Got back about an hour ago. I arrived for the 10:30pm showing but the clerks told everyone it was sold out, which worked to my benefit because the 11pm showing was in digital projection.
I went into TDK expected it to be good yet kind of wanting it to be "ok" so I could laugh at my uncles, cousins, GAFers, and other Batman fanatics. The Dark Knight is not a good action movie. While it definitely is flawed, it is a great action movie that manages to transcend the boundaries of the action blockbuster typeset without feeling too forced.
TDK doesn't fix many of the problems I had with BB, but it does a good job of hiding most of them through the course of the nearly 3 hour movie. I'm still not a fan of the Batman Brawling, which - while it's definitely shot better this time - still seems sloppy. Yet this time the action scenes are bigger, focusing less on guys fighting and more on stuff blowing up; in short the action is simply amazing, and even stuff we've seen a billion times before (chase scenes, flying scenes, etc) are eye popping dishes of chaotic goodness - deftly shot. TDK has already seen its fair share of horrible comparisons and analogies, perhaps I'm throwing my hat into the ring by simply saying the action scenes really remind me of Michael Mann's stuff (hell, the first scene feels like the Heat bank scene). It also benefits from a great supporting cast, although I thought they replaced one average actress with another.
BB left me feeling cold due to a rather boring villain and a Batman I couldn't take seriously. While I was still a bit indifferent about Batman this time, the villain wound up stealing the show. The Joker is marvelous. I'm not going to join the Oscar bandwagon but I can definitely say Ledger's performance as The Joker is one of the best villain's I've ever seen on the screen. He steals the entire movie, scene after scene. He's truly unsettling, from his mannerisms to his appearance, and he really goes wild on the city. The man is fucking dangerous. I love how the film doesn't give him any background or excuses; like Batman he simply descends upon the city out of nowhere, changing everything. There are more than a few amazing scenes that ooze suspense where you don't know what the fuck he's going to do, and you almost don't want to know.
I agree with Solo on Eckhart: Ledger is going to get all the press and praise, but Eckhart really shines as well. His Dent is amazing. He's charismatic, daring, and heroic; he feels out of place. He's a hero without a suit who fights injustice just as hard as Batman. Perhaps my biggest problem with the film is how he's treated...later in the film as Two-Face. It's disappointing that Two-Face does not equal Dent on the opposite side of the spectrum, and like Patel said it really reminds you that hey, this is a comicbook movie after all; it seemed like he was thrown in. Instead The Joker is on the opposite of Dent, with Batman in the middle grey area. And perhaps that's the best way to describe Batman overall in the film: The Joker and Dent are far more interesting than Batman, who almost seems like an afterthought thrown into the middle of a crime thriller. And also, giving Batman more lines was a horrible decision. The cookie monster talk is on full display and it's laughable. It really ruins the mood of some of the more sombre scenes.
Despite those flaws I thought it was a great flick. No, it's not The Godfather II. But I think it succeeds in presenting an emotional arc that doesn't seem forced or poorly executed. It does what Heat couldn't accomplish in that sense. I think Heat is a great movie, but it's still feels like an 8/10 due to the weak, poorly fleshed out emotional shit involving Pacino's wife/kids as well as the rest of the females in the movie. TDK manages to make me care about the arcs that separate the action scenes
