Very good, but not perfect

Rating: 8/10 (14 December 2008)

As a big fan of Batman Begins, I was delighted to see that The Dark Knight was a solid movie, with great acting and a serious star turn from Heath Ledger. But while the last hour to an hour and a half is the gripping, perfectly paced excitement that earns this movie its reputation, the first hour is less so inclined. However, that's on the first watch through only -- this really is a movie that gets better the more you watch it.
The first time through, the opening felt a little lost and sluggish, and didn't quite capture the intrigue and anticipation as effectively as the first movie did. I still feel that the opening segments and introductions of Batman Begins were more welcoming to a new viewer. However, The Dark Knight more than makes up with the conclusions and climax of the film, and make no mistake, this is worth sitting through. If you find the opening a little slow, give it time to get going; it'll reward you for your time tenfold, and if you watch the movie again, you won't see the opening through quite the same eyes.
One thing that did disappoint me was the score for the movie. Where it was used the music was as striking and well suited as you'd expect, but in some of the scenes I really felt the absence of the music, and I think the right score might have added a sense of momentum and energy that was slightly missing in those places. It's not a big problem in the movie overall, but I think the right music could easily have pushed my score up from an eight to a nine for this movie.