If I had any complaints, it would be that Bale hardly gets a look in as Batman takes a back seat to the villains on display. Special mention goes to Aaron Eckhart, an actor who I've previously found bland but who's excellent as DA Harvey Dent here. Themes of good and evil and what it means to be a hero are explored well and the actors all do their roles justice. The script has plenty of twists and turns, including the deaths of some notable leading characters, and plenty of characterisation as well. The bone-breaking blows that Batman rains down on the villains are incredibly powerful and I still can't work out how this achieved a kiddie-friendly rating. Car chases, fantastic technology (the sonar stuff breaks new boundaries), some martial arts fights and the biggest and best explosion seen on film.they're all here and they never let up. The film kicks off with action and follows it with more action. It's the best performance this actor ever gave, and it's a shame he died when he was just realising his true potential as an actor and not as a wooden pretty boy. Blowing memories of Jack Nicholson out of the water, Ledger is a virtuoso in the role, a real freak of nature, a repulsive killer stealing every scene. A lot of that is down to Ledger's performance, which has rightly been called brilliant. Okay, so this film ain't gory, but it's certainly one of the most violent and disturbing flicks I've seen in a while. This is a powerful, brooding film, even darker than its predecessor, that packs a whole lotta violence into a 12a certificate movie. This is Hollywood blockbuster film-making at its finest: intelligent, well-scripted, with great effects, acting and choreography. Add to this all the fuss surrounding Heath Ledger's untimely demise and his supposedly terrifying performance as the Joker, and I walked into the cinema ready for a great time. I thoroughly enjoyed the first movie and looked forward to this one, aware that many principal cast members were returning.

Reviewed by Leofwine_draca 8 / 10 Dark, bleak, and uncompromisingįollowing on from BATMAN BEGINS comes Christopher Nolan's second entry in the revitalised Batman film series.

A love triangle develops between Bruce Wayne, Dent, and Rachel Dawes. Batman's struggle against The Joker becomes deeply personal, forcing him to 'confront everything he believes' and improve his technology to stop him. Set within a year after the events of Batman Begins (2005), Batman, Lieutenant James Gordon, and new District Attorney Harvey Dent successfully begin to round up the criminals that plague Gotham City, until a mysterious and sadistic criminal mastermind known only as 'The Joker' appears in Gotham, creating a new wave of chaos.

The dark knight megalinks