Not as good as the first.

Rating: 7/10 (7 January 2009)

I went to see the "dark knight" on opening weekend with my girlfriend. Both of us are comic book junkies, and we absolutely loved "batman begins." We went into the theater with the anticipation that we were going to see a continuation of the first movie. Although, the story has evolved since the first film, I was not as moved by the screenplay as I was before. I guess the first and foremost problem is the use of Maggie Gyllenhaal as, Rachel Dawes. Yes, I know that Katie Holmes turned down the roll, (not very smart on her part), however that subtle difference made me think less of her roll and more on the fact that she wasn't Katie Holmes. The second part that I had a problem with is that the trailers of this film, and all the hype leading up to it made Heath Ledger's roll as "the joker" less appealing. Although he does pull of the job of being disturbed quite well, this is in no way what I had imagined him to be. It almost seemed like his character was subdued a bit, and should have been done with greater emphasis. I still contest that Jack Nicholson was the best joker. Anyway, it is still a great movie, I saw it twice in the theater, and own it now on DVD. Inspite of all the flaws of this film, I still recommend it to comic book junkies, like myself, and anyone else who likes a good story.