The best comic book film ever, and also my personal favourite film

Rating: 10/10 (9 February 2009)

This film is brilliant. Those who didn't have enough patience to watch past the first hour of Batman Begins will love this, and so will people who aren't too keen on superhero films, which leads to my first point; it doesn't feel like a comic book film.
That may be hard to believe if you have seen the Michael Keaton, Val Kilmer, or the abysmal George Clooney versions of Batman. In those films the enemies were camp (yes, even Penguin. An army of penguins is absurd), but that isn't the case with Christopher Nolan's darker, much edgier impressions of Gotham City's Caped Crusader. His choice of Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne is a very good one indeed, as Bale brings life to the role, and actually makes the arrogant Bruce Wayne likable.
Michael Caine adds some comedy support, but not the kind that would ruin the atmosphere of the film. His witty remarks towards Bale's playboy are brilliant, and he makes us feel as if he is the father figure that Bruce once lost.
Replacing the wooden Katie Holmes is Maggie Gyllenhaal, who, whilst being underused, is good in the role of Rachel Dawes, and isn't just a piece of eye candy like Katie Holmes. And you can actually understand what she is saying (my sister had this problem with Batman Begins)! Aaron Eckhart (Thank You For Smoking) is convincing as District Attorney Harvey Dent, but, like Rachel Dawes, is criminally underused in the final act. His performance as Gotham's White Knight should have earned him a place in the inevitable third Batman film, but unfortunately that might not be the case.
Even though the acting of these four people is excellent and actually holds the audience's attention, there is one person who dies this without even trying. The late Heath Ledger's portrayal as the schizophrenic, brutal Joker is beyond words. He steals every scene he is in, and he does this by carrying out elaborate murders, clever bank robberies (the beginning of the film has the best bank robbery in any film I have ever seen) and fooling his supposed 'accomplices'. He isn't like your normal comic book villain. He is violent, witty, and despite being pure evil and having no trace of mercy in him, you can actually feel sorry for him. His trickery and deceit must have been from a past experience in the character's life, yet he never tells anyone in the film about it, even when he tells his victims why he got his scars he won't tell them the truth, as he tells them two completely different stories, but with the same conclusion. Heath Ledger deserves every award he is nominated for, and it is a pity that he left the world before he could show others his real potential.
Jim Gordon (Gary Oldman) also makes a return, but I found his convincing American accent from the first film slips in some scenes, especially in the emotional scene with Harvey Dent in the last five minutes of the film. Apart from the accent problems, his performance is great, but not as noteworthy as Ledger's.
Now onto the film itself. There is treachery at every turn, with The Joker manipulating civil servants and civilians for his own means. Batman and Jim Gordon must get one step ahead of this clown, but it isn't as easy as it seems, as when they think they are making progress, it turns out that The joker is still one step ahead of them. The story even goes to Hong Kong, which is shot during the day, like a lot of the film. Gotham doesn't look as scummy as in the first film, and the film does benefit from this in ways.
I would go into more detail, and I might do so if i can be bothered to edit this. But hear this: it is intelligent, and will blow your mind more than a pistol ever will, excuse the pun. Just see this.