As Good as the Hype.....And Then Some

Was there ever a doubt that I would miss an opening of the biggest, most anticipated movie event of the entire summer?? Nope. My husband and I fell in love with Christian Bale's version of the Caped Crusader after we saw Batman Begins. On top of it, the events surrounding Heath Ledger's untimely death just makes this opening all the more mythic. After reading many articles about how Ledger's performance is Oscar-worthy, we were lined up for an early day showing yesterday.

Movie reviews aren't really my thing, so I'll make this brief. The movie is truly as dark and as phenomenal as the hype that surrounds it. Heath Ledger's Joker is truly a work of art. He is ruthless, homicidal and in a word, insane. I never thought I would consider another Joker after Jack Nicholson, but Ledger makes it his own. He takes twisted to an all new level. I have no doubts that he will be nominated for an Oscar for this performance. It was actually really sad to watch him, to be honest. I had the same feeling when I went to see "The Crow" after Brandon Lee had died. A true genius was lost when he past away.

The thing that works about Christian Bale's version of Batman is his 'humanness', if that is a word. He isn't so much a superhero as he is human, with bumps and bruises.....and a dark place of his own. The parallel between the good and evil is the core of this movie, and it works.

The most surprising part of the movie though, is Aaron Eckhart's Harvey Dent. As anyone who has ever read the comics knows, Harvey Dent is Two-Face, and he is introduced in this movie as well. Two-Face's coming out is possibly the creepiest scene of the movie, despite all of Ledger's great acting.

So...if you are a superhero fan in any way, you most definitely need to see this one on the big screen. It really is worth the price of admission!!