Very intelligent film

Rating: 10/10 (21 July 2008)

The movie was awesome, there is nothing else to say. The film has been rated and discussed at nauseum so I will be brief & specific in my comments.
The Joker character was darker & better than any previous rendering. I what I like specifically was the lack of history. In previous comics (and in Tim Burton's film) there was an eternal connection between Batman & the Joker, as Batman had inadvertently created the Joker. This was a great theme that called Batman to question the consequences of his actions. The bottom line - if you want to clean house you have to get your hands dirty.
This film offers a more philosophical perspective. The Joker has no history - he is an entity. He is chaos incarnate. The Joker is the ultimate result of crime - chaos and violence for its own sake.
To discuss the Joker's personal history and to ponder how he became this monster would lessen his power on-screen. It was a brilliant stroke by the writer to avoid that trap. Further, the Joker himself taunts his victims (& the audience) with several false accounts of his creation. I love it, because the "why" is irrelevant, it is the "what" that is important. What he is now, what he represents.
This angle at the Joker relied heavily on a brilliant performance, and Ledger delivered. I admit to being predisposed to liking this film, but I went in expecting to be disappointed in Ledger's performance. Simply, I had heard too much and felt this praise had more to due with his death than his work. I was wrong - he will win the Supporting Actor Oscar posthumously, it won't even be close.
You will not see a better film this year.