not as good as others think

Rating: 1/10 (20 July 2008)

This movie is not worth watching. Most certainly not worth paying the full price at the theaters. I can't believe Roger Ebert gave it full four stars. This is another blow to my confidence in his reviews and ratings. The bad part about it is that I'll have to find other ways to get reviews before going to see a movie.
The first thirty minutes of the movie seemed o.k., when the characters and the story is set up. Some action here and there, mixed with the Joker's evil ways. Then at about the 2 hour mark I wondered when it was going to be over. It's got way too much dialog, and not a good one at that. Whenever the cameras got a closeup of Batman, played by Christian Bale (Empire of the Sun), with the mask and suit on I couldn't help but marvel at his mouth and his pronunciations. It's the lisp. It's like Daffy Duck, Jay Leno, and Barney Frank the gay politician from Massachusetts. It's like the Austin Powers scene with the "mole" on the guy's face. He couldn't get over it. I couldn't get over it.
The Joker's mouth and the way he talked also got to me. He kept licking his lips while talking. It was o.k. at first, but when he has so much dialog with so much lip licking, one can't help but wander off and start to think about how the studio actually inserted the licking sound every time he did it. I was licking MY mouth. I prefer Jack Nicholson.
If I had been by myself I would definitely walk out of this movie, but I was with three other people. I even considered just going outside and waiting for them. That's how bad I didn't like this film.
The only thing that makes this movie tolerable for so long is the all-star support which includes Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine (The Cider House Rules), Gary Oldman (The Fifth Element), Anthony Michael Hall (Sixteen Candles, Johnny Be Good), and Eric Roberts (Runaway Train). But even with these guys in the film it's pretty bad.
If this movie is the best movie according to IMDb, I think it's time to move on to other film sites.