Why is everyone in love with this movie?

Rating: 4/10 (20 July 2008)

First things first: there is no expression, "close to the CHEST". The accepted expression is "close to the VEST". Getting this wrong is small, perhaps, but making up your own expression is just stupid. Nowadays, the difference between getting something right and getting it wrong is "whatever" but this is remarkable to me that they simply got it wrong or made up their own expression. Oh, I'm sorry: you can't just make up your own expression.
The movie is waaaaaaaaay too long. We hear the same speech like 9 times. And not just one "same speech", a same speech from Bruce Wayne, and from Batman, and from Rachel and CERTAINLY from The Joker. And the last 25 minutes is a story-within-the-movie that doesn't need to be there.
I couldn't tell what little threads were important and which one's were not. That's a good thing in some movies but not here.
After Gordon is dead/not dead, I kept waiting the Rachel Dawes to reappear. Was she really killed or fake killed? OK, again, maybe that's me, but it was a distraction. So is the presence of Anthony Michael Hall; why is he here? He's too familiar, typecast to be in the movie. Again, a distraction.
"Oscar buzz for Heath Ledger?" Are you kidding me? Makeup I did not like, a nervous pulse in his voice (but just for the first half of the movie. In jail, he doesn't have the consistency of that nervousness.) But an Academy Award? For what? HIs death, that's what. This was an interesting performance but that's all. Just interesting. I'm just being critical of an actor whose performance is being overrated.
Further, you just know that when Heath died, these guys put in every single scene he filmed. Like pigging out at the buffet, you have to show some control. They did not. The movie is EASILY 25-40 minutes too long. And frankly, the whole "savior vs. vigilante" line that the whole movie hinges on is really pretty abstract. Gotham is being destroyed by crime, why split hairs? Batman Begins was clearly, more sharply focused, crisp. This is fat, overwrought, overweight and a waste of a really good cast.
Maggie G. is perfectly fine but in her media interviews, she's beginning to take herself a little seriously. Hey! Maggie! You're no Olivier, baby.
"Batman Begins" used violence as a metaphor; this movie is really just about the violence. Which, I guess, is why everyone likes it so much. This is a mediocre movie, tops. But since I loved Batman Begins, I'll just watch that again.