Batman for a new generation

Rating: 9/10 (30 August 2014)

(87%) When I first heard that the Joker was making a return as the main villain I had my doubts from the start. Jack Nicholson played the role so well that I couldn't imagine anyone ever getting close, and the Ledger name I couldn't help but associate with that pretty poor Knights tale movie. But even though the character is different, so therefore somewhat difficult to fully compare, Ledger was as brilliant as Nicholson, which is huge praise coming from me and a very welcome surprise. The film wastes no time in introducing the Joker (about 5 mins), but we never really learn anything about him which normally is a bad thing, but here it works as the audience has to almost make up their own back-story around what little is given to them. For a movie rated 12 this is still quite a hard-edged watch, as the true evil of the Joker is never sugar coated. Bale is a better than most Batman/Wayne even if the grainy voice he uses is still a flawed concept, and Michael Caine's lines always seem to be speech based. But overall this is a very impressive comic book crime movie that's worthy of its gold standard.