Stunning as hell but totally overrated and mildly confusing.

Rating: 7/10 (18 July 2008)

The Dark Knight is not a masterpiece. It is however, the best comic book movie ever made to date. I have unfortunately found it to be a frustrating roller coaster ride. First off, I would have to say that I was never a fan of Batman Begins for many reasons, the main one being the way the story was told. It was a strange and uninteresting amount of information packed in a short period of time which maybe the fans will accept but for those that are not familiar with the history of Batman will probably struggle with.
In Dark Knight it felt like an extension of this odd and fan acceptable presentation but packed with phenomenal up to date state of the art technical film making. The choreography of action and combat have been improved since the last time which was a great relief even though there has been far better seen in other action films, but the overall flow of the film in general seemed to ramp and decline over a very lengthy time. In saying that though, there were one or two of these wonderfully crafted scenes that were jaw dropping achievements.
Christian Bale's performance in Dark Knight seemed to have lagged a bit behind what he did in the first film but that could well have been because of Heath's incredible and almost history making Joker execution, totally dragging every other dumbfounded actors behind him. The Joker has never been portrayed this good and I don't know if it will ever be topped unless you actually took a lethal weapon tagged psychotic person out of a real mental institution and appointed 4 maybe 5 armed guards as backup during film making.
Oscar worthy for Heath? Dumb question. My God yes. I think he's done it. If only he was still here with us to accept it.
It is hall of fame stuff, if only the story of The Dark Knight could be just as great. It was frustrating to see it so convoluted in the first couple of acts out of what seemed like a strategic five or more. I do love batman but I'm not a dedicated fan of him. My view for this is only that of an enthusiast that can look objectively for the true fans who may or may not agree with my comments.
But hey, I recommend this to every film enthusiast whether they are a fan or not because this is something new for the big picture that frustratingly wasn't really there in the end but it will pave way for a great future in cinematic achievements to come.