Lives up to the hype!

Rating: 9/10 (21 July 2008)

There are films out there that when you see the trailer, you've pretty much seen the movie. Thankfully, such is not the case with this film.
All the acting is spectacular, the story is very dark and is closer to the 1995 animated series Batman. This cartoon is different than today's "The Batman" cartoon series.
There's not much that I can say without giving away the film, so I'll keep my comments short. Christopher Nolan did an amazing job on this film and it's so much better than the first.
I do have a two minor gripes, that if fixed, would have made this film a 10 instead of a nine. For starters, when Bale appears as Batman, he still talks in this sort of "sexy" voice. What the? Why? It was hard for me not laugh when Bale spoke as Batman.
Next, what's the deal with his costume? In the early 90's, there was a Batman action figure in which you could take off Batman's costume and replace it with a tuxedo. The rubber was very soft and flexible and honestly, really reminded me of this Batman's costume; it looked cheap and flimsy on screen. Sorry. Michael Keaton's Batman suit was the real deal.
My gripes aside, the story was refreshingly new and really entertaining to watch. As I said before, all the actors did an amazing job, especially Eckhart and Ledger. I was pleasantly surprised to see Anthony Michael Hall have a few scenes; he, too, was excellent.
There was one scene in which the Joker is being interrogated and takes a merciless pounding from Batman. When I watched it, I couldn't but help feel sad, sorry and pity for Ledger. What better a film for Ledger to be remembered by, giving such a fantastic performance than in the Dark Knight? Anyway, the Dark Knight lives up to all the hype and is definitely worth watching.