008)

Ah, at last! Been waiting 3 years to see this movie, ever since the previous installment wet our appetites with the lead-in to an inevitable sequel. And the hype for this movie has been crazy, setting box-office records and whatnot, so I was trying to ignore all the extensive build-up, but overall, I was more or less satisfied.
The first thing I appreciated about this film was the writing. It was scripted remarkably well. Just to recap, it's the first time we've seen the Joker since Tim Burton's Batman in 1989. While Burton approached his film with a more fun, light-hearted, comic book feel, The Dark Knight really takes the comic book movie to a new level with an in-depth, gritty, character driven story that takes itself quite seriously. Whether or not people like this kind of Batman is another question, but it seems to be popular so far. The thing is, this film is a super hero movie without feeling too much like...well, a super hero movie. It's like, Batman meets The Godfather. Christopher Nolan approaches this film as if it were a realistic crime drama, making it potentially worthy of super hero, Oscar gold.
First off, It's extremely ballsy in its approach as far as the violence is concerned. There is nothing kid-friendly about the Joker this time around. He is a sick, twisted, homicidal creepshow, and Heath Ledger plays him with such relish that it's hard not to love him as a character. He still makes jokes out of death, like he always has, but I can't decide whether to laugh or lose my lunch. He's diabolical in his schemes, making him a virtually unstoppable opponent, playing games with our hero and the police, forcing them to make impossible moral choices. I honestly can't talk about Ledger's performance enough. Whether or not it's Oscar worthy is another debate, but it's not enough to simply say "he's great." The Joker is a horrifying character who always came across a bit goofy in the films, the TV shows, and the comics. But in this film, Ledger is successful in making this character, to the audience, what he already is to the other characters...truly horrifying. However, his performance would mean nothing if Christian Bale wasn't there for him to play off of. These two are perfect counterparts, and you can tell that when Joker and Batman cross blades (metaphorically) there is a lot going through both characters' minds. The traditional role of the villain is fulfilled, pushing our hero to his limits to where we think he actually might not make it.
Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, and Gary Oldman reappear as their characters as well. And Maggie Gyllenhaal (a superior casting choice in my mind) replacing Katie Holmes as Bruce Wayne's love interest, Rachel Dawes. Quite the supporting cast, if I do say so. They nearly overshadow the two stars.
Those are the positives. I'd be lying if I said this film didn't have any drawbacks to it as well. Now, I'm not going to sit here and compare it to other Batman films, but as much as I loved it, it wasn't perfect. This film suffers from what I like to call "Spider-Man 3 syndrome" in that it really becomes a movie and a half. I loved the story overall and thought the filmmakers made some incredible choices, but with all the subplots, they really cram too much story into just one film, particularly in the latter half. The film has a long running time (nearly 3 hours!) and I think expanding the story over the course of two films would have served it better.