Saw The Dark Knight because of all the over-the-top hype. Not a fan of comic books or action movies, so I was bound to be unimpressed by all the crashes & fireballs & stiff characters from the get-go, and this thing did not change my mind (which was left open, I swear!...) The good guys are all "conflicted" as only one can be "conflicted" in a comic book, i.e. it's all presented in a deadpan, take-it-or-leave-it approach. I left it, didn't buy it for a second. Ledger's Joker, however, is something else. He says he's just like everybody else, only "ahead of the curve", and that's the point, he is the insanity of society taken to its logical conclusion. A searing performance. What a tremendous talent the world has lost.