Need to take this movie down a notch

Rating: 1/10 (23 October 2014)

Loved Batman Begins. Then it seems like Christopher Nolan lost his love-if he ever had it - for the source material. I am a huge Batman fan and will give any adaptation my full support. I can usually get something out of it. The more I watch the 2 Dark Knight movies, the more I hate them, and the more I think that Nolan was never a Batman fan.
The stories are poorly thought out but that's not exactly Nolan's fault. It's how he introduces our heroes and villains that make me question his passion for the projects. In a scene that looks like it was shot by my older brother and his friends with a $40 video camera, Batman is introduced only after seeing a few pathetic Batman copycats, then we see him running through a parkade, after a car. He is indistinguishable at this point from the copycats. Not how I wanna be reintroduced to my favorite comic book character - in a fluorescent lit parkade, uncertain if it's even him. Where's the mystique? Wheres the darkness? The mythos? Where's the fear he's supposed to bring with him? It's all washed out.
The second bad ENTRANCE was with, the most significant villain in comic book lore, the Joker. I know everybody loves Heath (R.I.P) but I cannot approve of his portrayal. Firstly, the Joker, THE JOKER, is introduced when he casually walks into a scene reminiscent of a scene out of Dick Tracy, where a bunch of corny, campy, bad guys exchange dialogue in what is supposed to be a meeting of Gotham's underworld kings. Then, some nobody strolls into this BASEMENT with his henchmen, like a background character might, does some tongue acting, then puts the screws to the crime bosses with no opposition. How did the Joker even find out about this meeting? And how was he allowed to waltz in - with no charisma might I say. Where's the evil? Where's the man behind the face paint? Where's the unbridled lunacy? The key to a good villain is that you want to hate him but you can't help but love him. I couldn't find the Joker, a Joker, any Joker, in any minute of Ledgers performance. His characters ability to predict the multitude of variables that had to occur for his plan to go off is unbelievable, even for the truest of believers. Agent of chaos or not, I need my Joker to be somewhat grounded, connected to something, to have SOME motivation. Some cause for his direction.
I've already been lambasted by the people around me so I understand if this review will upset people. Im happy there are so many die-hard, passionate Dark Knight fans. But I have to state what is so obvious to me: shot for shot, this is a train wreck. Oldmans comatose performance as Gordon, the purposeless, tacked-on fight scene near the end of the movie. All of it. Just can't do it.
It's plot is challenging in many ways, absolutely stupid in most others. No rendition will ever ruin Batman for me. But the follow-up, Dark Knight Rises - which I also hated - cemented to me, the lack of love on Nolan's part.