A-maz-ing

Rating: 10/10 (18 July 2008)

I have enjoyed batman for a long time and despite my rabid fanaticism this movie took me to a whole new level. This is barely a superhero movie; it's utterly devoted from start to finish as an action-drama and could stand alone by all means. I admit I was skeptical of what it would be like, what with the list of villains potentially bogging down the story, the change of actress for the character Rachel Dawes and of course Heath Ledger's death which I feared might make the movie a target for his fans to run wild. However I have never been so overjoyed to be so wrong; Maggie Gylennhal is a wonderful actress as Katie Holmes' replacement; her character was good enough to avoid the melodramatic angle and was rather sublime about any of the relationships, none of the villains took away from the movie or cluttered it in the least, and Heath Ledger was absolutely fantastic as the clown prince of crime; he deserves all the praise he gets for his performance which was scary and funny at the same time. Not once did it seem that the actor was tooting his own thespian horn (as I think jack Nicholson did when he played the joker) in fact I got the feeling Ledger was determined to have fun with it and I hope he did because he made a wonderful last impression with this skeptic. You don't have to be a fan to recognize what a thrill ride this movie is; my only warning to you is that you are not in for a mindless bubble-gum superhero flick that is short and simple; this is quality cinema and batman has never had so much solid footing in this area. My hats off to all who were involved. Go watch this movie now!