Michael Keaton as Bruce Wayne was whack. this Batman, played by Christian Bale is the best Bruce Wayne, because he also plays out his "playboy" side. why do you think nobody suspects Bruce Wayne as the Bat? he has every right to be as he is fit and rich enough - it is because he plays dumb and is shown with a different woman every scene.
let me get to the movie. first off, this is the best sequel I have ever seen. it blows Terminator 2 out of the water and gently pushes over Godfather II and The Empire Strikes Back... yeah... I said it.
the Greeks used gods to tell stories and we use superheroes as our main platform, and what's great about Batman is that he doesn't even admit to being a hero. and in the end you believe him. at first the movie is dark and hard to sort of grab a hold on to. but then you realize just how far Nolan is going to push us and then he keeps on pushing and pushing and pushing. as a society we obviously still have some sort of primitive fear from 9/11. my favorite plot point is when Batman compromises personal freedom for safety, leaving Morgan Freeman's character in disbelief. what makes Heath Ledger's brilliant performance as the Joker work out is that Joker is essentially a terrorist. and the most dangerous kind as he gives a fuck about money like all the other mobsters do.
Heath Ledger vanishes any reminents as himself into the role of the Joker. he is the Joker and he is the only one laughing at his sick jokes. I fell in love with all of his mannerisms, to even the most tiny detail of him licking his lips way too many times or the stories about how he "got his scars." my favorite scene in the movie is Joker's second scene when he shows you how he can make a pencil "dissappear." people are saying that Jack Nicholson could not be topped as his initial Joker performance, but this is a demented a wicked Joker that represents our generation of bad guys. Heath Ledger will win an Oscar post-humously.
I believe in Harvey Dent, and Aaron Eckhart. Eckhart could do no wrong with me after Thank You For Smoking and he pulls off D. A. Dent and Two-Face brilliantly. I heard rumors before the movie that Two-Face was only going to be a precursor in this film. I don't want to spoil this for anybody so I am just going to say that he is in the movie as Two-Face.
I could write more but I will just stop there. this is easily one of my top 5 favorite movies of all time. 5 stars.