The Dark Knight

Before we begin, let me go on the record - Batman Begins was without a doubt the best vision of the comic book superhero ever done. BUT, somewhere between that vision and this mess, Christopher Nolan must have suffered a severe head injury or, perhaps more likely, a near fatal level of toxic ego massage. Of course you are going to sit through all 152 minutes of this thing... it will seem longer... for one excellent reason. Heath Ledger.

Synopsis? Batman (Christian Bale,) DA Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart) and Lt. Gordon (Gary Oldman) are cleaning up Gotham. Enter new bad guy - the Joker. The story wasn't important beyond that. Ledger is mesmerizing as the sociopathic jokester who's only real goal is to mix things up. He's brilliant. In every way. Makes the skin stand up on your neck, scary, brilliant. And for the first couple of hours that was enough to hold my attention. That, and the cool toys and nifty effects.

But then it all started wearing thin. Bale demonstrated the emotional range of cardboard with a speech impediment (I know, I know - so people won't guess he's really Bruce Wayne... right.) Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman aren't given enough material to justify their salaries, and we won't even get into the ridiculous role of Maggie Gyllenhaal - to suffice as appropriately gendered victim and look earnest. The film belongs to Ledger. Sadly, I fail to see how Nolan can follow his Joker with anyone else. But the real tragedy is that we'll never get to see how truly remarkable Heath Ledger was going to be. See the mostly commercial (buy it NOW!) website here.