This movie is way over rated. Ledger good. Plot sucks.

Rating: 5/10 (7 January 2009)

Overall, this Batman was merely an average movie. It was a mix of greatness and disappointment.
What pulled it up was individual performances; particularly by Ledger. But also Oldman, Caine and Gyllenhaal were good.
What pulled it down was the non-focused plot and the poorly executed transfigured character of Eckhart.
Plot first: The Dark Knight is only a half-baked story about Batman. In fact, it's more about the Joker, the DA and the cop with Batman playing second violin. I could not identify or feel Batman's purpose in the Knight. It's like all the air went out of him since Batman Begins, which I think is a much better movie than Knight.
Also Bale was not as good as he was in Batman Begins. Reason being that his the story surrounding his character was not well thought through. It's almost like they tried to stitch in his Batman character after they wrote the main story about the psycho Joker's mission to "get the Batman" and to turn good people into bad people.
Well, the plot to "get the Batman" is simply to make Batman feel so guilty about all the carnage in Gotham that he decides to step down. ABC terrorism tactics. How novel. Please folks. They could have done so much better with the story line.
The second mission, to turn good people into bad people, I mean, OK but why is the Joker doing this? There's a disconnect here. The story is not built up. There's no context. Only little is told about the Joker's apparently traumatic past.
Now Eckhart: Eckhart's transition from DA to vigilante was so not convincing. I never felt a real love connection between him and Gyllenhaal. There was no spark between the two on screen. They were like oil and water and the storyline never supported Eckhart's apparently insanely deep love for Gyllenhaal. Secondly, Eckhart simply sucked at playing a mean psycho character. He's too cute and lovable for such a role.
The flipping of the coin thingy was downright lame. Particularly when one compares to the identical "method" of deciding another persons fate as masterfully executed by Bardem in No Country For Old Men.
The makeup of the burnt side of Eckhart's face was also poorly done; like it was done in 1980.
I also could not identify with Batman's mission in this movie. I had no trouble in Batman Begins, which in my opinion is much better than the Dark Knight.
In summary, the Knight lacks story line and context. Ledger is great, but halfway through the movie his character grows old. The movie relies too much on the Joker to carry the story line. The main plots to "get the Batman" and turn people bad are both lame and lack story build up to be convincing.