Ledger good, movie bad

Rating: 1/10 (24 July 2008)

***This comment DEFINITELY contains spoilers. :-)***
Okay, let's get the good stuff out of the way, because it won't take long. The acting is good, and the movie is probably worth seeing just for the Heath Ledger role. Most of the rest of the cast does a fine job as well, with the exception of Maggie Gyllenhaal who was pretty flat and lifeless.
And the rest of the movie...bad. I'll try to stick with the high...er, lowlights.
Action: the chase scenes and most of the action scenes in general were chaotic to the point that you couldn't really follow them. "Somebody shot something at someone, but someone else maybe interfered somehow so the outcome is unclear and can prolong the scene but we're not sure how or why. But stuff blew up, so it must be cool!"
The biggest issue is plausibility: apparently the Joker (who doesn't make a single joke, BTW) can roll 1000's of 55 gallon drums of gunpowder and/or gasoline all of the city, including the police station and hospitals without anyone noticing.
Per Rachael Dawes, "The safest place is Bruce Wayne's penthouse." Apparently, she has short term memory issues, because the Joker and crew just waltzed in there the day before. That's right, he can walk thru any security perimeter without the slightest issue. We are not given any reason why this is so or justification for it, he simply appears whenever and wherever the script calls for him no matter how ridiculous. Oh, did I mention he's invulnerable? That's right, he can blow stuff up so that everyone around him is dead or unconscious but there's not a scratch on him.
Also, every boat captain carrying a prison population would take a popular vote with the convicts as to what to do with a detonator, right?
This is just scratching the surface of issues with this movie, but hopefully it gets the point across. There are lots of other timing/continuity flaws, character inconsistencies, etc. to keep you entertained as well.
It is generally against my policy to skew my vote to try and push a rating, but this movie doesn't belong in the top 100, let alone number one all time. I give it about 5/10.