Some caveats to begin with: I haven't seen any of the Batman movies since the one with Schwarzenegger, and I never heard of Frank Miller until the SIN CITY movie came out. I'm also old enough to fondly recall the silliness of the TV series, Christian Bale as a young boy actor, and Heath Ledger when he was just another middlin' teen actor. Anyway. I went to a matinée showing this afternoon, mainly since everyone else seemed to be going to see this film, and figured I'd at least be entertained. Well.

First off, the film is far too long. A few people left well before the halfway mark, and at one point I was afraid it was never going to end (not realizing it was clocking it at over 2.5 hours). The whole money laundering plot could have been cut down, and the sequence in Hong Kong eliminated altogether (and maybe a lot of the ferryboat sequence). A two hour film would have come off much better for those of us who aren't Batman aficionados. The Two-Face sequence could also have been cut--why introduce another villain when the film is almost over? Speaking of villains, so what happens to the Joker? The last I recall, he's dangling from a skyscraper, and I was waiting for some sort of resolution for his character. Granted that the plot is pretty simplistic--Joker sets up situation, Batman to the rescue (sounds like the Die Hard movies, come to think of it)--but the writers seem to think that throwing everything imaginable into one script makes for good writing. We've seen it all before, from the flawed hero (SHANE and HIGH NOON come to mind, along with THE SEARCHERS) to the exploding buildings to the car chases. Speaking of which (again), was I the only one thinking 'FRENCH CONNECTION' during the chase sequence with Dent in the back of the SWAT wagon? The acting was OK--it's not Shakespeare, after all, or even Paddy Chayevsky--but I think Ledger's performance is being over-hyped. Then again, I preferred Nicholson--now THAT was a memorable performance. Good to see Eric Roberts still able to get into a big-draw movie, but Caine and Freeman seemed wasted in what were essentially extended cameos.

It'll be interesting to see, after a couple of years have passed, whether THE DARK KNIGHT has staying power. Remember the hype over TITANIC? Lots of oohs and aahs over that film, but most critics will agree that A NIGHT TO REMEMBER is a better film overall. Who know what the rest of 2008 will bring us?