So Awesome I need to see it again!!

Rating: 9/10 (27 July 2008)

I love "Batman Begins" and was curious how they could top that as a Batman movie. I was never a huge fan of the Batman films of the 80's/90's and it was because I thought they were too flashy and colorful and not nearly dark enough. So, when "Batman Begins" came out I was psyched to see that they put a real human element and created a superhero that you believed could do half the stuff that he was doing! At the end of Batman Begins they announced the Joker would be the villain in the next film and I was a bit worried. Simply because every Joker I had seen was too comedic, and not dark enough. And then when I heard that Heath Ledger would be portraying him I really was worried. Not that I didn't think Heath was a good actor, in fact I thought he was great in the Patriot, and Brokeback Mountain, I just couldn't imagine such a "handsome" man playing the Joker.
Chris Nolan's vision proved me wrong. MY GOD did Heath Ledger perform. I really wanted this Joker to be psychotic and I was fulfilled beyond my imagination! Ledger puts everything into this performance and it's creepy, funny, disturbing, and just plain brilliant. I know that no one could've imagined Ledger's tragic death, but even though he is gone I don't think Nolan planned to bring Joker back. I think when Joker says at the end "We are destined to continue doing this forever" to Batman it's Nolan telling us that it's an ongoing battle that batman will fight, but we don't need to see it so much.
They should not bring the Joker back. To me it would be an insult to Ledgers performance. No one will top that, EVER! He was perfect in the role and that should cement that character on the silver screen for eternity.
The rest of the cast is awesome as well. Bale as Batman/Wayne is great again. He is the best Batman/Wayne that there's been to date. And I like the fact that he said he'll be Batman until they want to bring in Robin. Please Hollywood, keep that sidekick out of the series. It just doesn't translate well on the big screen.
So, why am I giving this 9 out of 10 stars and not 10. There is one scene that I thought did not belong in the movie, and it was near the beginning which had me a little worried at first. I understand the reasoning behind it, but I didn't like that they brought Scarecrow back for one scene. It felt, to me, like the actor that plays Scarecrow was looking for a paycheck and I didn't think they needed the "Fake Batmen" needed to be helping capture that villain. They could've just had some random thug, I don't know why they had to bring him back just for that.
But, that is a very minor complaint and the movie is simply amazing. It's playing in Imax around here and I can't wait to go back and see it at that theater!