Very disappointing and a step backward for Batman

Rating: 3/10 (26 March 2009)

I was not expecting this film to live up to the hype, but it didn't even come close to living up to my lowered expectations. I give it 3 stars only for Heath Ledger's performance, which was very original and nicely done, but still not deserving of the rave reviews it has been receiving. Even his excellent performance was brought down by the horrible script he had to work with.
It's all been said before, but:

The acting of every cast member except for Heith Ledger was wooden and utterly boring.

The Batman character was unsympathetic and had none of the appeal that was built up in "Batman Begins" of a tormented soul nonetheless trying to do good. In this film he is both boring, nasty, and indecisive.

Every fight scene was mechanical, unoriginal, shot in dim lighting, and used none of the stealth that Batman is supposed to use.

Batman's voice was laughable and got worse as the film dragged on.

Way too many convoluted and disconnected subplots to keep track of. I had no idea where the story was going at any point in time, and didn't care. I watched this on DVD and started fast-forwarding through large chunks about 2 hours into the movie; should have done this sooner.

Every character spouted sophomoric monologues about good and evil that were unconvincing. A good script gets these messages across using the plot and actions of the characters, not through monologues.

The Joker's various schemes and escapes were impossible to believe even in the context of a comic good movie. How could the Joker walk into a hospital, with full makeup on, and walk right up to Harvey Dent, who is unguarded, *after* the Joker has already kidnapped and disfigured Dent once, *and* the Joker has announced he is going to attack a hospital? This kind of thing happened countless times. I love comic book movies (e.g., Xmen 1 & 2, Iron Man), but in the good ones you can believe that the events would actually happen within the context of the fantasy world of the story.

The love triangle story felt tacked-on. What in the story showed you that Bruce Wayne and Rachel, or Harvey Dent and Rachel, had any affection for each other? You are just supposed to accept all of this without any effort by the scriptwriters or actors.

The Joker has an endless crew of henchmen, but why would any criminal agree to work for the Joker after he assassinates his entire crew in the first scene? Why would any criminal agree to work for him if his goal is just to cause chaos and not to earn money, and he burns all the money he earns? Don't criminals normally want to get money out of risking their lives to commit crimes?

Two and a half hours is way too long. An hour could have been cut without missing it. Compare this to any truly great movie (Gandhi, Godfather 1 & 2), where several hours just fly by.

The scriptwriters couldn't decide whether to make this a "realistic" drama or a comic book for the screen. So they flip-flopped back and forth. Case in point: a witness on the stand pulls out a gun, Harvey Dent disarms him, and then wants to continue examining the witness. This is slapstick and is impossible to swallow if we are supposed to believe this is the "real world," but it could work if the whole movie set a "comic book" tone in which ridiculous things like this happen. But it didn't, so the inconsistencies are just jarring. At least the Tim Burton films -- and even the campy 1960s Batman TV show! -- created an internally consistent world.

I was ready for the movie to be over, when in comes a whole separate story about Two Face. It was completely out of place with whatever plot arc still existed at that point. Plus, the transformation of Harvey Dent's character into Two Face made no sense, as did his ability to survive a car-flipping accident. Then we witness him shoot Batman, who we have already seen surviving hundreds of bullets without a scratch, and we are supposed to be surprised when Batman leaps up again, unharmed?

I could write another whole review just listing more plot holes.
Again, I am a big fan of comic book movies and even enjoyed Batman Begins, but this was a real loser.