Perfect balance between action and drama with an unforgettable villain

Rating: 10/10 (2 October 2017)

Although I don't think it is the fourth best movie ever made, as it is rated according to IMDb, I do think it stands head and shoulders above its super-hero peers, mainly because it is NOT a superhero movie. Batman is a mere mortal with lots of time to train himself physically and money to design the nifty gadgets he uses.
Everybody on earth has seen this film, so no use regurgitating the plot. I think Heath Ledger's rendition of The Joker is a masterpiece. Every time he leaves the screen I keep waiting for him to come back. Ledger should have won the best actor Oscar rather than supporting actor, because this is really a two leading man film - Bale as Batman and Ledger as The Joker. I always liked Jack Nicholson's rendition of the Joker in the 1989 film directed by Tim Burton, but Ledger just blows Nicholson's performance away. Maybe it is because Nicholson's Joker had a past and an explanation for his behavior, maybe it is because, after all, Nicholson's Joker just seems to be the wild side of the real Jack Nicholson where Heath Ledger never steps out of character for the entire film. Ledger's Joker is like the devil decides to become incarnate, but unlike Ray Milland's devil in "Alias Nick Beal" shows his true self - somebody who wants to break the spirits of people, to turn them on one another, to wantonly destroy property, people, whatever. That's reinforced when the police can find no name, no past, no prints, no DNA, not even a label in his clothes when they arrest him. His past is a great big question mark.
I like Michael Caine's Alfred - it's good to have someone with relevant past combat and guerrilla experience be a wise father figure to Wayne in this role rather than just a kindly museum piece. Likewise, Morgan Freeman is pitch perfect as Lucius and Wayne's version of Q - somebody who invents his gadgets and runs his business since this really is not where Wayne's mind is, Freeman gives the performance the perfect balance of humor, business acumen, and conscience. And finally I like the fact that Rachel, Bruce Wayne's love interest, is not played by someone who is some unrealistic 10.5/10. She's a cute girl, but her attributes lie in her mind and her heart as well.
The negatives - I think Harvey's transformation into Two Face is a little too pat. I don't know why Batman has a totally different voice from Bruce Wayne. Is he doing that on purpose? And I think I found one editing error. Gordon in the end talks about how hard it will be to cover up Harvey/ Two Face's murders including "two cops". Harvey let crooked cop Ramirez live and just knocked her out. But if she had lived then Gordon and Batman's plan to cover up Harvey's crimes would never have worked because she would have known what happened. So which scene was wrongly included/scripted? I'd recommend it as one of the better films made since the turn of the century that was also a blockbuster.