Best of 2008.

Rating: 8/10 (24 July 2008)

I have to agree that this is by far the best movie of 2008. I say this compared to Wanted, Hancock and Hellboy II which are quite disappointing.
Most of the reviews here says Ledger gave the best performance. I second that. Me and my friend went to see the movie just to see the Joker because we were so impressed with what we saw in the trailer. Bale's performance as is pretty decent. Great portrayal as Bruce Wayne, the super rich playboy but pretty stiff as Batman. Personally I hate how they decided to make Batman's voice all grouchy like that. I'm glad Lt. Gordon was given a much bigger role in this compared to Batman Begins since Gary Oldman is a great actor. Maggie Gyllenhaal performance is unfortunately not that noticeable.
My main disappointment with this movie is Harvey Dent. The movie shows Dent as the good guy with high determination to rid Gotham of the mobs and gangster. Batman/Bruce Wayne kept saying Dent is the hope of Gotham. Yet on the other hand, the movie shows him as the bad guy who gets in the way of Bruce Wayne's love towards Rachel Dawes. This fact made me confused throughout the movie. I kept thinking, "Am I suppose to like or hate this guy?"
And the fact that someone who was so determined to catch all the bad guys in Gotham so easily persuaded by the Joker to join the dark side as Two Face also bothered me. I can understand Anakin turning into Darth Vader as he was portrayed to be stubborn and hard headed from the beginning but Dent was always seen trying very hard to clean up Gotham. So when he turned evil to the point where he was willing to kill Gordon's son, it just wasn't believable.
The ending is most disappointing for me. It gave the feeling of the movie being dragged just to show us the transformation of Dent into Two Face. The suspense was built up successfully until the final climax battle between The Joker and Batman. But suddenly the movie shifted towards Dent threatening to kill Gordon's family. It just seemed forced and unnecessary. Personally I think they should have ended it at the climax battle of The Joker and Batman and leave Two Face as a mystery in another movie.
All in all, this is a great movie. Fast paced packed with action from the very beginning. 2 hours and 30 minutes seems to just fly by with all the action in this movie. Definitely worth to go and watch it. If it wasn't for the disappointing portrayal of Harvey Dent aka Two Face, I would have given it a 10/10. But as it stands, I give this a 8/10