Seriously? SPOILER

Rating: 1/10 (15 November 2008)

OK I waited a really long time to actually see this movie.. mostly because of the hype.. I wanted to see if after all the long drawn out hype of Heath Ledger's death... its #1 spot on the IMDb boards.. and all the back and forth conversations on whether it or not it was the greatest film of all time... it could actually live up to that standing.
The simple answer is no.
1. Writing 6/10
There are a lot of points in this film where the dialogue feels really rushed and just awkward. I don't understand why batman begins (which in my opinion far exceeds this film) could do everything right with the screenplay and this one fail so badly. The standard plot devices are there good/evil good as evil.. downfall of the hero.. redemption .. blah blah blah... its all been done before.. and I might add done much better. One quick film which comes to mind.. "There will be blood" used a very similar thesis of the antihero but did in a much more intelligent and beautiful way.
2. Visuals 7/10
Yes there are a lot of very impressive effects in this movie.. the tractor flipping being one.. and the whole opening sequence.. but again where have we not seen any of this before in a michael bay project or hell even the die hard movies? There is no signature to the cinematography and nothing which sets it apart from any other big budget Hollywood movie. Id say the most stand out moment of the entire thing was seeing harvey dent's face after the accident.
3. Characters 2/10
OK if hear a Batman talk like that again I swear im going to walk out of the theatre, What a horrible horrible disaster . Christian Bale sounded like he had one of his batarangs stuck in his throat. I don't know who decided on this plot device but it was a mistake. I don't remember any of this in Batman Begins and imo it really brought the project as a whole down. Heath Ledger was OK. Whenever an actor passes away prior to the release of his film of course there will be a strong tendency to have a biased opinion to how great he was. It really felt like he was overdoing it. If he took his acting down a notch I think his vision of the joker would have been much more believable. And possibly shooed him in for an Oscar nod. About the only really believable character in the film was Gary Oldman's "Jim Gordon" But than again anything he does his great.
4. Overall 5/10
A good action movie... But seriously overrated. 007 in a Bat Costume.
PS
#4 currently on the IMDb top100? Someone's getting paid.