Good Batman film...

Rating: 6/10 (21 July 2008)

This was actually much better than I'd expected. It's much better than the previous effort, 'Batman Begins', which was actually pretty droll and uninteresting.
Gotham City, (thankfully, minus the overly grandiose CGI of the previous film), is caught between Batman and his new admirer, and self-designated philosophical opponent, The Joker. The story isn't anything new, but it's played out well, for the most part. At some points, it tries to parody the current political scene in America, and it really comes off as corny and naive in its message of what the citizens of Gotham "need", as declared by the self-proclaimed overseers of the city. Here is where one begins to lose sympathy for this "darker" version of Batman, and D.A. Harvey Dent. They're both such megalomaniacal martyrs, that the Joker seems a refreshing change of pace. I found myself wanting him to take out as many of his co-stars as possible...
The Joker does pretty much carry the film, and having Heath Ledger play the infamous villain was probably my biggest reservation prior to seeing it, as all the films I'd seen him in previously were awful. He steps up to the part and really pulls it off, though. He's fun to watch, and the decision to give him no backstory is actually pretty clever, as it leaves the viewer open to speculate about exactly who, or by The Joker's estimation, what he is and why he's there. For the most part, he's acted out pretty much as we've seen him in the other Batman films/series, only this time he's in it purely for the masochistic fun of it. Even when he "loses" to Batman, he never actually loses.
The whole Two-Face subplot plays out well until Harvey Dent actually becomes Two-Face, at which time the subplot moves too fast for the rest of the movie to handle. Hopefully he's not really dead (one of ALL the previous films' biggest mistakes was killing off the great villains). Good effects for Two-Face, though. There are other story elements that either drag, or aren't focused on enough, so I guess the film's biggest flaw is really pacing. Also, Nolan's purported "realistic" approach (an obvious misnomer in describing a film featuring Batman) is apparent and a definite improvement in his depiction of the city, but is often subverted by unlikely and even laughable dialogue, motivation, etc. Then again, this IS a fantasy excursion, but even for a film whose main character fights crime in a bat costume, the dialogue could have used some work.
Not a bad film. I still think a comic book film should avoid taking itself THIS seriously because you always wind up with some unintended cheese when you try to play it too straight, and to that end, 'Batman Forever' is still my favorite Batman film, but I'd say this and the '89 film both run a close second. Both have similar flaws, but also, both are successful in much the same way, specifically in their somewhat unique depictions of the Joker.