Not as good as Batman Begins...Top marks go to the marketing hype created.

Rating: 6/10 (19 July 2008)

First of all, what a wonderful performance from Heath Ledger. He immersed himself totally in the role as the Joker, a much more sinister and psychotic portrayal than Jack Nicholson's 1989 performance which was also excellent. Was his performance alone good enough to propel this film to number one on the IMDb website? Absolutely not!! Do not believe the hype!!
Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman and Gary Oldman are veterans of the screen and are very easy to watch. Christian Bale as Batman was quite ordinary this time around and I imagine his throat was very sore by the end of production with all the growling he did.
The character development of Batman as a person was well thought out in Batman Begins. We saw him face his fears and conquer them, something very much at the heart of authentic Martial Arts training and provided an insight into the character we as the audience could relate to. In the Dark Knight, he appears too one dimensional. His guilt at the death of innocent lives by the Joker is for the most part portrayed by bland expressions and plenty of growling when disguised as Batman.
Maggie Gyllenhaal was just plain bland as Rachel Dawes. There didn't seem to be much chemistry between herself and Christian Bale in the one romantic scene they had together. I thought there was more chemistry with Katie Holmes and Christian in Batman Begins. I found myself nodding off when she had screen time with Aaron Eckhart. Thankfully, the director must have reviewed her lack luster performance up to this point and decided the only option left was to blow her up.
Aaron Eckhart's performance as Harvey Dent was for the most part quite bland also, but improved somewhat after becoming Two Face. His scene in the hospital with Heath Ledger was his one saving grace.
The hand to hand combat was quite ordinary in TDK. With Batman being a practitioner of Ninjutsu , there was no dynamic display of technique to marvel at, or the subtleties of subterfuge (psychological) like in Batman Begins for which this art is known to employ.
The film dragged at the end and needed to finish half an hour earlier. Overall, Heath carries the film with his performance, but there was a lot in the film that felt disjointed and not up to par with the original.