I've been waiting for this film since I had seen Batman Begins in the cinema three/four years ago, but I was disappointed that I did not see anything new. It also didn't help that the plot in the film was muddled up. There were different subplots happening in between the film and by the last half I was totally lost; even my boyfriend has fallen asleep. I didn't like Maggie Gyllenhal's role as Rachael - she was bland as a blank of wood/black tea with no sugar, *really* boring as an actress!

As usual, Bale puts on a great performance and I have always enjoyed the films he has been in from the past (Machinist, The Prestige, Equiliberium, Batman Begins, American Psycho). However, reprising his role as Bruce Wayne, I felt I hadn't seen anything fresh from his performance or, if there was, this was overshadowed by the film (I am sure he will make up for this in Terminator 4). I like Christopher Nolan as well as a director, but I think this film was all about money and not about quality film-making. Compare this film to Memento and The Prestige - the Dark Knight is nowhere near as good as those films. In other words, from the 'success' this film has made, it would look as though Nolan has sold out which is a real shame.

I have idea no where thes hype about this film has come from, but I suspect it is because of the fact that people have been defining this film as one of Heath Ledger's "finest performance". Sure, his role as the Joker worked well on screen, but, even so, it is not worthy of winning a BAFTA/Oscar for his performance. People have generously given this film either a 9/10 simply because they have bought the fascination surrounding Ledger's performance/death along with the excessive violence and not judging on this film, realistically.

This film is worth no more than a 6, I am afraid - it should NOT be in IMDb's top 10. Having said that, this is nothing more than 'popcorn' film.