[CMART]

I'll try to keep this short.

The Dark Knight is near-perfect as far as movies go, and definitely the best comic adaptation ever made. Although Ledger's performance overshadows all others, the film is beautifully acted by some of Hollywood's best. It doesn't at all feel like big-name actors ego tripping at the chance to play these iconic characters, as was the case with Schumacher's films. Each character is portrayed with such depth that it's easy to justify some of the annoying aspects (the bat voice comes to mind.) I agree that Eckhart nailed it, Bale's interpretation is the best Batman we've seen yet, Oldman does a great job of fleshing out Gordon, Caine is brilliant as always, and Morgan Freeman is just playing Morgan Freeman but it works. A friend of mine complained that Maggie Gyllenhaal transformed Rachel Dawes from the strong female lead portrayed by Katie Holmes in Batman Begins into a teenage girl who can't decide which boy she likes in Dark Knight. But Gyllenhaal's performance didn't really bother me, perhaps because it was buried by so many others, or perhaps because Dawes has no roots in the comic so the fanboy aspect is out the window. Besides, such is to be expected when the same roll is played by a different actress in a sequel. The only sort of complaint I can come up with is the movie felt unfinished. There is no doubt in my mind that the passing of Ledger lead to some script rewrites, as the back end of the film definitely shifts focus from Joker to Dent. And without giving too much away, there is a great deal of ambiguity about what happens to the Joker. I can't help but feel Nolan originally had a different plan. But that doesn't subtract from the unbelievable level of performance of Heath Ledger. It completely crushed my expectations, and I expected a lot. With all due respect to Mr. Nicholson, Ledger's Joker has never and will never be topped in our lifetime, period. It's incredibly sad that he can't reprise his roll for the third film, and he never completed his roll in the second (in my opinion.) I don't think they would ask another actor to fill his shoes, and I don't think any actor in their right mind would want to, anyways.