First of all, the movie is too long. I’m all for films two and a half hours long if the filmmakers can pull it off, but most of the beginning of this movie could have been cut down. It set up and established The Joker, which is essential, but then there were a few side plots, one that involved a businessman from Hong Kong that was in cahoots with the underbelly of Gotham, and it could have been completely left out. Once Bruce Wayne’s people get wind of this, they sever ties on the deal. It didn’t have much to do with the rest of the plot -- not the greatest setup for what was supposed to be the best movie of the summer and (as many hoped) the best film of the year.

The character of Bruce Wayne and Batman didn’t evolve much at all. These roles could have been played by a number of Hollywood heavyweights; they were stiff and completely uninteresting this time around with not a captivating thing to say. He also showed no emotion (other than getting mad and fighting) in anything that happened, as Bruce or Batman (to put it in perspective, the title character in WALL•E had more depth and emotion than Batman and he’s a cartoon robot that doesn’t speak). Another annoyance was when Bruce was in the Batman suit, he talked with an almost ridiculously gruff voice, I suppose to disguise his true identity. But he did it even in front of people that already knew he was really Bruce Wayne. I found it to be quite distracting.

My biggest problem with this movie is that the scenes that didn’t have The Joker in it were almost not worth watching; I’ll get to The Joker in a bit. Because the script didn’t achieve intrigue with the characters or overall plot, I didn’t care what the fate of any of the characters was because I had no attachment to them. Also, the film apparently intended for us, the audience, to develop some sort of emotional involvement with the final destiny of Gotham and the characters we were watching. They assumed this, and they assumed it incorrectly. I didn’t care one bit if the city was back in the hands of the good guys or if the criminals completely took the reins. The movie totally failed to rally the audience in the plot’s cause.

I’ve heard some say, that “this isn’t a Batman movie, it’s just a crime/action movie that happens to have Batman in it.” I see where they are coming from, but I can’t totally agree with that statement. As originally gritty as this was for a superhero movie, Batman still had, as usual, his bag of tricks that helped him get out of any sticky situation. It wasn't as corny as the ‘shark repellent bat spray,’ as in the old Adam West days, but they were still here.

Absolutely the best part of the movie, without question, was Heath Ledger’s performance as The Joker. First of all, I’m not a Heath Ledger fan. Sure, the poor sap OD’d just after filming ended, but I wouldn’t give props to someone just because of their personal tragedy. I mentioned above that the scenes with The Joker were the best ones, and I wasn’t lying. Ledger’s performance was so insanely (no pun intended) gripping that I would get excited and a little scared when he was on the screen; I even found myself scooting to the edge of my seat and sitting up a little straighter to see what he was going to do next. The only bad thing I can say about The Joker is that he wasn’t in it enough. There was a long boring period of the movie where he wasn’t in it at all. This adaptation of The Joker is the best performance of a character that has been played before by others. He had such intensity and such believability that this is the best performance out of anyone in decades. If I hadn’t had known it was Heath Ledger, I would never have been able to guess it was him. Ledger’s Joker was probably too good for this movie, but it's one that you have to see for yourself.

I was also unsatisfied with the ending. Again, without giving too much away, they wrapped up the plot with some not-so-powerful dialogue about Gotham, and then, of course, set up the story for another sequel, hinting at the plot. Again, I wasn’t really interested.

The Bottom Line