I rented this movie to see Heath Ledger's Oscar-winning performance. I endured about an hour of this dreck, and, finding nothing compelling in Ledger's work (or anyone else's), turned it off before my mind turned to jelly. Admittedly, the film is well-produced, if somewhat dark and foreboding. I would have continued watching if the film was less stilted, and took itself a bit less seriously, campy and ridiculous as the material intrinsically is. But it does not go for laughs, and therefore becomes laughable.

I found Christian Bale annoying, as usual, and was surprised at just how annoying Maggie Gyllenhaal (with whom I was not familiar) came across. One word kept pummeling my consciousness as I watched: STUPID! But I guess these kinds of flicks thrive on stupid. So, despite the big budget, big names, expensive CGI, positive reviews, and all-around high production values, there is still no remedy for stupid.

Miss it and save your brain cells.