[Dathan]

I've seen it twice so far. I plan on seeing it again this weekend.

I should probably say I'm one of the biggest batman fans of all time. I've been reading the comic for over 20 years. I read most of the famous storylines...Knightfall, No Man's Land, very appropriately year one...as they were coming out. I own the entirety of the animated series to include batman beyond and the justice league series. My wireless network is called the batcave. A batman blanket is on my bed. A batman heroclix stands guard over my laptop, and poison ivy is currently on my desktop.

I don't say all that because I want you to know how much of a geek I am (I freely admit to that, it's common knowledge, but that's not the point.) I say it to emphasize my credentials for critiquing this movie.

The Dark Knight is a great movie. I highly recommend ignoring the fanboy squealing, ignoring the "OMG Heath Ledger deserves an oscar!!" talk, and ignoring all the buzz about his death. Go see the movie, or you will end up regretting it later, I think. Heath is getting all the attention, but that movie is full of outstanding performances...Christian Bale is the best Bruce Wayne ever (not the best batman ever, I think Kevin Conroy's voice for me IS batman.) Morgan Freeman is perfect as Lucius Fox. Michael Caine is good as Alfred. Gary Oldman can play any part and is always amazing. I really and truly like Aaron Eckhart as Harvey Dent too.

If anyone deserves an oscar, the screenwriter does. I've read nothing about Ledger ad-libbing that role, and if he did, I'll retract this statement, but that script was awesome. I can think of 3 or 4 great actors who could have pulled it off just as well. Don't buy into all the hype about him...go see it with an open mind and decide for yourself.

I don't think the movie was perfect, but unlike most comic book movies, I didn't groan at any point or think "that's wrong" or "I would have done <fill in the blank>" That's the highest complement I can pay to it.