Gotham City gets a new, bold D.A. (Eckhart) who is ready to stand up and stop its mob & criminal spread, plus a formidable, loose cannon of a villain (you know who!) for the caped hero to tackle. Bombastic, explosive outing in the new Batman-franchise, steered by Nolan's head-on serious approach and cutting-edge production values. Look-wise, this is what the comic book creation wanted all along! But its relentless pace and corkscrew plot additions (it's either just me getting old... or isn't it REALLY hard to grasp all its threads?) work against its complete success. In "Batman begins" - which I hold better - at least we got a chance to get a little more emotionally involved and contemplative before getting yanked right-left-right and blown away!

Rousing ending and crackling dialog though, plus the appropriate mean streak, personified by the flamboyant, Oscar-winning performance by Ledger as the most disturbed Joker we're most likely to see on screen!

6 out of 10 from Ozjeppe.