If Heath's Joker doesn't creep you out, you need to be locked up

Rating: 9/10 (17 July 2008)

After going into this moving hearing a great deal of hype , I had my doubts. I thought that much of the praise heaped on Ledger's performance was probably undue. (I have never particularly cared much for Heath's work in the past, although I have yet to see Brokeback.) But I was STUNNED by the quality of his performance in this film. He was genuinely dark and disturbing. His voice, his mannerisms and his intensity all served to make this Joker one of the most memorable roles of this decade. In short, he was truly outstanding!
It's a good thing he was outstanding. Because while the writing was interesting and attempted to deal with the true nature of humanity, with typical comic book caricaturisation, most the other performances were not particularly strong. Christian Bale and Maggie Gyllenhaal appeared a bit flat and better suited to the previous generation of Batman movies than this one. They just weren't on the same level. Aaron Eckhart was decent and Gary Oldman was good, although the part is a little dull for him.
And, as with all these movies, there were little details that were unnecessary and unrealistic. The most glaring was two-face's condition. It was just an appalling bad idea. Ib the plus side, however, most of the physics weren't particularly cartoonish, for which I am very grateful!
Overall, I thought it was an excellent comic book film and I would recommend it to any adult who can deal with a bit of violence. What shortcomings the film has are overshadowed by a brilliant performance by Ledger that it makes this film a must see.