A solid, exciting, chilling experience that needs some work with pacing

Rating: 8/10 (6 August 2008)

This film is a significant step up from "Batman Begins" as a captivating and exciting film in the franchise. The main reason this one is more intense than the previous film is because it establishes villains who are even more interesting than Batman. Here The Joker is disturbing as all hell, more so considering he was something channeled by Heath Ledger, who killed himself soon after filming finished. The Joker comes from nowhere, cares for nothing but his own brand of sadomasochistic chaos, and laughs with delight at every ugly moment of Batman's troubled quest for personal meaning. Thus, the best moments of the film are obviously the interactions between Batman and The Joker, scenes where Ledger steals the screen time.
At this point I would safely conclude that no actor has ever been successfully cast as Batman/Bruce Wayne, and Christian Bale is no different. He's certainly one of the best ones, but as Bruce Wayne -- as this rich, handsome, playboy with the pointy chin (didn't Batman traditionally have a Kennedy-ish jowel-line?) -- he comes across as kind of unlikable. His role also is too dry and pales in comparison to Ledger's. This is a problem in this Batman movie: the most likable character is The Joker, who signals death and destruction for no reason other than self-amusement. But perhaps "likable" isn't the proper description. The Joker isn't likable, but chilling and captivating. This is how one feels throughout the film and especially when Ledger is on the screen.
The thing is, this would have been a masterpiece of action/horror had there been more careful casting and better pacing. The presence of Maggie Gyllenhaal, while superior to Katie Holmes, still leaves much to be desired. Aaron Eckhart is okay, but they did not develop his character as well as they should have. I attribute that to the writing, but he came off a little one-dimensional as Harvey Dent: too pristine to be believable in a world of villains! But aside from that, I am convinced at this point that director Christopher Nolan does not know how to pace a film. The action is still jerky, there are far too many abrupt cuts during the action, and there is a considerable lack of drawn-out panning shots. Although this Batman film is far more exciting, disturbing, captivating and scary than the two Tim Burton Batman films with Michael Keaton, those films had a better directorial sense for the pacing, characters and cinematography. As films they may be the better ones overall for those reasons alone.
Still, it's the most exciting movie to have come out of Hollywood in a long, long time and probably the best one to see in the theaters in a long time too. It's worth the money if only for Ledger's frightening performance, the masterfully subtle presence of Gary Oldman, the new gadgets and the incredibly intense action sequences. The choppiness, grim aura and plethora of explosions means it probably won't appeal as much to the middle-age to senior audiences, but younger crowds will be (and are being) mesmerized.