Kind of mediocre, but with astounding redeeming qualities.

Rating: 7/10 (20 June 2009)

The Dark Knight is pretty much an average action flick. The standard 'almost-all-powerful-bad-guy', the 'all-powerful' good guy with friends, romance, rivalry, friendship, pathos, sob-stories, etc... The plot is really quite mediocre, but this is made up for by several things.
One of these is the way the movie looks. The movie is alive with special effects, stunning views, constant movements, some slow motion 'cool' takes, pyrotechnical effects, and more. The movie is more than two hours long, and yet it is constantly in motion, something is constantly going off in a spectacular explosion or a wonderful car crash. Not once during these 2 hours was I bored or inattentive.
The acting. The acting in this movie was superb, with two exceptions. Christian Bale... well, I can't say anything special there. He is a good actor, but somewhat uniform. His acting is almost the same in every movie. Michael Cain and Morgan Freeman were more rewarding, and I think that Harvey Dent is Aaron Eckhart's best role yet. Maggie Gyllenhaal was not bad, but a few times she was... unconvincing. There was something not quite right about her playing, either it was too dramatic or a bit weak. But good overall.
Gary Oldman was a disappointment. He obviously tries, but his James Gordon is unconvincing, overly dramatic, and weak. The final lines (a very cheesy little monologue meant to inspire) would've been so much better delivered by any other actor (except Ben Affleck). And this is the same Gary Oldman who played Zorg in 'The Fifth Element'...
The other exception is Heath Ledger as the joker. His acting is not superb, it is above. His Joker is the epitome of deranged, malevolent genius, and every single scene with the joker should be watched again and again and again. Heath Ledger as the Joker has become an iconic role, similar to Johnny Depp as captain Jack Sparrow and Kevin Spacey as 'Verbal' Kint. Heath Ledger truly died at the peak of his career. (I really did watch the scenes with the Joker several times, over and over again).
In short. The Dark Knight rates a 5 without the Joker, a 7 with. A weak and foolish plot line is masked by a very glamorous and advanced look and great (for the most part) acting. Should you watch it? Yes. Once or twice. Except for the scenes with the Joker. Watch those several times.
PS. (Kind of a spoiler) The situation with the two ships is Utopian and unrealistic. In real life, both buttons would've been pressed within 2 minutes, 3 minutes tops.