Deserves another look for the performances alone...

Rating: 7/10 (12 August 2008)

For a film based on a comic strip character that runs for some two hours and forty-five minutes, I feared I'd be bored long before the film was over. Usually I'd be checking my watch in the dark if a film runs this long without any redeeming qualities. But there's plenty to like in THE DARK KNIGHT--most of all, the performance of HEATH LEDGER as "The Joker", a much darker and more fully realized "joker" than has ever been shown before.
The dialog is well sustained throughout, moving the film along briskly despite all the explosions and action sequences that you expect in this sort of thing. And everyone plays their roles with so much authority that you find yourself drawn in by the many characters on display.
Along with HEATH LEDGER, there's Christian BALE, GARY OLDMAN, MICHAEL CAINE, MORGAN FREEMAN, MAGGIE GYLLENHAAL (a welcome replacement for Katie Holmes), CILLIAN MURPHY and ERIC ROBERTS (Julia's brother), and all of them are admirably cast. Special mention, too, for AARON ECKHART's role as Dist. Atty. Harvey Dent or Two-Face. He's excellent.
Furthermore, the cinematography, sets, costumes and CGI are of the highest order, as is a pulsating background score by Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard.
If you relish this sort of entertainment, it's not to be missed. And I certainly agree that Ledger's energetic performance must have required an amazing amount of energy and skill to pull off. He's created a vivid portrait and surely deserves an Oscar nomination this year.
Summing up: Definitely not for the kiddies. Too much of it is on the dark side. Stunning to watch.