A most personal opinion. May contain spoilers and cute fuzzy ponies.

Rating: 5/10 (14 February 2009)

And thus it has been watched; one of the most talked about movies of latter years. The crowning achievement of Nolas career and the apex of Heath ledgers movie history. So is it worth the praise? Does it live up to the expectations set? In short, no. In long: Noooooooooooooooo. The Dark Knight should, at heart, be about Batman and his eternal nemesis the Joker. But Nolans uneven film-making assures this is not the case; The movie has more subplots than three full seasons of "Days of our Lives"; and most of the subplots feels as relevant as that show. To put it simply: This movie tried to put too much into too short a time. To move on to more specific details: The story has enough plot holes to sink Titanic; How does the Joker finance his operations when he seems unwilling to use cash? How does he get an army of loons to work as a cohesive and highly fanatical religious unit? How does he smuggle vast amounts of explosives onto two boats and one hospital? Another weak point is bad acting and just stupid plot movement; Bale is excellent as Bruce Wayne, he is however horrible as Batman. His completely hilarious attempt at distorting his voice sounds like a severe case of throat cancer. It is of little consequence however as he's delegated to the role of sidekick anyway. The actor who played Harvey Dent is in the long run pointless; He is of TV-quality and can't handle his role .Then again, he does it better than Tommy Lee Jones did. Gary Oldman has something of a broken look over him; he seems to wish out of the movie as soon as possible. Michael Caine as Alfred isn't that good compared to the old Alfred, but he suffices. Morgan Freeman does what he does best; Speaks with an authoritative voice.
And now..To the name of the movie: Heath Ledger, who's untimely death has elevated him to the sort of cult status only death celebrities gets. WHich is unfortunate for while he was a good actor his role here is NOT that good. His version of the Joker is decent, but looses itself in some sort of misguided attempt at realism. In the end the only thing it manages to come across as is boring. The Joker is realistic, and yet gifted with overwhelming superpowers which allows him to do pretty much everything he sets his mind too. And I mean anything; Build up a criminal empire strictly on IOU notes? Check. Smuggle several tons of explosives into what one can be assumed is heavily guarded ferries? Check. Do the same to a major hospital? Check. Convince the man who's wife to be he just murdered brutally that he isn't responsible because he's just "A dog"? Check. Damnit, this guy could probably convince Batman that he really does have feelings for Robin.
Overall TDK is a uneven movie: It is hampered by poor acting, lousy effects and a horrible script. But it has some bright spots in mood and overall theme. In the end, it isn't enough and I cannot for the life of me understand why this movies is hailed as the second coming of Christ.