Darker and Longer

Rating: 7/10 (1 August 2008)

The second of the "Batman" movies starring Christian Bale. Michael Keaton, Val Kilmer and George Clooney have worn the bat suit before Bale, and Bale is much better in the role.
In both of Bales' films, the story line is darker and more complex than prior Batman films. The crime fighter faces villains who are more powerful than law enforcement, who are both out-gunned and hamstrung by concerns about civil liberties.
The Joker portrayed by the now-deceased Heath Ledger is at once funny and frightening. Ruthless and quick to kill, he creates chaos for the joy of disrupting society. There has been some deserved Oscar buzz about his work.
The film is about 2 and a half hours, and seems to run past a natural ending at about the 2 hour mark. The film is interesting and engrossing but it runs along the edge of too much and too long. Fans of the series will not be bothered by the length, but the action sequences are intense, layered and frequent. Most action films of this type find the climax earlier.
The action is complicated at times, and there is so much of it along with elaborate special effects, it is disorienting as the characters migrate from good to evil and maybe back again.
Less might have been more.