I was surprised at the fact that this movie is breaking box offices and had high hopes for this film.  The previous movie was a restart of the series.  It pretended that the movies in the nineties had never been made.  I enjoyed the dark overtones of Batman begins and expected more of the same.

The first thing I can say about this movie is that it is long.  It clocks in at 152 minutes and my dead bottom can testify to that fact.

There were quite a few faces I recognized in this film.  There was Eric Roberts ( the mainly B movie actor ), the guy who was working in the Gotham mental institution in the first movie.  Christian Bale reprises his role as Bruce Wayne and Batman, Heath Ledger plays the joker, the dude from The Core plays Harvey Dent ( A.K.A Two Face ) and some ugly bird replaces Mrs Tom Cruise as the love interest.

What was the story about?  The joker has started to cause havoc, as the joker likes to do.  The beginning of the movie sees batman protect someone dressed up as Batman from the joker and lets him slip from his grasps.

Harvey Dent is going after the mafia and they decide to pull all their money ( not by choice ) together to stop the joker stealing it all.  The plot is quite simple really.   The main focus of the movie is the interaction between Harvey Dent, Batman, the joker and the bird.  The joker seems to be only really interested in causing as much havoc as possible, because it's fun and for no other reason.   The plot twists and turns through the two and a half hours.  I won't spoil it and I'll leave it there

I think the hype machine has gone into overdrive over this film.  It is good but not the second coming that I expected, based on the reviews and opinions that I had read on the net and heard.  There are those who think that Heath Ledgers performance is so good, that some even think he should get an Oscar for it.  I don't think it's that good.  He made an interesting joker but I would say that it wasn't any better or worse than the Jack Nicholson joker.  It's been over 15 years since I have seen Batman and my mind might be clouded by rose tinted spectacles.

Large sections of the film felt crazy, as the police constantly follow the joker and some sections felt a little long.  I have to be objective when I write a review.  I would say that if you haven't seen this film, why not?  Don't believe the hype, this is just a Batman film.  Go into it with low expectations and you will have the ride of your life

Heath Ledger plays the joker and does a really good job.  If he is anything like Daniel Day Lewis, he probably thought he was the joker whist he was making this film.  I thought he lacked the insanity of the Jack Nicholas joker, but made up for it in ways that the Jack Nicolas joker lacked.

So have you done that washing I sent you?  It's been three weeks.

It will be difficult to replace the joker again and especially if the next movie has the joker.  People will think of the joker as Heath Ledger, just as I still think of Jack Nicholson as the joker, because that was the first movie I saw the joker in. I think that DC should let the joker retire for a while.  That way someone else will be able to play him and make a name for himself without prejudice.

Batman did seem to have a lot of gadgets in this film compared to the first film and I still prefer Batman Begins.  That isn't to say anything bad about this film just; it was different.  One thing that is always constant in DC movies; the good guy is really good and the bad guy is really bad.  

Think Heath Ledger must have had a lot of fun playing the joker and it is a shame that he will never be able to reprise the role.  I will buy this on DVD; I just don't know if I would choose the Blu-ray version though.  I would have preferred to have watched it at home by choice.  I would have had my amp turned up louder than at the cinema and I have a 100" screen for my projector.  Some twat decided he wanted to put his feet up on the chairs near to me and I think that spoiled the experience to some extent.  Next time that happens, maybe I should look at him wide eyed and say that "I could kill you for a thrill"; maybe.  I only joking.

The Bat bike thing