Great movie, but try to avoid the hype

Rating: 8/10 (22 July 2008)

This is as solid a superhero movie as I can remember. Heath Ledger was superb as the Joker in particular. I do think that the dialogue could have been better and that the movie takes itself a little bit too seriously at times.
That being said, I absolutely have to see it in the theater for a second time. The action and the villain were top notch.
Heath Ledger clearly outshines Christian Bale as an actor in this movie. I find that Christian Bale plays pretty much the same character in every single movie. I also found Bale's voice when he was in the Batsuit to be very annoying and it detracts from the suspension of belief other aspects of the movie allow you to have.
This movie also suffers from having too many characters. It seemed unnecessary to have a Hong Kong banker, the Russian mob, the Italian mob, the Joker AND another major villain. The Joker plot would have been more than enough and having so many villains detracts from the best plot point.
I absolutely recommend this movie and enjoyed it tremendously. Just try not to go in riding the hype machine wave because it's great but it could have been even greater.