Weak movie

Rating: 3/10 (11 February 2020)

Much surprised this movie is so popular. It has some top level acting performances performances, but...
They used CGI for Harvey Dent's mangled face instead of makeup. The result is that he looks like a zombie from a computer game and not like a real person. I don't understand that choice. Especially when they obviously have a good make up guy on board.
The action scenes are lacklustre at best. There is simply no interesting fights. Some of the action are really run-of-the mill over the top stuff. Compare this to the fight scenes in a movie like The Matrix. That is a big drawback to me, because fighting is really a big part of what Batman does.
It's boring the Joker uses bombs, bombs and more bombs. Normally he used gas a lot. Heath Ledger does a great job. His character is interesting, but just not not really written like the Joker. He lacks the flamboyance and humour. There's not enough comedy themed gadgets using poison and gas. Maybe they just wanted to do something different, but this take in Joker didn't work for me.
I find the script messy. The overall problem is that it intriduces characters a lot, and then doesn't do much with them. The Batman-copycats just disappear from the plotline. They are just there in the beginning. There's way too many mafia people. Cut the mafia people down to a few guys and have them share all the mafia lines; this way you can better make them become real characters. The Lau character is another character that gets "finished with" too fast. We're never even told what happens to him?
Alfred also almost disappears from the end of the movie. The Russian ballerina also needs to have a presence during the entire movie; just 2 small scenes more with her makes it feel more like she is a part of something, and not just a character that is part of a machine like plot, so she is just dumped like an unnneded cogwheel. She reacted strongly to Harvey Dent and Batman, it would make sense to say say show a soundbite interview with her on TV letting us know how she felt about the stuff that happened.
Then there was a small story loop with Batman getting attacked by dogs. And the big machine they used to spy on all the phones in the city. Those two things were just boring tbh. Would much prefer Batman found the Joker in some interesting creative smart way, where you can go OO THAT WAS SO CLEVER OF BATMAN! instead of just introducing a wonder machine outta nowhere.
The point with Batman beating up some SWAT-teams was really dumb. They could just call them and tell them who not to kill; they are supposed to have radios and headsets lol. Or Batman could just tell them "hey guys, there people are not bad guys but hostages dressed up to be bad guys", seems sort of more simply that beating the bejeesus our of them all. Especially at a point where he needs help, seems to me better to cooperate with SWATs to get the bad guys, instead of beating them up :)
So yes, it's well made and directed and has good actors, but the script has too many weaknesses.