Excellent

Rating: 9/10 (16 July 2008)

The leads in this movie shine and its an excellent balance of drama and action. It does stretch a little though, feeling a little like they've squeezed two films into one in order to give all the characters the room they need to develop until each one reaches their ultimate fate. An Australian reviewer recently commented it didn't feel that long despite being almost 3 hours long - guess what, it was only 2 hours and 20 minutes! Unfortunately, in Australia we tend to have to sit through half an hour of ads before the feature begins.
I digress. Heath Ledger was excellent, channeling Jack Lemmon on demonic form with just a hint of surfer dude still there, particularly when in one scene late in the film he reveals a tanned arm. The only negative I would give is this film's hangover from the previous films in the series and the persistence of Batman's booming graveling voice. Christian Bale must have had such a sore throat by the time they finished making this film!